IMPROVEMENTS IN DESKS, TABLES, AND SEATS FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND OTHER PLACES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Arnold Henry Heinemann at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th October 1871.
I, ARNOLD HENRY HEINEMANN, of Circus Place, Finsbury, in the
City of London, Doctor of Philosophy, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DESKS, TABLES, AND SEATS FOR USE
IN SCHOOLS AND OTHER PLACES," to be as follows :—
This Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of desks,
tables, and seats principally intended for use in schools though the same
may be employed in other public and private institutions and houses, as
for instance reading rooms, clubs, offices, and other places.
Heretofore in constructing ordinary desks and seats for schools and
classes the scholar or student is seated in a position likely to be detri-
mental to his health and prejudicial to his physical development, and at
the same time such position is uncomfortable to the sitter and interferes
with his case to such extent as to preclude him from devoting full
attention to his labours.

page_text: Now the principal object of this improved construction of furniture,
mainly applicable to class and school fittings, is to remedy these evils
and to provide a suitable desk or table and seat in which the health and
comfort of the student and the requirements of school work or study in
general shall be carefully regarded. A main advantage of this con- 5
struction is that its use precludes the sitter from stooping over his work
and from sitting in a constrained, distorted, and unwholesome position.
The improved table or desk and seat constructed according to my
Invention may be combined or inseparably connected; or they may be
separate or separable and provided with various mechanical contrivances 1
by which they can be attached to each other. They may be firmly
affixed by a footboard, which may roll on casters. They may be
attached by hooks, bars, straps, or mechanical equivalents.
The desk or table is so constructed and disposed with regard to the
seat that when the student is seated the desk or table shall overlap or 1
extend over the fore or inner edge of the scat and therefore over the
sitter's knees. The edge of the desk or table is therefore so near to him
that he can write, read, or draw without stooping forward, or rounding
the shoulders, or contracting the chest.
The desk or table and the scat may be made fixtures or moveable as 2
to the whole or part, as for instance if the seat be entirely immoveable
the whole or part of the desk or table may be moveable, or if the desk
or table be entirely immoveable or considered so the whole or part of
the seat may be moveable.
*If the whole table, desk, or scat is moveable (on casters or otherwise) 2
a mechanical contrivance may be provided to enable the sitter to fix
the table or desk and seat together in the desired position by moving
them on rails, or in grooves, or the like, there being a stop at required
points.
The adjustment of desk or table to the seat, or vice versa, may be 3
produced by various means, for instance in one arrangement the whole
or part of the desk or table may turn horizontally, or vertically, or both,
or the whole or part of the seat may turn vertically, or horizontally, or
both. Thus by turning the desk vertically a passage may be obtained
for the sitter to get in or out, and by turning the seat horizontally a 3
passage between every
two adjoining seats may be obtained.

page_text: Further, the overlapping of the inner portion or "near edge" of the
desk or table, or the underlapping or inner portion of the seat may be
made moveable so as to permit the student to take and quit his place.
For this purpose this portion of the desk or scat may form a flap
hinged or jointed to the other portion so that it may be turned up or
down, that is to say, raised and lowered as required. Or this moveable
portion may slide to and fro. Or it may be moveable otherwise so as to
be accommodated to the required purpose.
The seat as regards the seat proper or surface on which the body rests
may be flat or sloping (towards the back), or it may be hollowed,
rounded, or curved so as to be adjusted to the shape of the sitter. The
lower portion of the back of the seat may be hollow, or it may present
an open space extending to about the height of the hips. The small of
the back and top of the hips of the sitter may be supported by a hori-
zontal bar rounded off in such way as to accommodate its convexity to
the concavity of the sitter's back and likewise its concavity to the con-
vexity of the sitter's body. A narrow back piece projecting upward
above the horizontal bar and standing on its central portion is intended
to support the backbone between the shoulder blades. The top of the
horizontal back bar is either horizontal in its entire length or lower at
the ends than in the centre. In the latter case the lower portion is of
such height as to permit the sitter to rest his elbows thereon when
sitting at ease.
Hence by this construction due support is provided for the spine,
the arms may be thrown back to allow of expansion of the chest, and the
backbone upon which the other portions of the body depend for support
and which is the most moveable and elastic part of the skeleton, (but at
the same time least capable of continuing in an attitude of rest for a
length of time without outward assistance), is provided with a secure and
comfortable support whilst freedom of action is allowed to the shoulder
blades and full development to the expanding portions of the body,
principally the chest and abdomen. The feet rest on a footboard ad-
justed to the requirements of the equilibrium of the lower extremities.
The back of the seat instead of being arranged as above described may
be curved outward at the lower portion nearest the seat proper and
inward at the upper portion between the shoulder blades, or pads or
cushions may be fixed to the back of the seat on the side next the sitter

page_text: to afford necessary support to the parts required to be supported, as
ubove described.
Where economy is a consideration, as in National schools, a back need
not be attached to every seat, but the desk or table next behind each.
scat may supply a proper support for the sitter's back by having bars, &
pieces, or pads affixed at the proper places to support the body at the
points above indicated.
An improved ledge is formed or fixed on the edge of the desk or table
next the sitter. Such ledge is a flat topped shallow bar of comparatively
large breadth, whereby considerable facility and case of motion are 1
afforded to the writer's arm and hand.
The desk or table and scat may be readily contrived so as to be raised
and lowered by a rack and pinion or by other equivalent mechanical
contrivances to accommodate them for various sizes of sitters.
An improved form of table or desk is also constructed according to 1
my Invention in which there is one moveable surface or platform or
there are two such surfaces fitted one opposite the other, such surfaces
being capable of lying flat or of being raised at an. angle to form slopes
or desks. They are raised and lowered by means of a rack and pinion
or other equivalent mechanical contrivance. The desks or slopes when 2
raised at an angle leave between their nearest edges a space which is
filled by a horizontal platform or other like contrivance, which may at
the same time be so contrived as to form a support to the tops of the
desks or slopes, and may be fitted with inkstands, slit for slates, and
grooves for pencils and pens.
This table or desk is specially suitable for private houses or small
2