Improvements in Seats for Couches and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th June, 1898-Accepted, 23rd July, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Seats for Couches and the like.
We, JOSEPH BROWN GARDINER and ALBERT HAYDEN SAWYER, both of No 19,
Pearl Street, Boston, County of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, United States
of America, Gentlemen, do hereby declare the nature of our invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascei-
tained in and by the following statement
The present invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of seats for
articles of furniture such as lounges, divans, and the like and especially to that
class of seats in which wire springs are combined with supporting flexible wires
and rods and a base or frame, to form a skeleton which is padded and covered with
upholstery, according to prevailing modes and tastes, and adapted to yield by pres-
sure applied to any portion of its upper part, and to as freely return to its normal
position upon the removal of the pressure
Great difficulty has been found in the construction of such seats, to obtain the
requisite flexibility and mobility after the upholstery has been secured thereto, as
a skeleton which as a whole seems to be easy and yielding, after the padding and
covering are in place proves to be igid, hard, and unsatisfactory, and while the
upper part of the seat may be right, its edge may be of such character that when
successively depressed and elevated at any part of its length it does not fall and
rise vertically, but swings in and out, causing wrinkles in the covering, and a
displacement of the padding.
Our invention ains to avoid such disadvantages as have been enumerated, and it
contemplates a seat composed of a base or frame, preferably of wood, and a series
of independent springs supported upon said fiame, which are united by support-
ing rods and wires, the said springs consist preferably of steel wire bent into
two or more arms, one of the arms being longer than the others, to form a link
or extension, each spring having coils at its ends, and bends or elbows The springs
are secured to à base or fame, and a rigid rod passes through the coils near the
fame and is secured thereto, while a flexible supporting wire extends around the
seat, in part or whole, as may be, and passes through the coils at the outer bends
or elbows, and forms the edge of the seat while the longer or linking arms extend
01 reach across the seat, and the flexible edge wire passes through the eye or coil
on the end of the arms Suitable coil springs are supported midway of the frame,
and their upper ends rest on the under side of the said long crossing arms with
sufficient pressure to cause them to assume an upward cuive
In the drawings,—
Figure 1 represents a cross-section of a seat embodying my invention. Figure 2
is a top view of the same Figures 3 and 4 are side views of a spring, detached,
the latter being drawn full size
Referring to Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, "A" represents the seat as a whole,
and "C" is the supporting frame therefor, which may be of any desired shape,
shown as made of parallel wooden bars or rails a, a³, and a³, which are to be tied
together by end cross pieces A series of holes h are bored in the bars a and aª,
at suitable distances apart, into which the ends "1" of springs "B" are inserted
The springs "B" are, as shown in Figure 3, made from a single piece of steel
wire bent into a Z shape, with a short, straight end "1," a coil "2," a horizontal

page_text: arm
3," a coil "4," an angle arm "5," a coil "6," and a long arm "7" ter-
minating in a coil "8"
"
"
The springs alternate with each other in position when in place, as the fingers
of one hand are interleaved when those of one hand are inserted between those
of the other, the ends "1" being inserted into the holes "h"; a stout rigid
rod" is passed through the series of coils "2," one du each side fitting snugly
therein, and is fastened to the rail a" by staples "d" holding all of the springs
securely to the rail, the ends "1" inserted in the holes serve to keep the springs
in alignment, and as resistance levers or posts when the upper part is depressed
The coils "6" are smaller than coils "2" or "4," and a highly flexible wire C"
18 passed through them in series, and also through the coils "8" at the end of
the arms
7" which alternate therewith supports and links them altogether, and
the coils "C" are secured close to each other, as seen in Figure 2 It will be
seen that the springs "B" not only constitute the elasticity of each side of the
seat, but also of the top thereof, in connection with the hour-glass shaped spiral
springs S which are placed upon the middle rail "a" their upper ends resting
under several of the springs, and pressing upward, cause them to assume a curved
shape
65
"
<
"
The construction of the springs "B" is such that when pressure is put upon
them, they sink and 11se in a piactically vertical line, as denoted by the arrows
in Figure 4, the aims "7" falling downward with the arms "3," and also 11sing
in the same manner. for as the aim 7" falls with the wie "as a fulcrum
modified by the presence of spring "," the aim 3" falls with the rod "b" as
a fulcrum, so that one practically compensates the other
Whatever the form of the seat, the we C
"extends around its configuration,
and while it is marked."" on the left side, it is supposed to be the same wire
The flexible wire "c" strung thus between so many coils, each of which has four
1ings, preferably, form a very flexible and pliant edge, and in use has demon-
strated its appropriateness for the purpose, when covered by the upholstery
required to make a seat
15
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
our claim 15.—
1 A seat for an article of furniture, composed of a base or flame having
rails "a" and "a" and a series of springs, each consisting of a single piece
of spung wie bent to form coils "2." 4," and "6," with intermediate aims 3"
and "5," and having a short end "1" and a long aim "7" terminating in a
coil 8," the said spings having then ends "1" secured to the said rails
and "a" alternately, the aims 7" alternating in the direction of extension
across the top, igid 1ods passing through the coils "2,' and flexible wires or
1ods passing through the coils "6" and 8" to sting them together
.
29 66
"
$6
a
"
"3"
2. A seat for an article of furniture, composed of a base or frame having
rails a,
a" and "a" and a series of springs each consisting of a single piece
of sping wire bent to form coils "2," "4," and "6, with intermediate aims
and "5" and having a short eud "1" and a long
coil "8," the said springs having their ends "1
and ""alternately, the aims
**
alternating in
atm "7" terminating ma
secured to said rails a
then dnection of extension
""
"
S
across the top, 11gid 1ods pussing through the coils 2," flexible wies or rods
passing though the coils "6" and "8" to string them together, and springs
interposed between the rail "a" and the aims "7" of the springs