CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON CHAIRS OR MACHINES CALCULATED TO ENCREASE EASE AND COMPORT
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DAWS, of Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Upholster, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of
April, in the eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Robert
Daws, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Robert Daws, my exors, adñors, and
assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON CHAIRS
OR MACHINES CALCULATED TO ENCREASE EASE AND COMPORT;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Robert Daws, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and
all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation 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
Robert Daws, do hereby describe the nature and particulars of my aforesaid
Invention, as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in constructing chairs, sofas, and other machines for
similar purposes in such manner that the inclination of the backs of the
former and of the ends or arms of the latter may be regulated and adjusted to
suit the desire of the invalid or other person sitting or reclining upon them;
to accomplish this adjustable inclination in the back of a chair I attach sliding
or moving arms by means of hinges to such back, and the lower ends of the
stumps or supports of the arms are made to slide or move along the side rails of
the chair, thereby causing the back (which is hinged to the seat part) to recede
or advance at pleasure. The length of the slide or movement of the arm is
regulated by racks and clicks, or catches, or by pins or other contrivance for
stopping or keeping the back at any required inclination. In order that my
Invention may more readily be understood, I refer to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, which represents a side view of a chair, and shews one method of
carrying my Invention into effect (part of the woodwork being removed for
the purpose of more clearly shewing the various parts). a is the back of
the chair; b, a side rail; e, the hinge by which the back is attached to the
seat part of the chair, and which allows of it swinging backward and forwards;
f, hinge which fastens the arm to the back; g, the stump or support to the
arms; h, a longitudinal mortice or groove cut through the side rail; i, a tenon
descending from the stump or support of the arm, and which is retained from
being raised out of the mortice or groove by a pin passing through a hole near
its bottom; j, a rack or toothed click bar fitted on to the side rail; k, a click
or catch fitted on to the stump or support of the arm, and which is for the
purpose of preventing the arm from sliding backwards; l is a lever attached to
the click or catch k, by the depression of which the click is raised out of the
rack bar, and allows of the tenon sliding along the mortice or groove. The
Drawing represents the back of the chair as raised to its highest possible
position, and it is retained there by the click k; but it is evident that by
depressing the lever 1, the click will be raised out of the teeth of the rack, and
the arm will then be at liberty and may be slided back to any part of the
mortice; the mortice is shewn as being cut vertically, but it may be horizontal
or in any other position. The sliding or moving of the arm will force the back
of the chair back into the position shown by the dotted lines, or into any inter-
mediate position, to suit the desire of the person sitting or reclining in the
same, and by lengthening the mortice the back may be made to recede much
further than is shown in the Drawing. Now, it will be evident from the above

page_text: description of the nature of my Invention, that many variations may be made
in the construction of the various parts above described to produce a similar
effect. In some cases, where the work is common and low priced, I have
made use of the following contrivance :-In place of the parts above described
for stopping the arm in any position, I make holes in a line along the side rail
of the chair, and also a hole through the tenon, through which I pass a pin,
and this contrivance produces a similar effect to that above described.
Another method I have found to answer is the forming of the arms in two.
parts, the one sliding within the other, and a hinge in the arm or stump, and
regulated by a catch or pin; or I can attach a cord or chain to the front part
of the tenon, and passing the same round a pulley fixed on the side rail in front
of the chair, and then to a drum or roller, which drum or roller may be wound
up or unwound by a handle or other contrivance, and retained in any position
by having a ratchet wheel and click properly fixed, or the cord may pass
immediately round the drum or roller without making use of the pulley, in
which case the drum or roller must be fixed in front of the tenon. All these
contrivances are so simple and will be so evident to a workman conversant
with such description of work, and so much depending on the taste of the
person for whom the chair may be constructed, as to need no further descrip-
tion. I would here observe, that although I have described the apparatus as
applied to one side only, it is evident that both sides should be constructed
alike, to bear equally the weight of the back and of the person reclining against
it. I would further observe, that although I have represented the rack bar as
placed on the top of the side rail, any other situation may be used without
departing from the nature of my Invention. In constructing sofas and other
similar machines according to my improvements, it is merely necessary to say
that the application of the various parts above described is to be reversed, for
in place of hinging the back to the seat part, as is the case with the chair, I
hinge the ends or arms to the seat part of a sofa, or other similar machine,
and the back is made to slide or move along the back rail or back framing in
the same manner as the arm does along the side rail of the chair above
described, and the back of the sofa is attached to the end or arm by a hinge
or other jointed attachment, and is retained in any position by clicks or
catches, or by pins or other contrivances for regulating the slide of the back,
in a similar manner to that described above as applicable to a chair; indeed,
the whole of the description of the parts made use of in constructing a chair
according to my improvements is applicable to a sofa or other similar machine,
differing only in the application of the parts, which, in a great measure, will
depend on the taste of the workman.

page_text: Although I have described various parts of apparatus for the purpose of
making my Invention more readily understood, yet I would have it known
that I do not claim them excepting when used for effecting the purpose above
described; but what I claim is, the constructing of chairs, the inclination of
the backs of which is regulated by sliding or moving arms, and retained in any
position by clicks, catches, or pins, or other stops, and also the constructing of
sofas and other similar machines, the inclination of the ends or arms of which
is regulated by sliding backs, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Daws, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the; year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.