IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Robinson, of Poplar, in the County of
Middlesex, Surveyor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLES."
Sealed the 26th November 1855, and dated the 9th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Robinson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
June 1855.
I, JOSEPH ROBINSON, of Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Surveyor, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLES"
to be as follows:-
My Invention is principally intended to be applied to tables used in ships,
and is calculated to afford accommodation for a greater number of passengers
than can now be accommodated with tables as at present arranged. In large
sea-going ships the tables run fore and aft, are fitted to the floor of the cabin,
and stools are made to fit into the floor on each side of the tables. These
tables are arranged for dining, say, 100 passengers, and should there be any
considerable increase over that number they cannot be accommodated at the
usual tables. Now, my Invention consists in dividing the tables down the
centre, and in connecting each half or side of the tables with the stools by an
iron or metal casting, so formed as to slide in a groove or on a rail fixed trans-
versely in the cabin floor. 1-provide one side of the tables with an inner flap;
and fix under the centre of the tables-when-closed-a-row-of-stools-or-seats.

page_text: Now, in order to provide for 150 passengers at a table intended under ordinary
circumstances to dine but 100, I slide out the two sides of the tables from the
centre together with the outside sets of stools, then turn up the leaf on the
inner side of one of the tables; and at once accommodation is provided for one-
third more, they occupying the stools before mentioned as having been fixed
under the centre of the tables when in their original position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Robinson; in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ROBINSON, of Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Robinson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Robinson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Robinson, my 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, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Robinson, by an instru-
ment, in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent:
mis
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21
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Robinson, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had. to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-
た
My Invention is principally intended to be applied to tables used in ships;
and is calculated to afford accommodation for a greater number of passengers
3.7

page_text: than can now be accommodated with tables as at present arranged. In large
sea-going ships the tables run fore and aft, are fitted to the floor of the cabin,
and stools are made to fit into the floor on each side of the tables. These
tables are arranged for dining, say, one hundred passengers, and should there
be any considerable increase over that number they cannot be accommodated
at the usual tables. Now, my Invention consists in dividing the tables down the
centre, and in connecting each half or side of the tables with the stools by an;
iron or metal casting, so fornied as to slide, in a groove or on a rail fixed trans-
versely in the cabin floor. I provide one side of the tables with an inner flap,
and fix under the centre of the tables when closed a row of stools or seats.
Now, in order to provide for one hundred and fifty passengers at a table.
intended 'under ordinary circumstances to dine but one hundred, I slide out.
the two sides of the tables from the centre together with, the outside set of
stools, then turn up the folding leaf on the inner side of one of the tables,
and at once accommodation is provided for one-third more, they occupying the:
stools before mentioned as having been fixed, under the centre of the tables
when in their original position;, or in order to accommodate two hundred
passengers, a second stool can be fixed under the centre of the table. ...
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is an end view of a table constructed
according to my Invention, represented as closed or put together; Figure 2, a
side view of the table, shewing also the back of a seat; Figure 3, a plan of the
same; Figure 4 is a plan of the top of the table expanded or opened out in the
direction of its length, so as to shew the framework; Figure 5 is an end view of
the table separated in the middle to form two tables, and afford accommodation
for a larger number of persons. In this Figure is shewn the supplementary
seat fixed in the centre under the table. Figure 6 is a side view, on an
extended scale, of the slides on which the table-travels. A, A, are the seats:;
B, B, the table, divided at C into two parts or halves; D, D¹, the castings or
slides to which each half of the table and its corresponding seat are connected.
These slides travel on guide rails E, E, fixed on the floor. Each guide rail has
a longitudinal groove a, a, (Figure 6,) on the top for about half its length,
in which groove travels a roller F, fixed under the slides D, D', at their back
or outer ends, and beneath the bottom of the seats, to ensure the steady back-
ward and forward movement of the seat and half table. H is a piece cast on
the slide D, which acts as a stop when the parts of the table are put together,
and ensures their closing in the proper place. I, Figure 5, is the supple-
mentary seat to be used when the table is opened to accommodate a larger
number of persons. This seat is fixed to the floor under the centre of the
table, which conceals it when closed. Jis a slab or leaf, hinged to the inner

page_text: side of one of the half tables, and supported when raised by brackets which
fold back when not required for use. J¹, J', (Figure 7,) are additional slabs
or leaves, hinged at each end of the leaf, and supported when raised by supports
or end pieces fitting under them. The slabs increase the top surface of the
table when opened out. If two central seats are provided, an additional leaf
(with supplementary slabs at each end) may be hinged, in like manner to the
inner side of the other half table. The top back rails K and arms L of the
seats move on centres at L¹, to enable them to be inclined towards the front of
the seat, and the back rail to be over the front edge, and the arrangement
of the seat reversed, that is to say, that part of it which formed the front will
now form the back, and vice versa. In Figure 4, which shews the framework
of the table B, B¹, are the two end pieces, made to slide backward and forward
in the direction of their length on rods or bars 6, 6', the rods b, b, being con-
nected to the piece B, and the rods b', 6', to the piece B¹; the central piece B
is stationary on the framework. By this arrangement slabs or leaves may be
introduced so as to increase the top surface of the table.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim as of my said
Invention the improvements in tables herein-before described, and represented
in the Drawings annexed, whereby accommodation is afforded to a greater
number of passengers than in tables as ordinarily constructed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Robinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
JOSEPH ROBINSON. (L.S.)