AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION, MAKING, OR MANUFACTURING OF CHAIRS, SOFAS, LOUNGES, BEDS, AND ALL OTHER ARTICLES OF FURNITURE FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND ALSO OF TRAVELLING AND OTHER CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION FOR PERSONAL USE
Year: 1828

page_text: MINIKEN'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MINIKEN, of Berwick Street, Saint James's, in the County of Middlesex,
Cabinet Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of September, in the ninth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Miniken, His especial licence that I, the said Thomas Miniken, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, deputy or deputics, servants or agents,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Miniken, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION,
MAKING, OR MANUFACTURING OF CHAIRS, SOFAS, LOUNGES, BEDS, AND ALL OTHER
ARTICLES OF FURNITURE FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND ALSO OF TRAVELLING AND OTHER
CARRIAGES AND VEHICLES OF EVERY DESCRIPTION FOR PERSONAL USE;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Thomas
Miniken, by an Instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Miniken, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist

page_text: in a crank and lever movement by which the back of the chair, or other the
like piece of furniture, is so connected with a rest for the legs and feet, or a
jambier, that the pressure on the jambier raises the back, and a pressure on the
back raises the jambier, which elongates as the position varies to require it;
and in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Thomas Miniken,
do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed,
by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, in section, of a chair made on the principle of my
said Invention, and in the position required for a reclining posture. A is the
back of the chair, turning on a socket hinge joint at B, and furnished with the
rail C, the front part of which forms the segment of a circle corresponding with
a similar segment D, which segment D, united to E, forms the arm or elbow
of the chair, which is a fixture, while the rail C works in the side frame of the
chair as the back is raised for the sitting posture; the back, thus arranged, is
kept at any required height by means of a spring click on the arm at D, work-
ing into a corresponding rack at C, which, as it is an internal arrangement,
cannot be shewn in this Figure, but will be more particularly explained here-
after where the parts C and D are shewn separately. F is a jambier, with a
foot-board G, which elongates, as will be more particularly explained hereafter,
by the extension of the leg, and which is here shewn in its clongated position,
and thus extending beyond the cushion H of the jambier; the jambier is
fastened to the front frame of the chair by a strong pair of hinges, which allow
of its descending to a perpendicular, or rising to a horizontal position; the
jambier is supported at any height, with relation to the back, that may be
required by means of the catch or click I working on the teeth or rack J, and
which may be placed in any required tooth of the rack by means of the adjust-
ing cord K.
Having now described the separate motions of the back and jambier, I
will proceed to describe the crank and lever movements, by which the
motion of each of these parts of the chair is made to depend on the other, and
which, in this Figure, is colored blue for the purpose of clearer eluci
dation. L, M, is a bar or lever, fastened firmly to the two back rails N and O
of the chair, and consequently moving simultaneously with the back; the end
M of this bar is attached to P, which I call the main conducting piece, by a
pivot or hinge joint, while the other end of the main piece P is kept in its place
by the forked bar Q, which is screwed to the front frame of the chair, and
which passes on each side. of P, with a pin on which is a friction roller working

page_text: in the slot R to support it in the whole length of its action S. V is another
bar, forked at the end S to allow of the action upwards of the main piece P,
and hung on a pivot at V to the bar L, M; this forked bar S, V, I term the
balance bar, because, by adding to or subtracting weight to or from the end S
of this bar, I can diminish or increase the resistance of the back to the weight
of the person sitting in the chair, so as to adjust its action to any required
weight, from that of a child to an adult of any size. T is one of two small bars
which work on either side of the main piece P, and connect it with the bar
S, V, by the pivot joints at X and W; this connecting bar completes the move-
ment by which the motion of the back and the jambier is made to depend each
on the other; their relative inclinations having been previously determined
upon and adjusted, by means of the click I and the cord k, it will now be
evident from this arrangement of the various parts of the chair, that if the
hand of a bystander be applied to the back of the chair and it is raised thereby,
a corresponding depression of the jambier and foot-board will take place, and,
vice versa; if the back be depressed, a corresponding elevation of the jambier
and foot-board will be the consequence; but it should be here stated that it is
my intention that the variations in the inclination of the back of the chair and
jambier should be made by the person sitting in the chair, who, if he makes
the fixed arms D, E, his point of resistance, may force back the back of the
chair by the power of his own back, and thus bring up the jambier and foot-
board to a corresponding height, or, if he leans forward and puts additional
weight on the jambier and foot-board, will cause the back to rise in proportion
as they descend.
Figure 2 is a sido elevation of the chair shewn at Figure 1, and represents
its appearance when the back is raised to its most perpendicular position, and
it should here be stated that the same letters are used to denote similar facts
in all the Figures, so that a reference to the description of Figure 1 will
explain each of the other Figures without the necessity of a tedious repetition.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a chair on my said improved construction;
Figure 4 is a back view of the same; and Figure 5 is a front view of it,
shewing the manner in which the foot-board elongates, and from which the
lining, or covering, is here supposed to be removed the better to shew its
action; the foot-board G slides at the back of the jambier in grooves like a
box cover, and is a solid pannel, while the jambier, it will be seen, is
rather a frame having an open space in the middle in which the spring Y
acts; this spring is fastened at the upper end to the jambier and at the
lower end to the foot-board, and thus, as the leg requires a greater length of
support when in an horizontal than when in a perpendicular position, the
foot-board accommodates itself to this variation.

page_text: Figure 6 is a representation of the fixed arm D, E, separated from the
moveable segment C, and shewing the click Z, which is a spring with a friction
roller at the end of it, and which works into the rack cut in C to receive it,
and thus retains the chair back at any given height till extra force is applied
to alter its inclination.
Now, whereas it is evident that this construction of chair back and jambier
foot-board is equally applicable to sofas, lounges, beds, and carriages, and may
be made of various proportions and materials to suit the particular article of
manufacture to which it is to be applied; and, whereas I claim as my
Invention the application of a movement to any scat having a back and
jambier whereby the inclination given to either produces a corresponding
relative inclination in the other, as herein-before described; and also, I also
claim as my Invention the spring foot-board herein-before described as attached
to a jambier in manner aforesaid; and such my Invention being to the best of
my knowledge and belief intirely new, and never before used within that part
of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, or
His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be
my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe that this, my said
Specification, doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise,
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
contained, wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Miniken, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, One thousand eight
THOMAS MINIKEN. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eleventh day of November,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Miniken came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
elled the same Eleventh day of November, in the year above written.
Inrolled