Improvements in Military Stools.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Mar., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 20th Jan., 1900-Accepted, 17th Mar., 1900
..Improvements in Military Stools.
I, HEINRICH ECKER, Manufacturer, of Sinzig on the Rhine, in the Province of
Rhineland and Kingdom of Prussia, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows:-
The present invention has reference to military stools as one has had them
in use for years in Germany both in the barracks and the hospitals and which are -
more and more coming into vogue.
These stools consist of two flatly and longitudinally set to each other unglued
boards A which form the seat, and four legs B which are so connected with the
seat boards by cross-pieces C, either of wood or metal (iron) that these cross-
pieces simultaneously serve to hold both the seat-boards together.
Of course such stools are subjected to a fairly rude and often rough treatment,
and therefore not only have the separate parts to be heavily carried out, but the
fastening together of the pieces has to be careful and capable of resistance, whilst
it must at the same time be horn in mind that if, in spite of all, parts do break,
that they can easily be removed and supplanted by new ones.
With regard to this point, the present invention represents an improved
fastening both of the metal as well as the wooden cross-piece C of the seat.
On the accompanying drawing (Sheet 1), the Figs. 1-7 show the improved
fastening of the metal cross-pieces, whilst Figs. 8-12 (Sheet 1) as also
Figs. 13-16 (Sheet 2) demonstrate the fastening of the wooden cross-pieces.
Fig. 1 represents the stool with metal cross-piece in elevation, Fig. 2 is a
horizontal section of the seat along the line t-, Figs. 3-4 are plans of the seat
viewed from above and below, Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the seat along
the line u-u, right through both the seat-boards A, and lengthways through
the cross-piece C, whilst Figs. 6 and 7 give longitudinal sections through the
seat along the line (between both the boards A) and the line w―w.
Figs. 8 and 9 reproduce longitudinal and lateral elevations of the stool with
wooden cross-piece, giving the previous customary fastening of the cross-piece,
whilst Fig. 10 represents the view in Fig. 9 and Fig. 11 of the same in cross-
section through with the new connections. In Fig. 12, a plan, as seen from
above, of the cross-piece alone is drawn, wherein the screw holes drawn out in
full give the new arrangement, and the dotted ones the former arrangement of
the same.
Figs. 13-16 exhibit a further improvement of connecting the wooden cross-
piece to the seat, by which besides the screws, the legs themselves are utilized
for fastening and as a matter of fact Fig. 13 shows this construction in elevation.
in a view facing the seat-boards A and lengthways to the cross-piece C, whilst
Figs. 14 and 15 are cross-sections hereof along y-y and 2-2. In Fig. 16, the
special form of the upper end of the leg B in this construction is shown in two
lateral views taken at 90° to each other, and in a plan of the upper end of the
seme

page_text: The iron cross-piece C, which has a hollow socket near each end in which the
legs B are held, was formerly fastened to the wood simply by means of screwing
headed screws, passing through suitable holes in it into the wood. The chief evil
which showed itself in this method, was that when the wood shrank together,
either the wood split and tore, or the screws broke, or at the least were bent
crooked, because the connecting screws could not yield.
This drawback is done away with by the new fastening, by providing between
the seat boards and the metal cross-pieces of the stool a connection, which can
give way in every direction, and is yet firm and durable.
The cross-piece can have any possible form or thickness and any section and each
must have but one adjoint-piece a at each of its extremities serving to hold a leg B,
as well as at least two holes for fastening the screws on each of the halves, so
that each half can he joined to the corresponding or overlapping half of the seat
formed by the board A. A hollowing is first of all worked out of both ends of
the boards A which in the case of a closed seat; lie opposite each other, i.e. the so-
called inner frontal of each board, and close to the ends of them, which said
hollowing out serves to receive an iron rod d and does not penetrate to the end
faces of the boards but leaves off before-hand, that is to say, within the wood.
This hollowing-out has, as one can see from Figs. 2; 3, 6 and 7, an oblong
section in such wise that the inserted rod d can freely shift longitudinally within
the boards A. From the under side of the boards A and in these, vertical
borings or hollowings e are made crossing the excavation e, and as a matter of
fact one at each place where a fastening screw b has to enter the wood when the
cross-piece C is laid on; these screws are female screws, the heads of which are
formed by eyes (loops) f through which the rod d can be slided when the screwsb
are inserted from above into their respective cavities e in the boards A. If,
after this, one pushes from below, the cross-piece C with its hereto adapted
holes, over the threaded end of each screw. b, and hereafter screws on to these
latter the nuts g, then do these tie the cross-piece C firmly to the boards A
because the screw bolts bare held fast in the boards A by the rod d.
