Improvements in Apparatus for Supporting Seats or Flaps of Furniture and other articles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Supporting Seats or Flaps of
Furniture and other articles.
I, WILLIAM LEGGE, of 43, Limes Road, Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in the apparatus or means whereby extending
flaps of tables, counters, sewing machines, childrens or other vehicles, seats of chairs
or other articles in which the like is used or required are automatically fixed and
held in position for use.
In supporting flaps or seats according to my invention, I employ a stay or strut of
wood or other material pivoted or hinged at one end the other end being provided
with means to slide along a bar. The bar on which the end of the stay or strut slides
may be of iron or other material and is fastened to the flap or seat, it is provided
with a catch or lever pivoted at one end. The flap or seat is hinged to the desired
place by suitable hinges. The hinged or pivoted end of the stay or strut is fixed
to a convenient part of the article to which the seat or flap is applied, such pivot or
hinge being sufficiently distant from the centre of the hinge on the seat or flap
to cause a sliding motion on the abovementioned bar when the seat or flap is raised
or lowered. When the seat or flap is raised the stay or strut is automatically moved
along the fixed bar thereby causing the sliding end of such stay or strut to
automatically engage with the beforementioned catch or lever which holds the stay
or strut firmly and thereby fixes the seat or flap in the required position,-
provided for disengaging the catch or lever from the sliding end of the stay or strut
thereby releaseing the flap or seat and allowing it to move or fall in any given
position or angle.
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Improvements in Apparatus for Supporting Seats or Flaps of
Furniture and other articles.
I, WILLIAM LEGGE, of 43, Limes Road, Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Engineer,
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 improvements in apparatus whereby extending flaps of
tables, counters, sewing machine tables, childrens or other vehicles, seats of chairs,

page_text: or other articles in which the like are used or required, are automatically fixed and
held in position for use.
In the accompanying drawing are shown two forms of my invention by way of
illustration.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of a flap and a fixed portion with my improved means for
holding and releasing the former applied thereto the arrangement being one applicable
to a child's mail cart.
Fig. 1 is a plan looking upward of a catch or lever shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 2 shows the parts in a different position, and
Fig. 3 shows another form of such holding and releasing means applied to a table
flap or the like.
In Figs. 1, 1 and 2, I employ a stay or bar a which may be of metal, wood or suit-
able material pivoted to a bracket b on the underside of the fixed part cof the floor or
seat of the mail cart or the like to which the flap d is suitably hinged. The free end
of the stay or bar a carries a slotted block e which can slide on a bent bar or
guide attached to the underside of the flap d. The upper end of the block e
has a projection g having a curved back and an abrupt forward face as shown.
To the guide bar f is pivoted at i a catch or lever h, shewn in plan in Fig. 1A,
said catch having a cross piece provided with a sloping face j on the forward under side
and an abrupt rearward edge k.
When in the position shown in Fig. 1, the flap d if it is applied to a child's mail
cart, forms an extension of the bottom or seat and allows of a child reclining at length
on same and in this position the abrupt face of the projection gabuts against the edge
Ic of the cross piece of the catch or lever and the parts are held as shown by the
weight of the flap and the weight carried by same. To lower the flap the end
of the catch or lever is lifted by the hand thus removing the projection g from
the edge of the cross piece of the catch or lever when the flap will fall down,
the block e sliding along the bar f until it reaches the extremity of same as
shown in Figure 2. The flap is brought back into its open or raised position by
simply lifting same the curved back of the projection g striking the sloping face j of
the cross piece and lifting the catch or lever h until the cross piece has been
passed when the catch or lever will fall by its own weight into the position shown
in Figure 1 the projection abutting against the edge k of the cross piece.
In Fig. 3 the bracket b is secured to an upright part of the table c and the block e
has an abrupt face against which abuts the correspondingly shaped end of a curved
catch or lever h¹ pivoted at ¹ in a slotted or open part of the bar f and terminating
with a stud m pivotally secured thereto such stud projecting into a cup shaped socket
or recess n on the upper face of the flap so that the stud upon being pressed by the
finger will remove the end of the catch or lever from the face of the block e and
allow the flap to fall by its own weight to a right angle with the table top or other-
wise the act of restoring same being automatic and similar to that described with
reference to Figs. 1 and 2 as by raising the flap the curved portion of the catch or
lever h¹ is acted on by the block e so that the lever is raised until the block passes
the end of the same.
I do not limit myself to the precise forms of construction illustrated as they may
be varied without departing from my invention but―
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. For supporting seats or flaps of furniture and other articles, the employment
with a bar or guide on one of the parts of the article, of a pivoted catch, and a sliding
part connected to another part of the article the catch being adapted to automatically
engage with said sliding part in one position, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
2. For supporting seats or flaps of furniture and other articles, a stay or bar con-
nected to one of the parts of the article a block carried thereby adapted to slide on a

page_text: bar or guide carried by another part of the article a catch pivoted to said bar or guide
and adapted to automatically engage with the block in one position and means for
lifting the catch from the block substantially as and for the purpose described.
3. For supporting an extension or flap in a child's vehicle or mail cart a catch
carried on the underside of said flap, a stay or rod connected to the vehicle and a bar
or guide carried by said flap, the catch being provided with means for automatically
engaging the stay or rod when the flap is in its open position substantially as
described.
4. The construction and arrangement of parts substantially as and for the purposes
described and illustrated in Figs. 1, 1^ and 2.
5. The construction and arrangement of parts substantially as and for the purposes
described and illustrated in Fig. 3.
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PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent,
For the Applicant.