AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF REVERSIBLE SEAT, CONVERTIBLE ALSO INTO A TABLE
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Harrison, Blacksmith, of No. 7, Mount Pleasant,
Deptford, Sunderland, in the County of Durham, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF REVERSIBLE SEAT, CONVERTIBLE ALSO INTO A
TABLE."
Sealed the 15th March 1878, and dated the 21st November 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Harrison at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st November 1877.
ROBERT HARRISON, Blacksmith, of No. 7, Mount Pleasant, Deptford, Sunderland,
in the County of Durham. "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF REVERSIBLE SEAT;
CONVERTIBLE ALSO INTO A TABLE."
The object of this Invention is to provide a seat suitable for schools, mission
chapels, meeting houses, and other buildings where on occasion it is desired to bring
the sitters face to face, or where tables are sometimes required between the seats, as
for example, at school tea parties.
The seat, which is composed of wood and iron, consists of a bench, supported on
cast-iron standards, of a height suited for the intended occupants of the seat. To
the bench are fitted triangular-shaped oastings, carrying at their upper ends sockets
for coupling pins, which serve to connect them with smaller triangular castings
This
that have attached to their base planking. which forms the back of the seat.
back may be turned over to the right or left as desired, thus making the seat to
front either to the right or left.
Supposing three such seats to be arranged parallel to each other the seat to the
left and the seat to the right may be made to face inwards by arranging their backs
accordingly, and the middle seat may have its back brought up into a horizontal
position to form a table top, then by means of locking pins passed through the
coupled ends of the triangular castings this horizontal position of the table top
will be secured.

page_text: To adapt this seat the better for mission chapels and school use the back is fitted
near one edge thereof with a flap piece, which when turned down will form a ledge
for books. When however the back is used as a table top this flap piece will lie
flush with the surface of the table.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Robert Harrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st May
1878.
ROBERT HARRISON, Blacksmith, of No. 7, Mount Pleasant, Deptford, Sunderland,
in the County of Durham. "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF REVERSIBLE SEAT,
CONVERTIBLE ALSO INTO A TABLE."
The object of this Invention is to provide a seat suitable for schools, mission
chapels, meeting houses, and other buildings, where on occasion it is desired to bring
the sitters face to face, or where tables are sometimes required between the seats,
as, for example, at school tea parties.
In the accompanying Drawings,-
Fig. 1 shews the improved reversible seat in side elevation, the back being
arranged so that the sitters will face to the right; Fig. 2 shews the same seat
arranged for the sitters to face to the left; and Fig. 3 is a partial front view of the
seat.
Figures 4 and 5 shew in side and end views a table formed from the convertible
. seat.
This seat, which is composed of wood and iron, consists of a bench A, having
cast-iron standards B, B, of a height suited for the intended occupants of the seat:
To the bench are fitted triangular-shaped castings C, C, two, three, or more, according
to the length of the bench. These castings carry at their upper ends sockets for
coupling pins D, which serve to connect them with similar triangular castings E,
that have attached to their base planking F, of a length corresponding to that of
the bench, and constituting a back for the seat. The width or depth of the seat
will be of any approved measurement, say, from nine to fifteen inches, but the
planking which forms the back will measure crosswise some two feet six, more or
less, to permit of its being used as a table top. The castings Cand E are respectively
secured to the bench A and planking F, so that the pin D which completes the
hinged coupling of the castings C and E will be in line with the centre of the bench
and of the planking F. When the back is turned over to the right or left, as the
case may be, the castings C will form a rest for the castings E, and thereby steady
the back in its vertical position.
Supposing three such seats to be arranged parallel to each other the seat to the
left and the seat to the right may be made to face inwards, as shewn at Figures 1
and 2, and the middle seat may have its back brought up into a horizontal position
to form a table top, as shewn at Fig. 5. To retain the table top in position locking
pins may be provided to enter holes made in the coupled ends of the castings C, E.

page_text: The plan however which I prefer is shewn in the enlarged sectional views at
Figures 4 and 4b. In this case the centre pin D is threaded at one end to receive
a tight and a loose nut d, d; the nut & serves to hold the pin in place, and the
nut is a traversing locking nut. For the reception of this loose nut recesses c, e,
are made in the castings C and E opposite each other, and by the turning of the
threaded centre pin D in one direction the nut is forced into the position shewn at
Fig. 4 on turning the threaded centre pin in the reverse direction the nut is
brought into the position shewn at Fig. 4b, one half of the nut being in the recess e,
and the other half in the recess c. This is the locking position of the nut, and by
bringing it into this position, while the back of the seat is turned over to form a
table top, the horizontal position of the table top will be secured. On moving back
the nut clear of the recess e the table top may be turned back into the vertical
position.
It will be understood that each hinged joint may be arranged with the locking
nut and threaded centre pin, as explained, and to facilitate the locking and
unlocking a small hand wheel is keyed to the centre pin D, as shewn at f.
To adapt this seat the better for mission chapels and school use the back F is
fitted near one edge thereof with a flap piece G, which when turned down, as shewn
at Fig. 2, will form a ledge for books. When however the back is used as a table
top this flap piece will be flush with the surface of the table, as shewn at Fig. 5,
and present no obstacle to the use of the back as a table top.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Construction
of Reversible Seat, Convertible also into a Table," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim, a reversible seat, capable of conversion into a
table, the same being constructed as and for the purposes above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Harrison, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.
DARRARA
RODE
OBERT HARRISON. (L.S.)