The cavities e are as wide as the cavities so that when the rods d shift them-
selves longitudinally within the boards A, the screws b can move with them
in the same direction, whereby it follows that the cross-piece C then shifts
along the under side of the boards A of the seat. But at the same time, the
channels e are. in their breadth broader than the diameter of the screw-bolta
would justify. This serves the purpose to make if possible for the wood of the
boards A, should it shrink in the breadth, to shift in the direction of the cross-
piece C, i.e. of the screw bolts 6 by the eyes f of the latter sliding along the rod d
which passes through them.
There, where the ends of the rod d lie in the wood, the channelinge is some-
what prolonged over the ends of the rod d, so that a diminishing of the wood,
by its knocking against the extremities of d, is not prevented.
By the above described arrangement, in spite of a firm connection between the
cross-piece C and these boards. A, a shrinking of the seat boards A and with it
as a consequence a shifting of the cross-piece, C and the fastening screws b, is
hindered neither laterally nor longitudinally, and therefore it is that a tearing of
the seat-boards, or a breaking off or a bending of the screws 6 is completely
prevented. Thus by this invention, the cross-piece C and with it the stool legs B
are joined to the seat boards A in a really capital manner, answering to all the
demands of usage, because this fastening, on account of its utilizing both the
metal cross piece and the peculiar, against heavy blows somewhat elastic fasten-
ing of the screws by means of the rods d laid within the wood, is also capable
of holding out against violent use, for instance the striking of the stool legs
sideways against the floor, and so on.
With regard to this latter point, the old construction with its wooden cross-
pieces connecting the seat-boards to the legs cannot offer nearly as much resist-
ance as the fastening with metal cross-pieces. whereas the shrinking of the wood

page_text: of the seat-boards has, with the wooden cross-pieces fewer evil consequences,
and is less unpleasantly experienced.
In order now to make the connection with wooden cross-pieces capable of
offering more resistance against lateral wear and tear by knocks and blows
which are exerted from below on the legs, the improvement as shown in
Figs. 8-12 is adopted.
The cross-piece C in its previously known form, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9
is always set off sideways in steps and stairs, so that it consists of a broader
under slab and a narrower upper slab, the projecting centre-piece h, the longi-
tudinal edges of which are inwardly inclined to the lower slab, so the upper
slab h exhibits a dove-tailed section by means of which it can be slided along
suitable grooves into the under sides of the seat-boards A, and keeps its hold.
One calls these parts i of the under slab, which project out sideways beyond
the upper slab of the cross-piece C, the breastworks. These are, as a rule,
comparatively narrow, as they have only to serve as a support for the arris-fillet
against the under surface of the stool which, by the straining of a leg sideways,
presses itself against the seat-board A, and is in this wise intended to retard or
to prevent a breaking out of the triangular cornices of the slab i or their respec-
tive grooves in the seat boards.
As however the cross-piece, which from the mid-seam of the seat (at which
point both halves of the seat, consisting of one board each, meet) is shoved into
corresponding grooves of the seat, cannot alone hold both of these boards
together, the cross-piece has to be connected with them by wood screws passing
from the under side through it, and driven into the boards. On account of
the narrowness of the breastwork i, the holes for these screws had up till now
passed partially through the breastwork, and in part through the upper slab i.
The effect of this was naturally a weakening of the dove-tailed plinths of
the latter so that they could easily break off the more so, as they ran in the
direction of the grain. Moreover experience has shown that a narrow breast-
work cannot offer any resistance to a lateral strain on the legs at right angles
to the cross piece C, because the arm of the lever from the axis of the leg
to the edge of the breastwork i is at a minimum. This evil is remedied by the
present improvement as shown in Figs. 10-12.
In this improvement the breastwork i is considerably widened, and the screw-
holes e are set solely in it, so that they no longer interfere with the dove-tail-
formed edges and lateral plinths of the centre-piece h, i.e. they no longer tend
to weaken; and a tearing off of the latter is rendered impossible.
