AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTING, MAKING, OR MANU- FACTURING OF CHAIRS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
TORRY HESTER, of Abingdon, in the County of Berks, Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of December, in the seventh year of His
reign did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
the said James Torry Hester, His especial license that I, the said James
Torry Hester, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Torry Hester, my exors, admors, 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 lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTING, MAKING, OR MANU-
FACTURING OF CHAIRS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said James Torry Hester, 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 six
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Torry Hester, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in an arm chair so constructed, that though the seat inclines downwards
from front to back, yet by raising the arms, which are hinged to the back of
the chair, and forcing downwards the back, the frame of which is hinged
below to the frame of the chair, the seat and back may be brought to one
uniform horizontal plane, while two legs appended by framework to the upper
part of the back of the chair fall into a position under the back to support
it, and thus, with the aid of one shifting arm, herein-after explained, form a
very convenient couch or chaiselong; the accommodation on which may be
further extended by a pully apparatus attached to the chair for the purpose
of elevating or lowering a leg rest, but which, as it is adapted to elevate the
said leg rest when required to the same horizontal plane as the back and seat,
may be made to form a kind of stool at the end of the couch.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said James Torry
Hester, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be per-
formed by the following statement 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 represents a side view of an easy arm chair on my improved con-
struction, with the right arm and part of the frame on the right side removed
in order more clearly to shew the mechanical movements involved in its
construction. A is the stuffed seat of the chair, which, it will be observed,
inclines downwards from front to back; B is the stuffed back of the chair;
C, the frame of the back, hinged at its lower end to the frame of the chair
at D, and supporting the back part of the seat A at E, the seat being allowed
to advance its front edge as the back is made to incline; the arm is hinged to
the frame of the back at F, and by a contrivance, which will be hereafter
explained, will take the inclined position, shewn here in dotted lines, when the
chair is made into a couch. G is one of two legs, hinged on to the back of the
chair in such manner by means of the guide frame V, and which is more par-
ticularly shown in Figure 8, as to come under the back and support it when
the chair is to be used as a couch, as shewn also by the dotted lines; I is a
leg rest; and J, a compound pully, by which it is raised at pleasure through
the medium of the compound lever K, L, which is hinged at one end by
common butt hinges at M to a cross spar attached to the side rails of the
chair, and at the other end by a peculiar kind of hinge at N, herein-after

page_text: more particularly described; O is the handle of a winch, by which the pully
is made to act on the compound lever; this handle is fitted with a joint, which
enables it to be turned down and brought to act against the stop or pin P or Q,
as the case may be, which causes the action of the pully to cease, and the leg
rest to remain stationary at any required point of its elevation or depression.
R is one of two rollers, on which the front bar of the seat rests and traverses
to facilitate that movement. The dotted lines in this Figure represent the back
seat and leg rest all brought to one uniform horizontal plane, shewing the
positions of the legs, of the back, the position of the arm, and of the compound
levers of the leg rest when the chair is arranged for a couch.
Figure 2 is a sectional plan of the framing of the chair, showing the manner
in which the winch and pullies of the leg rest are arranged; and it may be
useful here to observe, that similar letters are used to denote similar parts
in all the Figures of the Drawing, which renders much repetition of description
unnecessary.
Figure 3 is a back view of one of my said improved chairs without the leg
rest, showing the mode of appending the legs for the back to rest on when made
into a couch. G, G, are the two legs, and which I call the couch legs to
distinguish them from the chair legs. It will be seen that they are framed
into a cross bar S, which cross bar is hinged to the upper part of the back of
the chair at T, T, while the two sides of the frame V, V, H, are hinged at g, g
to the lower part of the back rail of the chair, and connected to the legs G, G,
at their upper ends by pins or pivot joints W, W; these pivot joints are to be
placed of course at such a distance below the hinges T, T, with reference
to the distance which the hinges g, g, are below the hinges at D, D, as will
cause the couch legs to assume the position shown by the dotted lines in
Figure 1 when the back of the chair is depressed.
Figure 4 represents my improved chair arranged as a couch, and it will he
evident that for such a purpose it is necessary to do away with the inter-
ference which the arm not required for a back would present, for which purpose
I make one arm in such cases in the manner shown at Figure 5, and which
I call a couch arm, so that when the back of the chair is depressed, as shown
at Figure 4, to make a couch the arm lies flat along the side of the cushion,
as shown at X, X, X, while the other arm remains fitted with the necessary
apparatus for raising and depressing the back of the chair.
I will now proceed to describe this apparatus, which is shown at Figures 6
& 7, and consists of a false top piece or arm Y, hinged on to the under arm
at Z; this false arm is furnished with a stop rod and nut at a, to prevent its

page_text: rising at any time higher than is absolutely necessary for the working of the
apparatus. e is another rod or pin in the nature of a tooth pin, which as the
false arm is raised or lowered either takes into or rises out of the rack or hole
block i; this block i is a mere block of wood, pierced with holes to receive the
pin e, and traversing in the hollow space u, u, cut for it in the under part of the
arm, and being hinged at x to the upright and fixed support U, when the false
arm is down, and the pin e in any one of the holes of the block i holds the arm of
the chair firmly to the upright U, at any point within the range of the block i,
while the hinge at x allows the arm to take the necessary inclination at each
point of stoppage; r is the catch pin or tenant, by which the upright U is with
the aid of the screw c fastened to the side rail of the chair.
Figure 7 is a cross section of the arm of the chair, showing the false arm Y
and the hole block i.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of one of my said improved chairs with the
back depressed, so as to form a perfect horizontal plane with the seat, but
without the leg rest attached, or the couch legs or couch arm added, it being
when thus arranged intended merely for an easy reclining chair.
Figure 9 is a perspective view of the same chair when the back is raised to
its usual position for sitting.
Figures 10 and 11 are separate views of the hinge at N, which it was
herein-before mentioned would be more particularly described; it will be seen
that it is merely a common butt hinge, with the exception of a hook being
substituted for one flat.
Figure 12 is a front view of my said improved chair without the leg rest.
Now, whereas I claim as my Invention the mode herein-before described
of giving an inclination to the back of the chair by means of the false
arm Y and the hole block i, whereby I am enabled to bring the back and
seat to one uniform horizontal plane; likewise the occasional couch arm
X, X, X, and couch legs G, G, whereby when brought to such uniform hori-
zontal plane as aforesaid I am enabled to use the chair as a couch; and
likewise the compound pulley and lever apparatus, by which I extend and
elevate the leg rest by means of the winch O; and such my Invention being,
to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely 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, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and
that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects
fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before

page_text: 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 James Torry Hester, have hereunto sub-
scribed my name and affixed my seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
JAMES TORRY (L.s.) HESTER.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named James Torry Hester,
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid James Torry Hester came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped, according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.