IM- PROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAIRS AND TABLES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Metcalfe, of 19, High Street, Camden
Town, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAIRS AND TABLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Metcalfe
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th September 1858.
I, THOMAS METCALFE, of 19, High Street, Camden Town, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my said Juven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAIRS AND TABLES"
follows:-
This Invention consists of a peculiar combination of parts of a
portable chair or scat, by which the same is made to fold with greater
compactness, and at the same time it will offer more strength than the
arrangements heretofore resorted to.
At the back there are two uprights parallel to each other, and the
flexible back is fixed to them. The seat is supported by two side rails
with inclined legs, which cross each other at front and back, as in a

page_text: camp stool. The back legs are jointed or hinged to the lower parts of
the uprights. The side rails rise and fall on the uprights in closing and
opening the chair or seat.
The Invention also consists in constructing tables with cross and
folding legs. One of the top rails of the cross legs is hinged or applied
to the under surface of the table, and the other side rail folds when
closed within the one attached to the table; and when open enters into
sockets or bent catches fixed under the table, which will prevent the
legs opening too far. The peculiarity consists of using cross legs, as in
camp stools, in combination with the upper surface of a table.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Metcalfe in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS METCALFE, of 17, High Street, Camden Town, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Metcalfe, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Metcalfe, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Metcalfe, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE CHAIRS AND TABLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Metcalfe, by an instrument 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Metcalfe, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of a peculiar combination of parts of a
portable chair or scat, by which the same is made to fold with greater
compactness, and at the same time it will offer more strength than the
arrangements heretofore resorted to. At the back there are two
uprights parallel to each other, and the flexible back is fixed to them.
The seat is supported by two side rails with inclined legs, which cross
each other at front and back, as in a camp stool. The back legs are
jointed or hinged to the lower parts of the uprights. The side rails
rise and fall on the uprights in closing and opening the chair or seat.
The Invention also consists in constructing tables with cross and
folding legs. One of the top rails of the cross legs is hinged or applied
to the under surface of the table, and the other side rail folds when
closed within the one attached to the table; and when opened enters
into sockets or bent catches fixed under the table, which will prevent
the legs opening too far. The peculiarity consists of usir_ ross legs,
as in camp stools, in combination with the upper surface of a table.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, shows a side elevation. Figure 2, a front view; and
Figure 3, a plan of a chair constructed according to iny Invention
when opened and ready for use. a, a, are two uprights, parallel to each
other and connected together by the flexible back a¹; b, b. are the
side rails which support the flexible seat 6'; and 63, 62, are the inclined
legs, which cross each other and are jointed together at the front and
back by the cross bar b; the lower ends of the back legs are jointed to
the uprights a, a, at 6+; and there are rings or eyes 6s, 65, affixed to the
back of the side rails, which rise and fall on the uprights a, a, when the

page_text: chair is closed or opened. The red lines shew the position of the parts
when the chair is closed. Figure 4, shows a side view, and Figure 5,
an end elevation of a table when open for use; and Figure 6, shows
another end view of the same table when the cross legs are folded, so
as to be parallel with the top of the table. The top rail of the cross
legs a, a, is hinged or connected by supports to the under surface of
the table at a', a', as shewn; and the other side rail and cross legs b, b,
are jointed as in camp stools to the legs a, a, at b'; and the rail b, when
open rests against the end of the slot formed by the metal straps b²,
and the bars which support the top c, of the table; the rail b, being
capable of sliding freely along the slot, so as to fold with its legs
within the rail and legs a, a, and lie close against the under surface of
the table c, as shewn at Figure 6.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein shown and described, so
long as the peculiar character of either part of my Invention be
retained. But what I claim is, the manufacture of portable chairs or
seats, and tables, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Metcalfe, have hereunto
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JNO. COOK,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
THOMAS METCALFE. (L.S.)