At the same time, by this arrangement, the connection of the leg to the seat
board of the stool is considerably more capable of resistance against a lateral
strain on the leg at right angles to the cross-piece, on account of the arm of the
lever from the axis of the leg to the centre of the fastening-screw b as well as to
the side edges of the breast work i being much greater than before, and the latter
is itself, in respect of breadth, immensely widened, and thus forms a support
more capable of resistance on the under side of the seat-boards. By this con-
trivance, a much greater and rougher force than heretofore can be applied to
the legs, without the connection of these,-.e. of the cross-piece with the seat-
boards A, being loosened.
As the plan of the cross-piece C in Fig. 12 shows, the screw-holes ? can more-
over be longitudinally transposed so as not to weaken the same section of the
arris-fillet by two holes as was generally done by the screw holes in the old
arrangement, as the dotted circles drawn in Fig. 12 show. The better distribu-
tion of the holes is of course of secondary importance, and it is self-evident
that the chief improvement lies in the widening of the breastwork and in the
arrangement of the holes within the same and outside of the projecting centre-
piece even when the holes are evenly distributed along both sides of the arris-
fillets as heretofore.
This connection is greatly enhanced by the manner of carrying out the joining

page_text: of the seat-boards to the legs by wooden cross-pieces C as represented on Sheet 2
in the Figs. 13-16.
By the previous fastening, a force acting somewhat the end of the leg in a
lateral direction was transmitted solely by the cross-piece to the seat-board, that
is to say the latter alone had to receive the increasing flexional tension, which it
indeed quite well can do longitudinally but not however at right angles; on the
contrary, by a force aeting in this direction and especially so in the case of
turned legs (charters), the seat board tears asunder, and no longer offers a surity
against a falling out of the legs. The dove-tail-formed plinths, with which
the slab h of the cross-piece is held in the seat-board, often broke off very easily
when the corresponding end-piece itself did not actually break out of the seat-
board right from the dove-tail-formed groove up to the side edges.
The novelty in the carrying out hereof as compared with the previous con-
struction as in Figs. 8 and 9, or in mine as shown in Figs. 10-12, consists
therein that the legs B which as a rule are somewhat conically reduced from
their top ends to the bottom and even provided (as in Figs. 8-12) with a broader
head k, are driven from above through the conical borings of the cross-pieces C,-
i.e. are fastened in the latter-before the scat-boards A are pushed over them
from above, that is to say, are made longer than. formerly towards the head end
so that when they are driven into the cross-piece C, they project about the
breadth of a board in the form of a plug m beyond the surface of the dove-tail-
formed centre-piece h.
This plug is on both the sides corresponding to the longitudinal sides of the
cross-piece C, somewhat reduced downwards towards the surface of h, that is to say,
somewhat separated from the actual lower charters (or their heads *) so that it
again receives dove-tail-formed section, as the section in Fig. 14 shows. To
correspond with this plug m which is dove-tailed in section, a smaller dove-
tailed groove as one sees it in front view in Fig. 15, and which serves for
pushing in the plug m of the leg B, is made in each seat-board near to each
end above the in section dove-tail-formed groove which serves for pushing in
the corresponding slab h of the cross-piece C.
It must here be noticed, that in the fully completed stool, any laterally acting
force at the bottom of the leg in a direction at right angles to the cross-piece O
is directly transmitted through the plug m at the upper end of the charters to
the seat-board A because the plug m is tightly seated in the groove n of the
latter. The demands made on the cross-piece to receive the flexional tensions,
which by such applications of force to the lower ends of 6, occur at the upper ends,
no longer exist; and therefore the tearing out or off of the conical longitudinal
plinths which form a support for the dove-tail h is almost entirely put an end to.
Tests in reference hereto which have been made have had the result that the cross-
piece C is no longer split up nor the lateral cornices of the dove-tail-formed slab h
broken off by the assertion of the most powerful force or the exertion of the
greatest violence against the lower end of the leg B by seizing the stool by the seat
and knocking with the end of the chapters with all ones might against the floor
in such wise that the blow takes place laterally at the bottom of the leg at right
angles to the cross-piece but that the connection between chapters and seat-
board can only be ultimately broken by an entire piece at the side of the plug m
and the slab h being broken out of the whole seat-board A.
'
In actual use however, these stonls have never to withstand such a violent
treatment as was resorted to for these tests, so that every claim to solidity is at
all events satisfied, which was formerly attempted in vain.
Of course the thickness of the seat-boards A is increased to the amount of the
depth of the groove n, or otherwise this latter could not have been applied.
