IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING EASELS, WRITING TABLETS, TABLES, & DESKS
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPEICFICATION left by Edward Herbert Bramley and
Frank Mahan Green at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 31st May 1873.
We, EDWARD HERBERT BRAMLEY, of 7, Denman Road, Peckham, and
FRANK MAHAN GREEN, of 2, Vassal Villas, Holland Road, Brixton,
(both in the County of Surrey), do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING EASELS, WRITING TABLETS,
TABLES, & DESKS," to be as follows:-
:-
Our object is to produce a firm tablet on which to write, draw, paint,
or which said tablet may be used as a table for any other purpose or
purposes, which said tablet may be folded or rolled up or either or both,
so as to occupy a smaller area when not being used than is the case
with an ordinary table, or easel, or desk.
(Shape, etc.)-The tablet may be constructed in any shape or form, but
we prefer first to make it oblong, & then to take away a portion at one
corner leaving it of such a shape as seems convenient to fit the waist of
the wearer or user and resting on the hip.
To support the tablet against the pressure of the hand when being
used we attach one or more cords or straps, which may be passed round
the neck or across the shoulders, or chest, or otherwise, or place a rest or

page_text: prop underneath. The improvement consists of dividing the solid body
of the easel, writing tablet, table or desk, into several portions each of
the said portions being attached to another of flexible material, such as
of cloth, leather, bookbinders' cloth, canvas, calico, or any other fabric or
material, or of one or more of them separately on in combination with
one another. We prefer to use wood for the construction of the solid
portion of the tablet, but we can use for the said purpose ivory, bone,
iron, brass, steel, or any metallic or hard substance, and we do not
confine ourselves to the use of any single kind of material. The
appearance of a tablet thus constructed will be when spread out for use
as follows:-i.e., the upper surface will appear to be of solid wood, being
in reality bars of wood running transversely or longitudinally (but
transversely is preferred), the edges of which press against each other,
and thus form an even and continuous surface on which to write, draw,
or paint, or to perform any kind of work. The lower surface will consist
of cloth, or leather, or other flexible material, which is to be attached to
the lower side of the bars by glue or other adhesive substance, or by
nails, screws, pins, or any kind of fasteners, thus the tablet when pressed
on the upper surface and supported by straps, or cords, or props, will
form a solid table, & when relieved of the said support or supports
may be rolled up in the manner of rolling up a sheet of music, and thus
it will occupy very little superficial area, and will be less cumbrous than
would be the case if the tablet were constructed in one solid piece.
We can construct the tablet in other ways than that described by
using tapes or bands, of any width or of any kind of material in
preference to the cloth or leather, under the whole of the wooden or
other surface, also by uniting the bars with hinges or other unions, but
we prefer to construct the tablet as above described subject to trifling
variations of detail. A penholder, brush holder, socket for holding a
candle or lamp, clamps for holding the paper in windy weather, and
other conveniences may be added. We do not bind ourselves to make
the upper and lower materials of equal size, nor do we confine ourselves
to the use of two materials only, as we may and will generally prefer to
use a greater number. For instance the under portion of the tablet
may consist of canvas attached to the cross bars, and the said canvas may
then be covered with cloth, or leather, or other material.
Our particular claim is the construction of an easel, or writing tablet,
or table, or desk to be used for any purpose which said easel, or writing

page_text: tablet, or table, or desk may be used as a firm instrument or be folded
or rolled up, or put into a smaller compass when not actually being
used, so as to be more portable, and more convenient for conveyance
than is the case with an ordinary easel, or writing tablet, or table, or
desk in accordance with the description above given.