IMPROVEMENTS IN EASY OR INVALID CHAIRS.
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ward, of Leicester Square, Patent Invalid
Chair Manufacturer, and Frederic Dressler, of Upper Rathbone Place,
Oxford Street, both in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN EASY OR INVALID CHAIRS.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ward and Frederic
Dressler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 20th June 1867.
We, JOHN WARD, of Leicester Square, Patent Invalid Chair Manufacturer,
and FREDERIC DRESSLER, of Upper Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, both in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare, the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN EASY OR INVALID CHAIRS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in easy or invalid chairs.
In order that the person seated in the chair may be able to adjust the
inclination of the back to the seat the parts are combined in the following
manner: A frame is formed consisting of the legs of the chairs, the arms,
and the cross pieces connecting them the one to the other. To the front of
this frame the seat is connected by hinges. The back of the chair is con-
nected with the same frame, so that it can turn about a bar behind it, and
connecting the two sides of the frame, and which is at about the same
distance from the ground as the hinges of the seat. The back has arms upon
it on each side which project below the cross bar, on which it turns to a

page_text: distance of seven or eight inches below the surface of the seat or thereabout,
and are jointed to links connected at their other extremities with the seat,
thus the weight of the person on the seat tends to bring the back to an
upright position, and similarly pressure against the back will force it back,
raising the seat. In this way the person using the chair may bring the parts
to the position required, and in order to retain them there a toothed arc is
employed, it is jointed to the fixed frame, and catches on to a cross bar
connecting the arms, which, as already mentioned, project downwards from
the back. To lift this toothed arc when it is desired to adjust the position of
the parts any convenient mechanism may be employed. We prefer to joint a
lever to the side of the frame, so that it may pass under the end of the
toothed are; and we arrange a cord at the side of the chair by which the free
end of the lever may be raised when required so as to lift the toothed arc off
the bar.
As a foot rest we employ a flap having stems projecting from it and
entering sockets in the front of the seat. The stems are jointed to the flap,
so that the flap may be set at any inclination to the seat and binding screws.
are provided by which the stems may be locked in any desired inclination to.
the flan.
.SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Ward and Frederic Dressler in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WARD, of Leicester Square, Patent Invalid Chair Manufacturer, and FREDERIC
DRESSLER, of Upper Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, both in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,.
the said John Ward and Frederic Dressler, Her special licence that we, the
said John Ward and Frederic Dressler, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Ward. and Frederic Dressler,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter. during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EASY OR INVALID
CHAIRS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Ward
and Frederic Dressler, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the sanie to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Ward, on behalf of myself and
the said Frederic Dressler, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be perforined, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is
to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in easy of invalid chairs:
In order that the person seated in the chair may be able to adjust the
inclination of the back to the seat the parts are combined in the following
manner: A frame is formed consisting of the legs of the chairs, the arins;
and the cross pieces connecting them the one to the other. To the front of
this frame the seat is connected by hinges. The back of the chair is con-
nected with the same frame, so that it can turn about a bar behind it, and
connecting the two sides of the frame, and which is at about the same
distance from the ground as the hinges of the seat. The back has arms upon
it on each side which project below the cross bar, on which it turns to a
distance of seven or eight inches below the surface of the seat or thereabouts,
and are jointed to links connected at their other extremities with the seat;
thus the weight of the person on the seat tends to bring the back to an
upright position, and similarly pressure against the back will force it back,
raising the seat. In this way the person using the chair may bring the parts
to the position required; and in order to retain them there a toothed arc is
employed, it is jointed to the fixed frame, and catches on to a cross bar
connecting the arms which, as already mentioned, project downwards from
the back. To lift this toothed are when it is desired to adjust the position of
the parts any convenient mechanism may be employed. We prefer to joint a
lever to the side of the frame, so that it may pass under the end of the
toothed are; and we arrange a cord at the side of the chair by which the free
end of the lever may be raised when required so as to lift the toothed are off
the bar.

page_text: readily carried into effect we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 is a vertical section of an easy or
invalid chair constructed according to our Invention.
a, a, are two side frames of the chair; the legs are formed as part of these
frames, and are fitted with castors, as is shown; a¹ and a' are
cross bars
connecting the two side frames together at the front and back respectively.
The seat of the chair has its frame b hinged to the front bar a', and the
back c is mounted so as that its frame c¹ can turn on a bar a³ passing across
from one side frame to the other; 62, 62, are arms fixed to the back on either
side and projecting down from it, so as to terminate at a distance of seven or
eight inches below the surface of the seat; 63 is a cross bar carried by the
arms 6, and it serves as an axis for the links d, d, which are at their ends
jointed to the frame 6 of the seat on either side; e is a toothed and notched
arc hinged to the back bar a', and serving to lock the back and seat in any
position in which they may be placed, and this it does by catching the cross
bar 6³ in one or other of its several notches; f is a wooden bar hinged at one
end to one of the frames a, and at the other connected with the cord g which
is led up through a passage bored for it in the other side frame; it has a ring
at its end by which it can be raised, and when so raised it comes against the
end of the arc e, and lifting it off the bar 63 sets the back and seat free, so that
their positions may be readjusted, and when the cord g is again released the
are again takes on to the bar 6 and locks the parts in position; h is an
adjustable foot rest which may be applied to the chair or removed from it as
desired, the two side rails of the frame thereof are connected together by a
bar h¹, which also serves as an axis for the joint pieces h², and these are
formed with tangs fitting into sockets fixed to the front rail of the seat b;
h³, h³, are binding screws passing through the side rails of the foot rest, and
which when screwed in bear on the surfaces of the joint pieces h³, and so
stiffen the joints between the seat and the foot rest and hold them in any
relative positions to which they may have been set.

page_text: What we claim is the combining the back and seat of a chair and both
with the frame in the manner herein-before set forth.
We also claim the locking the back and seat in position by a toothed or
notched are jointed at the back to the frame, and catching on to a bar forming
the joints between the arms on the back and the links which support the
back of the seat.
We also claim the combining with chairs having adjustable seats and
backs a jointed foot rest connected to the seat with tangs or stems and
sockets capable of being worked by set screws at any desired inclination to
the seat.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ward, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JOHN WARD. (L.S.)