It is not necessary to have a great reduction of the lateral surfaces of the
plug m; on the contrary, an over great reduction has to be avoided, so that the
plug may not become so weak at the point where it joins the actual leg B
that the grain thereof is too much cut into at the side.

page_text: The reduction of the plug downwards, ie the dove-tail form of its section and
of the groove n is only chosen for this reason, that it is the most easily con-
structed within the seat-boards, namely by a revolving counter-sink drill. It
solely the transmission of the lateral force acting against the bottom of the leg
through the charters themselves to the seat-board, instead of through the medium
of the cross-piece C, it would have been quite sufficient simply to allow the
upper end of the leg B to project above the dove-tail-formed slab "h of the cross-
piece C without any alteration in its shape whatever, and to let it rest in a
suitable well and closely fitted groove n of the seat-board. Naturally the con-
nection with wooden cross-pieces C between the legs and the seat boards will
then be most complete when the special improvements in the legs and the
seat-board, given in Figs. 13-16, together with the improvements of the cross-
piece C itself and of its fastening with the screws as shown in Figs. 10-12,
are employed.
Dated this 10th day of March 1800
For HEINRICH EUKER.
Bernh.
Brockhues.
Improvements in Military Stools.
I, HEINRICH ECKER, Manufacturer, of Sinzig on the Rhine, in the Province of
Rhineland and Kingdom of Prussia, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement; —
The present invention has reference to military stools as one has had them
in use for years in Germany both in the barracks and the hospitals and which are
more and more coming into vogue.
These stools consist of two flatly and longitudinally set to each other unglued
boards A which form the seat, and four legs B which are so connected with the
seat boards by cross-pieces C, either of wood or metal (iron) that these cross-
pieces simultaneously serve to hold both the seat-boards together.
Of course such stools are subjected to a fairly rude and often rough treatment,
and therefore not only have the separate parts to be heavily carried out, but the
fastening together of the pieces has to be careful and capable of resistance, whilst
it must at the same time be born in mind that if, in spite of all, parts do break,
that they can easily be removed and supplanted by new ones.
With regards to this point, the present invention represents an improved
fastening both of the metal as well as the wooden cross-piece C of the seat.
On the drawings filed with the Provisional Specification, the Figs. 1-7 (Sheet 1)
show the improved fastening of the metal cross-pieces, whilst Figs. 8-12 (Sheet 1)
as also Figs. 13-16 (Sheet 2) demonstrate the fastening of the wooden cross-pieces
Fig. 1 represents the stool with metal cross-piece in elevation, Fig. 2 is a
horizontal section of the seat along the line t-t, Figs. 3-4 are plans of the seat
viewed from above and below, Fig. 5 is a vertical section through the seat along
the line -, right through both the seat-boards A and lengthways through
the cross-piece C, whilst Figs. 6 and give longitudinal sections through the
seat along the line (between both the boards A) and the line ww.
Figs. 8 and 9 reproduce longitudinal and lateral elevations of the stool with
wooden cross-piece, giving the previous customary fastening of the cross-piece,
whilst Fig. 10 represents the view in Fig. 9 and Fig. 11 of the same in cross-
section through with the new connections. In Fig. 12, a plan, as seen from
above, of the cross-piece alone is drawn, wherein the screw holes drawn out in

page_text: full give the new arrangement, and the dotted ones the former arrangement of
the same.
Fig. 13-16 exhibit a further improvement of connecting the wooden cross-
piece to the seat, by which besides the screws, the legs themselves are utilized
for fastening and as a matter of fact Fig. 13 shows this construction in elevation
in a view facing the seat-boards A and lengthways to the cross-piece C, whilst
Figs. 14 and 15 are cross-sections hereof along y-y and 2-2. In Fig. 16, the
special form of the upper end of the leg B in this construction is shown in two
lateral views taken at 90° to each other, and in a plan of the upper end of the
same.
The iron cross-piece C, which has a hollow socket near each end in which the
legs B are held, was formerly fastened to the wood simply by means of screwing
headed screws, passing through suitable holes in it into the wood. The chief evil
which showed itself in this method, was that when the wood shrank together,
either the wood split and tore, or the screws broke, or at the least were bent
crooked, because the connecting screws could not viold.
This drawback is done away with by the new fastening, by providing between
the seat-boards and the metal cross-pieces of the stool a connection, which can
give way in every direction, and is yet firm and durable.
