IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE TABLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO ROUT SEATS, FORMS, DESKS, COUCHES, BEDSTEADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FURNITURE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Cameron, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF PORTABLE TABLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO ROUT
SEATS, FORMS, DESKS, COUCHES, BEDSTEADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF
FURNITURE."
Sealed the 13th November 1874, and dated the 19th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Cameron at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th September 1874.
I, PETER CAMERON, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE TABLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO ROUT SEATS, FORMS, DESKS, COUCHES, BEDSTEADS, AND. OTHER
ARTICLES OF _FURNITURE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct a dining or other table, or
form, or other article of furniture, so that it will admit of being folded.
up and stowed away when not required for use, and is principally

page_text: intended for schools or places of amusement where room is a great
object, but it may also be used for other purposes..
The Invention as applied to tables consists in the employment and use
of an ordinary rectangular table top, to which I attach four swinging or
hinged legs, so as to fold flat to the under side thereof. To the under
part of the table top, at each end, I attach by hinges (or other suitable
contrivance) two legs framed together at top and bottom by cross pieces
or bars. The bottom bar is slotted or bored about the middle, and
turns or swivels slightly in its bearings for a purpose herafter
mentioned.
I also attach, by hinges or other suitable means, to the under part of
the table top (about the middle) two stays or strengthening pieces of
such a length, that they reach (when down) a little beyond the bottom
cross bar or rail of the legs. These stays are passed through and slide
in slots formed in the said bottom cross bar.
When the table is required for use the legs are drawn down from
under the table top, carrying with them the stays, until the legs assume
a perpendicular position. A thumbscrew is then screwed into an orifice
in the cross bar, and through a hole formed in the strengthening stay,
which holds the table rigid and firm in its position. These stays are
provided with T heads, which prevent their being drawn through the
slot in the cross bar.
When the table is not required for use the thumbscrew is taken out,
the legs folded up under the table top, (carrying with them the
strengthening stays which cross each other, the same thumbscrew is
then inserted in the orifice of the strengthening stays and screwed into
a screwed hole formed under the table top, which holds the legs and
stays quite flat and well bedded to the table top, and thus makes it
quite compact and portable so that it can easily be carried about or
stowed away.
In some cases instead of employing a movable thumbscrew, as above
named, I substitute therefor a spring catch, which makes the table
perfectly self-adjusting, but a sliding bolt or other fastening may also be
employed.
The same combination of folding legs or stays and swivelling cross bar

page_text: couches, bedsteads, and other articles of furniture supported on legs,
when required to be made portable.
In the case of forms or rout or other seats having backs, the latter
may also be so connected with the legs that their movements will
be simultaneous, that is to say, that the folding under of the legs
will at the same time draw down the back rail, and vice versa.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Cameron in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
CAMERON, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Cameron, Her special license
that I, the said Peter Cameron, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Cameron, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE TABLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO ROUT SEATS, FORMS, DESKS, COUCHES, BEDSTEADS, AND OTHER
ARTICLES OF FURNITURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Peter Cameron, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: bottom cross bar or rail. d, d, of the legs .b, b; these stays. e, e, arė
passed through and slide in the slots formed in the said bottom cross
bar d, d.
When the table is required for use the legs 6, 6, are drawn down from
under the table top a, a, carrying with them the stays e, e, until the
legs assume a perpendicular position, as shown at Fig. 2 (right-hand
side). A thumbscrew f, f, is then screwed into an orifice in the cross
bar d, d, and through a hole formed in the strengthening stay e, e,
which holds the table rigid, and firm in its position. These stays are
provided with T heads which prevent their being drawn through the
slot in the cross bar d, d.
When the table is not required for use the thumbscrew ff, is taken
out, the legs b, b, folded up under the table top a, a, carrying with
them the strengthening stays e, e; the same thumbscrew ff, is then
inserted in the orifice of the strengthening stays e, e, and screwed into a
screwed hole formed under the table top a, a, which holds the legs and
stays quite flat and well bedded to the table top, as shown at Fig. 1 and
left-hand side of Fig. 2, and thus makes it quite compact and portable,
so that it can readily be carried about or stowed away.
In some cases instead of employing a movable thumbscrew f, f, as
above named, I substitute therefor a spring catch, preferably of the
forms shown at Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8, which makes the table perfectly
self-adjusting, but a sliding bolt or other fastening may also be
employed.
The same combination of folding legs or stays and swivelling cross
bar may also be applied with equal advantage to rout seats, forms,
desks, couches, bedsteads, raised seats, platforms or stages, and other
articles of furniture on legs, when required to be made portable.
In the case of forms, or rout, or other seats having backs, the latter
may also be so connected with the legs that their movements will be
simultaneous, that is to say, that the folding under of the legs will at
the same time draw down the back rail, and vice versa. An illustration
of this is given at Fig. 4. The back leg b, b, of the form at each end is
behind the seat a, a, and is extended upwards, as at 6*, to form the
support for the back rail 9, 9, and a stud or bolt at its upper end works

page_text: .
in a slot h, h, in the said back rail, so that the drawing down of the
legs b, b, will raise the back rail simultaneously, and the folding up of
the legs will draw down the back rail, as shown in dotted lines..
If preferred the legs may be arranged as shown in Fig. 3, and the
support 6*, 6*, instead of forming part of the back leg may be fixed
to the back end of the cross piece c, c, which will answer the same
purpose.
The application of this same principle to other articles of furniture is
so obvious as not to need further illustration.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be
performed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood,
that I claim as my Invention the combination for the purposes above
referred to of the hinged legs and swivelling cross bar with the
hinged stay sliding through a slot in the latter, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Cameron, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
Witnessed by
JOHN HUGHES,
Clerk to George Davies, C.E.,
Patent Office,
St. Ann's Square,
Manchester.
PETER CAMERON. (L.S.).