Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 15th Mar., 1894
Complete Specification Left. 15th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 30th June, 1894
Shoulder and Daun
Mrs. LEOPOLDINA HARVEY, Music-teacher, and JACOB AMOS, Copper Worker,
all residing at Los Angeles in the County of Los Angeles and State of California,
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:-
Our invention relates to chairs having shoulder bracing appliances secured to
their backs.
The object of our invention is to provide improved chair appliances adapted to
brace the occupant of the chair in an upright position.
Our invention is specially applicable to piano stools and typewriters' chairs but
can also be applied in the apparatus for the treatment of those mentally in-
competent such as idiots and insane persons where it is desired to have them sit in
an upright position. It can also be applied to seats for pupils and others
sedentarily employed to hold such person in an upright position.
The accompanying drawings illustrate our invention.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the seat of a piano stool with our chair back
in position for use. The rails of the back are broken to show journals of the
upright shaft. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same on the line indicated by
2-2, Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse section looking down on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a fragmentary transverse section looking down on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 is a detail showing the front edge of the under side of the stool seat shown
in Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of the upper part of Fig. 2.
Our invention comprises the combination with the chair seat A. and the stationary
back A fixed to such seat, and provided with the back supporting cross rail a¹ and
the shaft supporting cross rail at of the upright rotatable shaft B journalled in the
cross rails a and a² of the chair back at or near the midwidth thereof, and adapted
to rotate with relation to the back and its cross-rails, and cross bar C secured to
and carried by such upright shaft and adapted to rotate therewith, a sliding bar D
arranged to slide back and forth upon the cross-bar, and straps E E' or other
suitable fastenings secured to the cross-bar through the medium of such sliding bar
and adapted to fasten the shoulders of the occupant of the seat to the cross-bar so
that the occupant of the chair will be held in an upright position thereby but will
be allowed freedom to turn the body and to shift the body sidewise while, at the
same time the chair back remains stationary so that when the occupant presses
against it, it will tend to bring him to a proper straight and upright position and

page_text: prevent any careless position or any leaning to one side, unintentional deflections
or turning from the position desired to be normally maintained.
Our invention also comprises the combination with the elements above specified,
of a suitable spring, such as the spring rod F arranged across the back to engage
the upright B and hold it in position with the cross-bar C in line with the plane of
the chair back as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but to allow the upright to be turned
under suitable pressure thus to allow the body to be turned while the straps are
caused to exert a constant pressure to return the body to its normal position with
the shoulders parallel with the chair back. As shown, the upright B is flat at the
point where it rests against the spring rod F so that the partial rotation of the
upright will cause the spring rod F to be sprung out of its normal position with
the cross bar extending cross-wise the chair-back.
g
It is sometimes desirable to hold the occupant of the chair rigidly erect without
giving the freedom of movement that is given when the upright is partially allowed
to rotate and for this purpose we provide the sliding clamp G which is provided at
its upper end with the spring rod receiving bracket 9 adapted to embrace the spring
rod and thus clamp the pivoted upright and the spring rod together so that the
upright will be prevented from rotating. When it is desired to allow the upright
to rotate, the clamp is lowered into the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. g¹ is a
thumb screw to hold the clamp G in place on the upright.
To adapt the same appliance for use for children of different ages or for use for
the child at different stages of growth, we adjustably secure the cross-bar C to the
upright B. This is done by means of the cross-bar clamp C¹ which clamps upon
the upright and to which the cross-bar C is attached. This clamp is held in
position on the upright by the thumb screw c. When the thumb screw is loosened,
the clamp can be slid up and down along the upright thus to adjust the cross-bar to
the proper height.
dd indicate the journals of the sliding bar D. When the occupant of the chair
sways his body sidewise the sliding bar slides along the rod C until the journal
piece dor d'engages the clamp C₁. This allows sufficient latitude of movement
for swaying the body.
H is a cushion for the small of the back, and is made vertically adjustable by
means of set screws h which are secured to the cushion and play vertically in the
guide ways II secured to the back of the chair. Only one of these screws h are
shown but it is to be understood that there is one for each guide way and that we
do not limit ourselves to the number of screws for securing the cushion nor to any.
particular means for securing the cushion in place.
As shown, the vertical guide ways I I, along which the securing screws / slide
are fixed to the lower cross rail a and a bottom cross rail a' of the chair back.
The vertical shaft B is provided at its respective ends with journals 6 6'. The
upper journal 6 is seated in the upper cross' rail a¹ and the lower journal 6¹ is seated
in the cross rail a². In practice the cushion is adjusted vertically and the cross
bar C, is also adjusted vertically and the cushion and cross bar are thus arranged
vertically with relation to each other and operate in conjunction with each other to
secure perfect ease combined with a firm support for the shoulders.
In order to adapt our invention for convenient attachment to any piano stool we
provide the chair back A at its lower end with horizontal arms a and we provide
sockets J J on the under side of the seat of the stool to receive the arms a and thus
secure the back to the seat. Suitable automatic catches or locking devices K are
provided to automatically catch and secure the arms in position when fully seated
in the sockets. As shown these locking devices consist of a spring pressed bolt k
and a catch on the arm with which the bolt engages.
In practice the chair back is fixed in place by inserting its arms a into the
sockets J J and allowing the bolts to shoot into position to engage the catches 11.
Then the shoulder straps E E¹ are placed around the shoulders of the occupant and
secured by the breast straps e e'. Then if the occupant is to be given freedom of
movement, the clamp G is allowed to be in the position free from the spring rod F