The cross-piece C can have any possible form or thickness, and any section and each
must have but one adjoint-piece a at each of its extremities serving to hold a leg B,
as well as at least two holes for fastening the screws 6 on each of the halves, so
that each half can be joined to the corresponding or overlapping half of the seat
formed by the board A. A hollowing is first of all worked out of both ends of
the boards A which in the case of a closed seat, lie opposite each other, i.e. the so-
called inner frontal of each board, and close to the ends of them, which said
hollowing out serves to receive an iron rod d and does not penetrate to the end
faces of the boards but leaves off before-hand, that is to say, within the wood.
This hollowing-out has, as one can see from Figs. 2, 3, 6 and 7, an oblong
section in such wise that the inserted rod d can freely shift longitudinally within
the boards A. From the under side of the boards A and in these, vertical
borings or hollowings e are made crossing the excavation c, and as a matter of
fact one at each place where a fastening screw has to enter the wood when the
cross-piece C is laid on. These screws are bolt-screws with nuts, the heads of which
are formed by eyes (loops) f through which the rod d can be slided when the screws b
are inserted from above into their respective cavities e in the boards A. If,
after this, one pushes from below, the cross-piece C with its hereto adapted
holes, over the threaded end of each serew b, and hereafter screws on to these
latter the nuts g, then do these tie the cross-piece C firmly to the boards A
because the screw bolts bare held fast in the boards A by the rod d.
The cavities e are as wide as the cavities c so that when the rods d shift them-
selves longitudinally within the boards A, the screws b can. move with them
in the same direction, whereby it follows that the cross-piece C then shifts
along the under side of the boards A of the seat. But at the same time, the
channels e are in their breadth broader than the diameter of the screw-bolts
would justify. This serves the purpose to make it possible for the wood of the
boards A should it shrink in the breadth, to shift in the direction of the cross-
piece C, i.e. of the screw bolts 6 by the eyes f of the latter sliding along the rod d
which passes through them.
There, where the ends of the rod d lie in the wood, the channeling c is some-
what prolonged over the ends of the rod d, so that a diminishing of the wood,
by its knocking against the extremities of d, is not prevented.
By the above described arrangement, in spite of a firm connection between the
cross-piece C and these boards A, a shrinking of the seat boards A and with it
as a consequence a shifting of the cross-piece C and the fastening screws b, is
hindered neither laterally nor longitudinally, and therefore it is that a tearing of
the seat-boards, or a breaking off or e bending of the screws b is completely

page_text: prevented. Thus by this invention, the cross-piece C and with it the stool legs B
are joined to the seat boards A in a really capital manner, answering to all the
demands of usage, because this fastening, on account of its utilizing both the
metal cross piece and the peculiar, against heavy blows somewhat elastic fasten-
ing of the screws b by means of the rods d laid within the wood, is also capable
of holding out against violent use, for instance the striking of the stool lega
sideways against the floor, and so on.
With regard to this latter point, the old construction with its wooden cross-
pieces connecting the seat-boards to the legs cannot offer nearly as much resist-
ance as the fastening with metal cross-pieces whereas the shrinking of the wood
of the seat-boards has, with the wooden cross-pieces fewer evil consequences,
and is less unpleasantly experienced.
In order now to make the connection with wooden cross-pieces capable of
offering more resistance against lateral wear and tear by knocks and blows
which are exerted from below on the legs, the improvement as shown in
Figs. 8-12 is adopted.
The cross-piece C in its previously known form, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9,
is always set off sideways in steps and stairs, so that it consists of a broader
under slab and a narrower upper slab, the projecting centre-piece h, the longi-
tudinal edges of which are inwardly inclined to the lower slab. so that the upper
slab exhibits a dove-tailed section by means of which it can be slided along
suitable grooves into the under sides of the seat-boards A, and keeps its hold.
One calls these parts of the under slab, which project out sideways beyond
the upper slab of the cross-piece C, the breastworks. These are, as a rule,
comparatively narrow, as they have only to serve as a support for the arris-fillet
against the under surface of the stool which, by the straining of a leg sideways,
presses itself against the seat-board A, and is in this wise intended to retard or
to prevent a breaking out of the triangular cornices of the slab i or their respec-
tive grooves in the seat boards.
