AN IMPROVED ADJUSTABLE CHAIR
Year: 1885

page_text: I ALEXANDER M°DONALD of 46 Watergate Street Chester in the county of
Chester Dental Surgeon do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"AN IMPROVED ADJUSTABLE CHAIR" to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the construction of an improved adjustable chair for
the use of invalids and others.
.
In carrying out my invention I form the chair with suitable feet and a support
having a screw for raising or lowering the seat of the chair; the said screw is
operated by means of a tube which extends to the bottom of the screw and
is attached to a second tube which extends to the top of the screw and operates
a nut which works the screw up and down; between the two tubes is a third tube
which is attached to and rises and falls with the screw and conceals it from view,
thereby giving it the appearance of a shaft. The seat is provided with a quadrant
or its equivalent on its under side whereby the seat can be tilted or inclined towards
the front or back. Suitable arm rests are provided on bars, which arm rests can
be raised or lowered to any required height or be entirely removed from the chair
by means of a screw arrangement; the arm rests can be tilted or inclined at any
required angle by means of a quadrant or its equivalent. The back of the chair is
pivotted to the seat and carries toothed wheels having a suitable brake or catches
operated by springs, by which means the back of the chair can be raised or lowered
to any required angle. I also provide a detachable rest which can be employed
when required for resting the shoulders of the person using the chair. This rest con-
sists of a reversible arm one side of which is straight and the other side bent in the
form of a staff; it is so arranged that it can be raised or lowered on a sliding bar;
the staff side of the arm is turned upwards and the said arm is placed under the
arm pits of the person using the chair if such person be liable to fainting fits or in
like cases whereby the person will be supported in a proper position and his or her
arms will be prevented from lying heavily against his or her sides and respiration
and circulation will be thereby assisted.

page_text: I ALEXANDER MCDONALD of 16 Watergate Street, Chester, in the county of
Chester, Dental Surgeon 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:
}
I.
し
This invention relates to the construction of an improved adjustable chair for
the use of invalids and others.
In carrying out my invention I form the chair with suitable feet and a tube or
support having a screw or screws for raising or lowering the seat of the chair; one
of the said screws which is tubular is operated by a nut so as to slide within the
said tube or support which with the feet forms the bottom or base of the chair;
within the said tubular screw works a second screw which is operated by a nut
which works the screw up and down. The seat is provided with a quadrant or its
equivalent on its under side whereby the seat can be tilted or inclined towards the
front or back. Suitable arm rests are provided on bars which arm rests can be
raised or lowered to any required height (or be entirely removed from the chair)
by means of a set screw and sliding arrangement; the arm rests can be tilted or
inclined at any required angle by means of a quadrant or its equivalent. The
back of the chair pivotted or jointed to the seat and carries a toothed wheel or
ratchet having a suitable catch operated by springs or otherwise by which means
the back of the chair can be raised or lowered to any required angle. I also
provide a detachable rest which can be employed when required for resting the
shoulders of the person using the chair. This rest consists of a reversible arm one
side of which is straight and the other side bent or curved in the form of a staff;
it is so arranged that it can be raised or lowered by means of a sliding bar.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describé
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which tigure 1 represents
à side elevation of my improved adjustable chair, the seat of the same being shewn
in its lowest position and the back inclined at an angle of about forty five degrees
to the vertical; figures 2 and 3 are a side elevation and a front elevation respec-
tively shewing the seat elevated into its highest position the back being brought
nearer the vertical; figure 4 is a plan of figure 2; figure 5 is a detached side
elevation of one of the shoulder rests. Similar letters in all the figures represent
similar parts.
a, a, represent the feet and b, the tube or support of the chair; c, and d, are the
screws for raising and lowering the seat e, of the chair; f, is the nut provided with
handles g, g, for rotating the same whereby the screw c, is operated so that it slides
within the tube or support b, which with the feet a, a, forms the bottom or base
of the chair; the tubular screw o, is provided with a projection or feather h, at its
lower end sliding in a groove i, in the tube or support b, whereby the tube c, is
guided vertically and is prevented from rotating when operated by the nut f; the

