A New or Improved Article of Domestic Furniture.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Sept., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 7th May, 1896-Accepted, 13th June, 1896
A New or Improved Article of Domestic Furniture.
I, EMMA MARY MCCARTHY, of Robert Schumannstrasse 2, Leipzig, in the
Empire of Germany, Widow, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
:-
My invention relates to a new or improved article of domestic furniture which
not only serves as a table but also when desired as a cabinet and which when so
serving as a cabinet can be locked or otherwise fastened for the safe keeping of its
contents.
In order that the nature of the said invention may be readily understood I shall
proceed to briefly refer to a contemplated form of the invention by way of a type
or illustration.
In the said contemplated form I employ sides similar to those of an ordinary
cabinet. I also employ two hinged flaps or leaves resembling those of a well-
know form of card table which flaps or leaves can be opened out so as to lie in the
same plane and be turned round as are the flaps in the said form of card table so
that they then rest on the said sides and act as a table top. My flaps or leaves
differ however from those of the said form of card table in this respect that when
no longer lying in the same plane they are not folded into close contact with one
another but lie in a position where they are in planes at right angles to one another
or nearly so. When in this position my invention acts as a cabinet, one flap
(hereinafter termed the supporting flap) serving as the top and the other (herein-
after termed the pendant flap) serving either as a back or as a front of the said
cabinet.
When the said pendant flap acts as a front or as a back of the cabinet it may
be locked in position in any convenient manner.
In another contemplated form of my invention I employ three flaps or leaves
hinged together in a series of three and capable of being extended to lie all three
in the same plane and of being turned round after the manner above described
and also capable of being folded down so that when serving as a cabinet the
two outer flaps are pendant ones serving one as the front of the cabinet and
the other as the back thereof, whilst the inner flap acts as the supporting
flap.
Dated this 6th day of September 1895.

page_text: I, EMMA MARY MCCARTHY, of Robert Schumanstrasse, 2, Leipzig, in the
Empire of Germany, Widow, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to a new or improved article of domestic furniture which
not only serves as a table but also when desired as a cabinet and which, when so
serving as a cabinet, can be locked or otherwise fastened for the safe keeping of
its contents.
In order that the said invention may be readily understood I shall proceed to
describe two typical forms thereof, the said forms being illustrated in the
accompanying sheet of drawings in which
Fig. 1 is what I term a double flap form showu as a cabinet.
Fig. 2 is a view of the same when the parts are in such position that the device
is acting as a table.
Fig. 3 is a view of what I term a treble flap form shown as a cabinet, and
Fig. 4 shows the same when serving as a table.
In these figures similar letters of reference indicate similar or equivalent
parts.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 A, A' are the sides of an ordinary box or cabinet
which may be of any convenient form and which when desired may be fitted with
shelves B, B1, B2. C, C' are two flaps or leaves hinged together at their meeting
edges and movably attached to the cabinet or frame thereof in the same manner as
are the flaps or leaves of a well known form of card table and so that when
opened out so as to lie in the same plane and then turned round in a horizontal
plane as are the flaps or leaves of the said form of card table they rest upon the
cabinet in such manner as to act as a table top and as is clearly shown in Fig. 2.
When the parts are in this position namely that shown in Fig. 2 my invention
serves as a table and the shelves B, B1, B2, are readily accessible for receiving and
or retaining such articles as may be desired.
When it is desired that my invention should act as a cabinet or closed box or
the like and no longer as a table or at least as an extended table, the flaps C, C¹
are again turned round in a horizontal plane until one of the flaps as for example C
now serves as a supporting flap or a top to the cabinet whilst the other or pendant
flap C is bent down until it closes up either the back or the front of the
cabinet when it may be locked in position and so serve for the secure keeping of
its contents.
In Figs. 3 and 4 I show a treble flap form of my invention which differs from
the double flap form of my invention just described in that instead of having two
flaps only it has three flaps. In these figures A, A¹ are the sides of the box or
cabinet as before and B, B1, B2 the shelves as before. C, C1, C2, are the flaps,
C being the supporting flap aud C¹, C² being pendant flaps one serving as the front
of the cabinet and the other as the back when folded downwards. When these
flaps are straightened out into one plane and turned into the position shown in
Fig. 4 they form a convenient table top and when turned round and folded down
into the position shown in Fig. 3 they form a top, front and back for the cabinet
and when locked in position as for example by any ordinary form of locking device
a convenient cabinet is obtained.
It is obvious that the pendant flaps may not only serve as fronts or backs but
that they may also serve as sides if so desired, in which case permanent backs or
fronts may be employed. This however is more a matter of language than of

page_text: mechanical parts as it is generally immaterial which parts we term the sides and
which we term the front or back.
In the case of a double flap form of my invention it is frequently convenient to
make the box or cabinet with a permanent back, the pendant flap then serving as a
front to the cabinet.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
cion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :--
1. A combined cabinet and table substantially as set forth.
2. The combination of a box or cabinet and two flaps or leaves substantially as
and for the purposes set forth.
3. The combination of a box or cabinet and three flaps or leaves substantially as
and for the purposes set forth.
and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 30th day of April 1896.
For the Applicant,
J. G. LORRAIN, M.I.E.E., M.I. Mech. E.,
Norfolk House, Victoria Einbankment, London, W.C.,
Chartered Patent Agent.