A NEW OR IMPROVED CHAIR LADDER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Baptiste Lavanchy, of No. 11, Peter Street,
Wardour Street, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanician, for the
Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED CHAIR LADDER."
Sealed the 31st October 1865, and dated the 3rd May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Baptiste Lavanchy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd May 1865.
I, JEAN BAPTISTE LAVANCHY, of No. 11, Peter Street, Wardour Street, in
the County of Middlesex, Mechanician, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED CHAIR LADDER," to be as
follows:-
This new chair differs from the ordinary chairs in the following par-
ticulars-Both the front legs are double, inasmuch as there are besides the
ordinary legs two other legs, by which the former are covered. The ordinary
and the supplementary legs are connected together by means of a hinge, by
which the supplementary legs can be lifted up and lowered at will. The front
legs, both ordinary and supplementary, are provided with transverse pieces of
wood, or of any other substance, to serve as steps. At the top of the back of
the chair is a small board, which turning upon a hinge, can be lifted up or
kept flat to the back according to requirements.

page_text: To convert the chair into a ladder the additional legs are lifted up, the
upper ends coming near the back of the chair. The small board at the top
of the back is also lifted up, so that it may rest flat on the upper ends of the
additional legs, and the chair then forms a ladder with four steps, viz., one
between the ordinary legs, the second on the seat, the third between the extra
legs so lifted up, and the fourth being the small board at the top of the back.
The hind legs can also be made use of for increasing the size of the ladder, for
which purpose they are to be made double in the same manner as the front
legs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Baptiste Lavanchy in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
BAPTISTE LAVANCHY, of No. 11, Peter Street, Wardour Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jean Baptiste Lavanchy, Her special licence that I, the said
Jean Baptiste Lavanchy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Jean Baptiste Lavanchy, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "A CHAIR LADDER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Jean Baptiste Lavanchy, executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Baptiste Lavanchy, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in a new construction of chair so that it may
be instantaneously converted into a ladder.
To make my Invention better understood I will proceed to describe the
same by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 repre-
sents a chair as it is when folded; "Figure 2 represents the same unfolded, and
Figures 3 and 4 represent other arrangements of my Invention.
The chair represented at Figures 1 and 2 differs from the ordinary chair in the
following particulars :-Both the front legs are double, inasmuch as there are
besides the ordinary legs a, two other legs 6 by which the former are covered.
The ordinary and the supplementary legs are connected together by means of
a hinge c, by which the supplementary legs can be lifted up and lowered at
will. The front legs, both ordinary and supplementary, are provided with
transverse pieces of wood or of any other substance (d and e) to serve as
steps. At the top of the back of the chair is a small board f, which
turning upon a hinge can be lifted up or kept flat to the back according to
requirement.
To convert the chair into a ladder the additional legs are lifted up, as
shewn at Figure 2, and their upper ends come near to the back of the chair.
The board f is also lifted up, so that it may rest flat on the upper ends of the
additional legs, and the chair then forms a ladder with four steps, viz., one
between the ordinary legs, the second, on the seat, the third between the
extra legs so lifted up, and the fourth being the board at the top of the back.
The hind legs can also be made use of for increasing the size of the ladder,
for which purpose they are to bo made double in the same manner as the
front legs.
Another arrangement of my chair ladder is represented at Figures 3 and 4.
The two uprights of the back are double. To make a ladder the fore part g
of the uprights are separated from the back one h, and in so doing displays
the two cross boards i and j of the back; the uprights are connected by
means of a hinge to the upper and lower cross boards, the latter is also main-
tained by two supports k, l, of iron or any other metal, which when the ladder
is folded joins the internal sides of the uprights. My chair ladders may be
made of wood, iron, or any other suitable suitable material.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I especially

page_text: claim the use of the legs and uprights of a chair for the purpose of con-
verting the latter into a ladder.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Baptiste Lavanchy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JEAN BAPTISTE LAVANCHY. (L.S.)