As however the cross-piece, which from the mid-seam of the seat (at which
point both halves of the seat, consisting of one board each, meet) is shoved into
corresponding grooves of the seat, cannot alone hold both of these boards
together, the cross-piece has to be connected with them by wood screws passing
from the under side through it; and driven into the boards. On account of
the narrowness of the breastwork i, the holes for these screws had up till now
passed partially through the breastwork, and in part through the upper slab i.
The effect of this was naturally a weakening of the dove-tailed plinths of
the latter so that they could easily break off the more so, as they ran in the
direction of the grain. Moreover experience has shown that a narrow breast-
work cannot offer any resistance to a lateral strain on the legs at right anglea
to the cross piece C, because the arm of the lever from the axis of the leg
to the edge of the breastwork i is at a minimum. This evil is remedied by the
present improvement as shown in Figs. 10-12.
In this improvement the breastwork is considerably widened, and the screw-
holes are set solely in it, so that they no longer interfere with the dove-tail-
formed edges and lateral plinths of the centre-piece h, i.e. they no longer tend
to weaken; and a tearing off of the latter is rendered impossible.
At the same time, by this arrangement, the connection of the leg to the seat-
board of the stool is considerably more capable of resistance against a lateral
strain on the leg at right angles to the cross-piece, on account of the arm of the
lever from the axis of the leg to the centre of the fastening-screw 6 as well as to
the side edges of the breastwork i being much greater than before, and the latter
is itself, in respect of breadth, immensely widened, and thus forms a support
more capable of resistance on the under side of the seat-bords. By this con-
trivance, a much greater and rougher force than heretofore can be applied to
the legs, without the connection of these,-.e. of the cross-piece with the seat-
boards A, being loosened.

page_text: As the plan of the cross-piece C in Fig 12 shows, the screw-holes / can more-
over be longitudinally transposed so as not to weaken the same section of the
arris-fillet by two holes as was generally done by the screw holes in the old
arrangement, as the dotted circles drawn in Fig. 12 show. The better distribu-
tion of the holes is of course of secondary importance, and it is self-evident
that the chief improvement lies in the widening of the breastwork and in the
arrangement of the holes within the same and outside of the projecting centre-
piece even when the holes are evenly distributed along both sides of the arris-
fillets as heretofore.
This connection is greatly enhanced by the manner of carrying out the joining
of the seat-boards to the legs by wooden cross-pieces C as represented on Sheet 2
in Figs. 13-16.
By the previous fastening, a force acting somewhat the end of the leg in a
lateral direction was transmitted solely by the cross-piece to the seat-board, that
is to say the latter alone had to receive the increasing flexional tension, which it
indeed quite well can do longitudinally but not however at right angles; on the
contrary, by a force acting in this direction and especially so in the case of
turned legs (charters), the seat board tears asunder, and no longer offers a surity
against a falling out of the legs. The dove-tail-formed plinths, with which
the slab of the cross-piece is held in the seat-board, often broke off very easily
when the corresponding end-piece itself did not actually break out of the seat-
board right from the dove-tail-formed groove up to the side edges.
The novelty in the carrying out hereof as compared with the previous con-
struction as in Figs. 8 and 9, or in mine as shown in Fig. 10-12, consists
therein that the legs B which as a rule are somewhat conically reduced from
their top ends to the bottom and even provided (as in Figs. 8-12) with a broader
head k, are driven from above through the conical borings of the cross-pieces C,--
i.e. are fastened in the latter-before the seat-boards A are pushed over them
from above, that is to say, are made longer than formerly towards the head end
so that when they are driven into the cross-piece C, they project about the
breadth of a board in the form of a plug m beyond the surface of the dove-tail-
formed centre-piece .
This plug is on both the sides corresponding to the longitudinal sides of the
cross-piece C, somewhat reduced downwards towards the surface of h, that is to say.
somewhat separated from the actual lower charters (or their heads ) so that it
again receives dove-tail-formed section, as the section in Fig. 14 shows. To
correspond with this plug m which is dove-tailed in section, a smaller dove-
tailed groove as one sees it in front view in Fig. 15, and which serves for
pushing in the plug m of the leg B, is made in each seat-board near to each
end above the in section dove-tail-formed groove which serves for pushing in
the corresponding slab h of the cross-piece C.
