IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO ADJUSTABLE CHAIRS OR SEATS
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Hugh Joseph Mohan and Ernest
Alexander Girvin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
18th April 1882.
HUGH JOSEPH MOHAN and ERNEST ALEXANDER GIRVIN of San Francisco in
the State of California United States of America. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
RELATING TO ADJUSTABLE CHAIRS OR SEATS.”
This invention relates to adjustable or automatic folding seats for use in public
halls, steamers, railway carriages, cars, and other places where the seats require to
be folded or otherwise adjusted for the purpose of utilizing the space otherwise
occupied by them.
The object of the said invention is to provide substantial and durable, plain or
ornamental, seats, for one or more persons, which seats may fold automatically
when not in use and which may be used in public halls, railway-carriages or cars,
ships, and steamers and all other places where it is desirable to economize space
by adjusting or removing the seats.
According to the said invention the back of the seat consists of a fixed part and
an adjustable part. The seat is also provided with an arm-rest a connecting rod, a
lower bearing for the said arm-rest a spring which throws up the sent a pivot for
the said arm-rest and an upper abutment which forms the stop and bearing for
the arm-rest when the same is in position to be used.
The frame and operating parts are constructed of any suitable material and are
hinged at the top and bottom to the wall or side of the car or other place and
may be swung round upon these binges against the wall. When used in railway
carriages or cars, the ceiling and sleeping shelves may be arranged to cover the
windows and protect the finished work of the car so that a portion of the car may
be employed to transport grain or other freight, or the ceiling and sleeping shelves
are taken apart and hooked into the side of the car in any suitable eye-holes and
the outer edge suspended by rods or any well known device and by means of
division boards or any suitable divisions; good sleeping berths may be formed for
emigrant cars-When used for single seats for public halls and the like the seat
and arms are thrown up by spiral springs which are arranged around the pivot-bar
which forms the hinge for the seat; the connecting rod forces the arm-rest up

page_text: thus leaving a clear space between tho sents sufficiently wide for a good passage
way while the back standing firmly up forms a good support for the hand and
prevents people from being crushed down in a rush or panic in case of fire When
a person wishes to occupy a sent he presses it down, the sent turning upon its
pivot and the arm-rest turning upon another pivot, the scat finds its bearing and
rest against the aforesaid abutinent and the arm-rest against another abutment.
When this scat is constructed for railway vehicles it may be folded with the front
of the seat against the side of the same leaving the body of the vehicle an open
hall or saloon to be used by a dancing party or for such other uses as require a
free floor.
Emigrant cars by swinging the seats so as to face the side of the car, and
covering the windows and finished part of the car, may be converted into freight
cars, and again converted into emigrant cars as will be readily understood. The
back of the seat may be made of strong or rough material and the seats arranged
back to back when in use.
Any suitable well known devices consisting of catches or stops may be employed
to hold the seats firmly in position when either open or closed and may be adjusted
by a touch of the band.