page_text: screw d, is provided with a projection or feather j, similar to that on the screw c,
and sliding in a groove k, in the tubular screw c, similar to that shewn at i, and
serving for a like purpose; l, is the nut for operating the screw d, and m, m, arẻ
the handles of the same; n, is the quadrant on the underside of the seat e, fixed
thereto whereby the seat can be tilted or inclined towards the front or towards the
back as shewn in dotted lines in figure 2, the seat being pivotted to the top screw
of the
at o, for this purpose; p, is a set screw for fixing, passing through the slot
quadrant and serving to fix the seat when it has been adjusted in the required
position; r, r, are the arm rests and 8, 8, are the bars carrying the same, the said
bars sliding in sockets t, t, fixed to the sides of the seat e, so as to allow of the arm
rests being raised or lowered to any required height; u, u, are the set screws for
securing the same in their adjusted positions; or the arms rests 7, can be removed
entirely from the seat e, if required, by sliding the bars 8, out of their sockets t;
v, v, are the quadrants; ww, the set screws and x, x, the pivots of the arm rests r, r,
operating in a similar manner to those of the seat e, to allow of the rests being
tilted or inclined at any required angle as shewn in dotted lines in figure 1; y, is
the back of the chair pivotted or jointed to the seat at z; a', is the toothed wheel
or ratchet and 61, the catch or pawl which is weighted at its inner end to cause it
to engage with the ratchet by which means the back y, of the chair can be raised
or lowered to any required angle as shewn by figures 1 and 2 which represent. the
back inclined at two different angles; the pawl b¹, is disengaged from the ratchet a¹,
to allow of lowering the back y, by depressing the projecting outer end of the same;
cl, is a spine support jointed at d¹, to allow of it adjusting itself to the back of the
person using the chair; the height of the said support c¹, can also be adjusted by
sliding the same in a slot e¹, in the back y, of the chair, f¹, being a set screw for
fixing it in position; g', is a rest for the head of the person seated in the chair
which rest can be adjusted by means of a quadrant h¹, pivot ¹, and set screw ¹,
with which it is provided operating similarly to those of the seat and arm rests;
k, is the support of the head rest g', consisting of a rod or bar sliding in a socket m¹,
similarly to the arm rests r, and fixed in position when its height has been adjusted
by means of a set screw n¹; the upper end of the rod or bar k¹, is forked at o¹, to
receive a sliding rack pl, carrying the head rest g¹ and operated by a pinion q¹, in
order to place the head rest further backwards or forwards as required; r¹, is a set
screw for fixing the rack in position when adjusted; Figure 5 represents the detach-
able rest which can be employed when required for resting the shoulders of the
person using the chair and which is placed in the position on the chair shewn in
dotted lines in figure 2; 8¹, is the arm formed as shewn with a straight part and
an upwardly curved part; t', is the sliding bar working in a socket having a set
screw (not shewn in the drawing) similar to the herein before described sockets and
set screws for the arm and head rests; the said arm is placed under the arm pits
of the person using the chair if such person be liable to fainting fits or in like
cases whereby the person will be supported in a proper position and his or her
arms will be prevented from lying heavily against his or her sides and respiration
and circulation will be thereby assisted.
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. In an adjustable chair the combination of the tube or support b, tubular
screw c, and screw d; arranged to be operated by the nuts 1, for raising and
lowering the chair substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in the
accompanying drawing.
2. An adjustable chair having arm rests which can be adjusted to any required
angle relatively to the seat of the chair and to any required height by suitable
means substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying
drawing.

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3. In an adjustable chair the employment for altering the positions of the arm
rests and head rest of quadrants or their equivalents and bars adapted to slide and
be fixed in sockets substantially as hereinbefore described and represented in the
accompanying drawing.
4. The improved adjustable chair hereinbefore described and represented in the
accompanying drawing.