Improvements in Tables with Jointed Tops.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Nov., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 21st Aug., 1890-Accepted, 27th Sept., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tables with Jointed Tops.
I, ARMAND CAMILLE FRANÇOIS BALNY, of 40 Rue du Faubourg, Saint Antoine,
Paris, France, Furniture Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention
to be as follows:-
It is known that tables of which the top folds into one, or many parts, especially
card tables, do not add at the same time to the decorative furniture of a room,
seeing that the hinges connecting the various parts remain apparent when the top is
folded.
This invention has for its object the obviation of this inconvenience by constructing
a new form of table in which the appearance offers the same completeness and artistic
finish whether the table top is drawn out or not.
In order to obtain this result 1 employ a projecting moulding upon one part of the
table top and which lies under the hinges when open and I combine a table top so
constructed either with a movable freize which may be brought over the hinge in
order to hide it, or with the same fixed freize, the table top in this case having a
vertical movement of displacement.
My invention comprises in particular two types, which vary only in the disposition
of the accessory covering freize. To more particularly describe these types:
:-
In the first type one of the hinged flaps or tops has its moulding extended beyond
the hinged joint so as to project beyond it. When open this moulding comes under-
neath the hinged joint and the table is provided, with inclined wedge pieces so as when
extended, it is caused to rise vertically and so rest upon the fixed freize surrounding
the table, on one side and covering the hinges when the table is closed and at the other
upon wings resting on inclined planes fixed within the body of the table where they
may be secured by spring stops.
When folded, that flap with the extended moulding beyond the hinges becomes
uppermost and the extended moulding covers the joint and the top of the freize
where the hinged ends of the table top are thrust against the before mentioned fixed
freize at one side of the table. The upper moulding of the top thus covers, and
hides both the hinged joint of the loose flap or top and the top of the fixed freize.
The jointed flaps are lowered by receding down the wedge shaped supports on to
the body of the table so as when closed to be flush with the aforesaid fixed freize.
In the other type when the hinged flaps or tops are folded together the hinged
joints are pushed against an apwardly projecting freize so that the top of the folded
table becomes flush with the upper surface of the said freize and thus offering a
finished appearance, the joint between the said folded flaps and freize being
disguised by the line of a projecting pannel provided on the outer surface of the
folded table.
When the table is open and extended, the said projecting freize must be lowered
out of the way to enable the extended top to lie uniformly upon the body frame of the
table.
This removal or lowering of the accessory freize may be effected in the following
alternative ways :—
The projecting part of the freize may be hinged to the lower body of the table and
supported in the desired position when the table is closed by the projection under the
hinged freize of a guide rod or rods sliding within one part of the hinged top of the
table, thus allowing the said hinged freize to fall, when the table top is drawn forward
on the body preparatory to opening the same.
Or, equivalently, the projecting freize which is to be lowered when the table is
extended open, may be free to slide in suitable dove tail guides. at one end of the

page_text: body of the table, thus when the table is extended the sliding freize is depressed,
and when the table is folded, the sliding freize is again raised so as to project
above the body of the table and form an accessory moulding against which the hinged
faces of the folded joints are thrust when the table is closed.
I give these types by way of illustration of specific ways in which an artificial
freize or moulding may be utilised to cover and hide the binged edges of the folded
table to produce a finished and artistic when fold. But it is obvious that I may use
other equivalent arrangements to produce the specified effect without departing from
the subject of my invention.
Dated this 21st day of November 1889
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tables with Jointed Tops.
I, ARMAND CAMILLE FRANCOIS BALNY, of 40 Rue du Faubourg, Saint Antoine,
Paris, France, Furniture Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
It is known that tables, of which the top folds into one, or many parts, especially
card tables, do not add at the same time to the decorative furniture of a room, seeing
that the hinges connecting the various parts remain apparent when the top is folded.