It must here be noticed, that in the fully completed stool, any laterally acting
force at the bottom of the leg in a direction at right angles to the cross-piece C
is directly transmitted through the plug m at the upper end of the charters to
the seat-board A because the plug m. is tightly seated in the groove of the
latter. The demands made on the cross-piece to receive the flexional tensions,
which by such applications of force to the lower ends of b, occur at the upper ends,
no longer exist; and therefore the tearing open of the arris-fillets in their length,
as also the tearing out or off of the conical longitudinal plinths which form a
support for the dove tail is almost entirely put an end to. Tests in reférence
hereto which have been made have had the result that the cross-piece C is no
longer split up nor the lateral cornices of the dove-tail-formed slab h broken off
by the assertion of the most powerful force or the exertion of the greatest violence
against the lower end of the leg B by seizing the stool by the seat and knocking
with the end of the chapters with all ones might against in floor in such wise
that the blow takes place laterally at the bottom of the leg at right angles to the
cross-piece but that the connection between chapters and seat-board can only be

page_text: ultimately broken by an entire piece at the side of the plug m and the slab h being
broken out of the whole seat-board A.
In actual use however these stools have never to withstand such a violent
treatment as was resorted to for these tests, so that every claim to solidity is at
all events satisfied, which was formerly attempted in vain.
Of course the thickness of the seat-boards A is increased to the amount of the
depth of the groove n, or otherwise this latter could not have been applied.
It is not necessary to have a great reduction of the lateral surfaces of the
plug m; on the contrary, an over great reduction has to be avoided, so that the
plug may not become so weak at the point where it joins the actual leg B
that the grain thereof is too much cut into at the side.
The reduction of the plug downwards, ie the dove-tail form of its section and
of the groove n is only chosen for this reason, that it is the most casily con-
structed within the seat-boards, namely by a revolving counter-sink drill. If
solely the transmission of the lateral force acting against the bottom of the leg
through the charters themselves to the seat-board, instead of through the medium
of the cross-piece C, it would have been quite sufficient simply to allow the
upper end of the leg B to project above the dove-tail-formed slab h of the cross-
piece C without any alteration in its shape what sever, and to let it rest in a
suitable well and closely fitted groove of the seat-board. Naturally the con-
nection with wooden cross-pieces C between the legs and the seat boards will
then be most complete when the special improvements in the legs and the
seat-board, given in Figs. 13-16, together with the improvements of the cross-
piece C itself and of its fastening with the screws b as shown in Figs. 10–12,
are employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is-
1.) In military stools with metal (iron) cross-pieces C for connecting the
stool legs B with the seat-boards A and for holding these latter together, the
arrangement that above each cross-piece Can iron rode (wire) d is longitudinally
let into the wood of the seat-boards, and at the same time led through the eyes
(loops) which form the heads f of the screws b which are from underneath sunk
into corresponding borings e of the seat-boards, which said screws serve to fasten
on the cross-piece C, so that these screws 6 hang on the rod d.
2). Together with the contrivance as in Claim (1), the arrangement that the
channelings & to receive the rod d in the seat-boards, as well as the channelings e
to receive the upper ends of the screws together with their heads f, be made so
broad that the rod d together with the screws thereon hanging can shift in the
wood of the seat hoards at right angles to the rod axis, and the screws themselves
also separately slide along the rod, when the wood shrinks or expands; so that the
entire connection is firm and yet at the same time yielding both longitudinally
and laterally.
3). In military stools with wooden cross-pieces C for connecting the stool legs B
with the seat-boards A and for holding these latter together, the arrangement that
the so-called breastwork of the cross-piece C be made so broad that the connecting
screws b, seated in the centre of the breadth of the breastwork, do not pass through
the three-cornered cornices of the upper dove-tail-formed slab of the cross-piece C,
but along the side of these into the solid wood of the seat-boards, and do not so
easily break out or tend to split the wood of the cross-piece.
4). In military stools with wooden cross-pieces C for connecting the legs B
with the seat-boards A, and for holding these latter together, the arrangement of
especial grooves in the seat-boards above the cross-piece C, and in these grooves
especial suitable plugs m which correspondingly project above the slab of the
cross-piece C at the upper ends of the legs B, in order to give these latter a direct
hold not only in the cross-piece but in the seat-boards themselves.

page_text: 5). In military stools with wooden cross-pieces C, a combination of the arrange-
ment contained in Claim (3) with that contained in Claim (4) in order to make
the connection of all parts an entirely and to make it as complete and as capable
of resistance as possible.
101
1000