A NEW OR IMPROVED FOLDING ARM-CHAIR
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Beck, of 139, Cannon Street, in the
City of London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, for an Invention of
" A NEW OR IMPROVED FOLDING ARM-CHAIR." A communication from abroad
by Etienne Dubreil, of Saint Nazaire (Loire Inférieuro), in the Republic of
France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Beck at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st May 1881.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer and Patent Agent. "A NEW OR IMPROVED FOLDING ARM-CHAIR.”
A communication from abroad by Etienne Dubroil, of Saint Nazaire (Loire
Inférieure), in the Republic of France.
usc.
This new folding arm chair has none of the inconveniences of those at present in
There is no fear of breakage of hinges, as they are suppressed; all the joints
are made by means of grooves, screws, and bolts. All the wood employed being
used lengthwise of the grain its whole strength is preserved. The back is a caned
frame, very thin, and flexible in the direction of its thickness, so that it takes
naturally the form of the back of the person using it; it is as suitable for a hunch-
back as for a well formed person, but it is stiff in the direction of its width so as
to strain the cano.
This improved arm chair is most comfortable and very voluminous when opened,
but when closed it occupies a much smaller space than folding arm chairs in actual
use.
The chair consists of two wooden standards jointed at a certain point to two
longer ones, all four presenting the same square section of about three centimetres
each side.
The two first mentioned standards are connected together below by a cross piece,
and above to the other standards by arms which are jointed thereto, and allow the
first mentioned standards to close upon the longer ones. For this purpose the
aforesaid arms are furnished outside with an iron rod, which passes into a ring
with which the shorter standards are furnished at their ends. The arms may also
be made of leather straps if preferred.

page_text: Above the points where tho two standards are jointed together the longer
standards receive the back, which consists of a wooden frame caned inside, sliding
below by means of a metallic cross piece in grooves formed on the inner sides of
the longer standards. At the top these longer standards are connected together by
an iron cross piece, and are grooved to constitute slides which receive elastic brackets.
These brackets are intended to hold the back and all the mechanism connectod
with it in place when the chair is opened out. They are fixed at the top of the
frame of the back, and suitable stops limit their projection outwards; an iron wire
attached to both of these brackets allows of their being acted upon simultaneously
by a force applied at one of its points, so as to draw the brackets against the sides
of the frame of the back, and thus to prepare them to enter the grooves of the
longer standards.
To the longer standards, at a point a little below the joints connecting the two
sets of standards, is jointed a caned seat, the wooden frame of which is formed of
two sides and two cross pieces. Beyond the lower of these cross pieces the sides
of the seat are prolonged and are jointed to an extension thereof, which is also
formed of a caned frame.
Two legs connected together by a strap support the outer end of the seat and
the extension thereof, the one being jointed to the frame of the extension at the
outer cross piece, and the other under the outer cross piece of the seat.
The frame of the seat is continued backwards beyond the joints connecting it to
the standards, and has connected to it and applied against the side of the seat
an iron cross piece, the ends of which take into grooves formed in the shorter
standards, and finally this cross piece is connected by two links to the frame of
the back.
•
The folding up of the chair is effected in the following manner:-By means of
the iron wire connected to the brackets the ends of the latter, which form stops
on the ends of the longer standards, are drawn inwards. It is then sufficient to
push in the back in order to move and fold up the whole; the standards close up
one beside the other; the seat is raised and lays against the back; the legs are
lowered, and the extension of the seat covers the whole, enclosing the legs between
itself and the lower part of the seat. The whole thus takes in a moment the form
of a perfectly level panel of about 3 centimetres thick, 96 centimetres long by
58 centimetres wide, more or less. When thus closed and placed on a smooth
surface none of the principal pieces project. It may therefore be stowed without
being specially packed, and may support any load whatever, which indeed instead
of deforming it only improves the construction and corrects the warping if any has
taken place.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Henry Beck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd November 1881.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer and Patent Agent. "A NEW OR IMPROVED FOLDING CHAIR." A com-
munication from abroad by Etienne Dubreil, of St. Nazaire, Loiro Inféricuro, in
the Republic of France.
The Invention relates to a new or improved folding chair represented in the
accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 shows a side elevation; Fig. 2, a plane
view of the same; and Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, plane and side views of the same when
closed.
This new folding arm chair has none of the inconveniences of those at present in
use. There is no fear of breakage of hinges as they are suppressed; all the joints
are made by means of grooves, screws, and bolts. All the wood employed being
used lengthwise of the grain its whole strength is preserved. The back is a caned
frame, very thin and flexible in the direction of its thickness, so that it takes
naturally the form of the back of the person using it; it is as suitable for a hunch-
back as for a well formed person, but it is stiff in the direction of its width, so as
to strain the cane.
This improved arm-chair is most comfortable and very voluminous when opened,
but when closed it occupies a much smaller space than folding arm chairs in actual
Usc.
The chair consists of two wooden standards a, a, jointed at a certain point o to
two longer ones b, b¹, all four presenting the same squaro section of about three
centimetres each side.
The two first mentioned standards a are connected together below by a cross
piece a', and above to the other standards 6 by arms d*, which are jointed thereto,
and allow the first mentioned standards a to close upon the longer ones b. For
this purpose the aforesaid arms dx are furnished outside with an iron rod ¹¹,
which passes into a ring a³ with which the shorter standards are furnished at their
ends. The arms may also be made of leather straps if preferred.
Above the points c, where the two standards are jointed together, the longer
standards b receive the back d, which consists of a wooden frame caned f, g, f¹, g¹,
inside, sliding below by means of a metallic cross piece h, in grooves formed on
the inner sides of the longer standards b, b¹. At the top these longer standards b
are connected together by an iron cross piece k, and are grooved to constituto
slides which receive elastic brackets m, m. These brackets are intended to hold
the back and all the mechanism connected with it in place when the chair is
opened out. They are fixed at the top of the frame of the back at m¹, and suitable
stops m² limit their projection outwards; an iron wire attached to both of these
bracket, allows of their being acted upon simultaneously by a force applied at
one of its points so as to draw the brackets against the sides of the frame of the
back, and thus to prepare them to enter the grooves of the longer standards b.
To the longer standards b, at a point i a little below the joints c connecting the
two sets of standards, is jointed a caned soat 8, the wooden frame of which is
formed of two sides p, p, and two cross pieces n, n'. Beyond the lower n' of
these cross pieces, the sides p, p, of the seat are prolonged, and are jointed to an
extension thereof, which is also formed of a caned frame q, q', t, t¹.
Two legs x, x, connected together by a strap a³, support the outer end of the
seat and the extension thereof, the one being jointed to the frame of the extension
at the outer cross piece t, and the other under the outer cross piece m³ of the
seat,

page_text: The frame of the seat is continued backwards beyond the joints i connecting it
to the standards, and has connected to it and applied against the side n of the seat
an iron cross piece v, the ends of which take into grooves v' formed in the shorter
standards a, and finally this cross piece v is connected by two links y to the frame
of the back cl.
The folding up of the chair is effected in the following manner :-By means of
the iron wire l, connected to the brackets m, the ends of the latter, which form
stops on the ends of the longer standards b, are drawn inwards; it is then sufficient
to push in the back in order to move and fold up the whole; the standards a and b
close up one beside the other; the seat & is raised and lays against the back; the
legs x, x, are lowered, and the extension of the seat covers the whole, enclosing
the legs x, x¹, between itself and the lower part of the seat. The whole thus takes
in a moment the form of a perfectly level panel of about 3 centimetres thick,
96 centimetres long, by 58 centimetres wide, more or less. When thus closed and
placed on a smooth surface, none of the principal pieces project. It may therefore
be stowed without being specially packed, and may support any load whatever,
which indeed instead of deforming it only improves the construction, and corrects
the warping if any has taken place.
The construction of the folding chair above described may be modified by
leaving out the spring brackets m, m, the straps m², and the iron wire if attached
to them.
The said construction may also be modified after leaving out the parts as above,
and afterwards by fixing the chair back to the standards b, instead of having them
to run in the slides, and by leaving out the connecting rods y.
The construction of the chair may also be modified by substituting a canvas
back for the cane one, but in this case an iron rod pivoted and bent in the form of
an arch, folding upon itself, constitutes the top of the chair, and the canvas will be
fixed upon this rod and operated by straps, the ends of which will be fastened to
the iron arched rod and to the arms, so as to fold up the back when the chair
is required to be closed.
The construction of all these folding chairs may be varied in form, material, and
dimension of their constituent parts.
Having thus described the said Invention, and the manner of carrying it into
effect, I claim,-
The arrangement and fitting of the joints, brackets, standards, and arms of the
chair, of the extension and of the legs of the latter, and especially the chair back
sliding in grooves in two of the standards, stayed by spring brackets when the
chair is opened out, and bound by connecting rods at the back of the seat, so that
by working the chair back the chair can be either opened or closed, substantially
as above described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Beck, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Twentysecond day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and cighty-one.