This invention has for its object the obviation of this inconvenience by constructing
a new form of table in which the appearance offers the same completeness-and artistic
finish whether the table top is drawn out or not.
In order to obtain this result I employ a projecting moulding upon one part of the
table top and which lies under the hinges when open and I combine a table top so
constructed either with a movable freize which may be brought over the hinge in
order to hide it, or with the same fixed freize, the table top in this case having a
vertical movement of displacement.
My invention comprises in particular two types which vary only in the disposition
of the accessory covering freize.
In order that my invention may be the better understood I will now proceed to
describe the same in relation to the drawings hereunto annexed as sample ways of
carrying out my invention, reference being had to the letters and figures marked
thereon. Like letters refer to like parts in the various figures.
Figure 1 is a side view of a card table with rounded ends, the two flaps forming the
top of the table folded upon one another.
Figure 2 is a plan of the same when shut, as shewn in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an end view of the table with the top expanded.
Figure 4 is a plan of the table as shewn in Figure 3.
Figure 5 shews a table with a frieze on its side covering the hinges.
Figure 6 is a plan of the same.
Figure 7 shews the same table opened, that is to say with the top expanded.
Figure 8 shews a sectional view of the side which carries the frieze for covering
the hinges, being constructed as a dove-tail to form a slide.
Figure 9 shews a table with the top folded, and a side frieze folded over the hinges.
Figure 10 represents the same table with the hinge covering frieze turned down.
Figure 11 shews a side view of the slide of the top of the table shewn in Figures 9
and 10.
As represented in Figure 1, when the table is folded, the two parts of the top a
and bare folded one over the other, and the hinges c are hidden by the side frieze d
which at the same time forms the end.
This frieze serves at the same time when the table is expanded as a support to the
top b as shewn in Figure 3..

page_text: This side of the table can be fixed or it can slide as shewn by dotted lines in Figure 3
so as to support the expanded top thus obviating the use of all moveable or slanting
supports.
In this case, in order to expand the table, the top is made to slide on the inclined
plane e situated in the body frame f.
This inclined plane forms a support to the top, on which it is fixed, and is stopped
by means of a latch g, adapted to operate at the two points corresponding to the
sliding up and sliding down of the inclined plane.
It must be noted that the upper part a of the top which folds round the hinge c,
carries a moulding under this hinge, which is carried around the hinge so as to lap
under the adjacent part of the top b.
In the position of the table as shewn in Figure 5 the two parts hi forming the top
are both turned down one on the other when the table is folded, which appears in
plan as shewn in Figure 6.
The hinges are hidden by one of the short sides k of the body frame, carrying the
frieze, of which the moulding completes the contour or finish of the table.
This table is unfolded as shewn in Figure 7 by lowering the side of the frame k,
which is moved in a vertical direction in a dove-tail 1, as shewn in Figure 8, or other
similar sliding arrangement.
The modification, as shewn in Figures 9, 10 and 11 carries a hinge-covering-
frieze, m, which hides the hinges n, and which folds over the side o as represented by
Figure 10, when the top of the table is to be expanded.
'
In this case one of the parts of the top carries underneath a slide p as shewn in
Figure 11.
It is to be well understood that the various details I have shewn can be varied in
their form, materials, or dimensions, without departing from my invention. Thus for
example the dove-tail side, represented by Figures 5, 7 and 8 can be maintained in its
upper position, either by a spring pressed stop, or by dowel pins disposed on the edges
of the top near the hinges.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
The construction and arrangement of card or other tables consisting of a top capable
of folding, and moveable either vertically or horizontally, or of both movements com-
bined at the same time, in combination with a special arrangement of a frieze or
moulding, moveable or fixed hiding the hinges of the top, and joining the rest of the
moulding of the table, of which the top may be solid wood or veneer, substantially as
described and illustrated in relation to the drawings hereunto annexed.
Dated this 21st day of Anonst 1890
FELL & WILDING,
1, Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., Agents for the Applicant.