page_text: as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The cross-bar C is adjusted to the proper height
and secured in that position by turning the thumb screw c to clamp against the
upright B. The back cushion H is also adjusted to the proper height and secured
by the thumb screw h. The appliance will hold the occupant in an erect position
but will give such freedom for swaying and turning the body as may be necessary
in playing a piano, operating a type-writer or performing other sedentary
occupations.
When it is desired to hold the body more rigid the clamp G is slid up into
position so that its bracket 9 will receive the spring rod F thus to prevent the
upright from rotating.
If it is desired to use the piano stool without the bracing back the bolte k k are
withdrawn from their engagement with the arms a and the arms are withdrawn
from their sockets thus releasing the back from the stool.
Now having particularly ascertained the nature of our said invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, what we claim as new, and desire to
secure by Letters Patent, is :-
1. The combination with the chair seat and the stationary back fixed thereto and
provided with the back supporting cross-rail, of an upright shaft journalled to the
back at or near the midwith thereof under such cross-rail and adapted to rotate
with relation to the back and the cross-rail, a cross-bar secured to and carried by
such upright shaft and suitable shoulder fastenings secured to the cross-bar.
2. The combination with the chair seat and the stationary back provided with
the back supporting cross-rail, of an upright shaft journalled to the back below the
cross-rail at or near the midwidth of the back, a cross-bar secured to and carried by
such upright shaft, a sliding bar arranged to slide upon the cross-bar and suitable
shoulder fastenings secured to such sliding bar.
3. The combination with the chair seat and back of an upright shaft pivoted to
the back at or near the mid-width thereof, a cross-bar secured to such upright
shaft, a spring arranged to maintain the shaft in normal position with the cross-bar
in line with the plane of the back and suitable shoulder fastenings secured to the
cross-bar.
4. The combination with the chair seat and back of an upright shaft pivoted to
the back at or near the mid-width thereof, a cross-bar secured to such upright
shaft, a sliding bar arranged to slide upon the cross-bar, a spring arranged to hold
the shaft in its normal position with the cross-bar in line with the plane of the back
and suitable shoulder fastenings secured to the sliding bar.
5. In a shoulder and back bracing chair, the combination of the seat and back;
the spring rod arranged across the back; the upright shaft journalled to the back
intermediate its edges, provided with the cross-bar and shoulder fastenings and
having a flat face arranged to engage the spring rod.
C. In a shoulder and back bracing chair, the combination of the seat and back;
the spring rod arranged across the back of the chair, the upright shaft journalled
to the chair-back intermediate its edges and provided with the cross-bar and
shoulder fastenings and with the flat face arranged to engage the spring rod, and
the clamp arranged upon the pivoted shaft and adapted to clamp the rod against
the shaft.
7. In a shoulder and back bracing chair, the combination of the seat, the
stationary back secured to the seat and provided with a back supporting cross rail,
the cross-bar secured to such back below such cross-rail by suitable means adapted
and arranged to rotate in a horizontal plane, such means, and suitable shoulder
fastenings for securing such cross-bar to the shoulders of the occupant of the
chair.
8. A shoulder and back bracing chair comprising, in combination, the seat, the
stationary back secured to the seat and provided with a back supporting cross-rail,
the rotatable cross-bar secured to such chair back below such cross-rail by suitable
means adapted to rotate in a horizontal plane, such means, means for vertically

page_text: adjusting such cross-bar, suitable shoulder fastenings secured to such bar, and a
vertically adjustable back cushion secured to the chair back.
Dated this 15th day of March 1894.
MRS. LEOPOLDINA HARVEY.
JACOB AMOS.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicants.