AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTING, MAKING, OR MANUFACTURING OF CHAIRS, WHICH I INTEND TO DENOMINATE MINTER'S PATENT RECLINING CHAIR
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
MINTER, of Princes Street, Soho, in the County of Middlesex, Upholsterer,
Cabinet and Chair Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Ninth day of November, in the first year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said George Minter, His special licence
that I, the said George Minter, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said George Minter, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTING,
MAKING, OR MANUFACTURING OF CHAIRS, WHICH I INTEND TO DENOMINATE MINTER'S
PATENT RECLINING CHAIR;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, that I, the said George Minter, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.

page_text: position. In sitting or reclining in a chair constructed in the manner above
described a person may have the back at any inclination. For instance, if he
desire that the inclination should be greater than that shewn in the Drawing,
all that will be necessary will be to press against the back a of the chair, when
the upper part, or that part which is above the point of suspension (f. f), will
be forced backwards, whilst the lower part, that is, the part which is below the
point of suspension, will be raised inwards, and become a support for the loins
of the person sitting or reclining in the chair; and by this action the parts h, h,
pass along the curved ends i, i, of the side framing of the seat b, which is
thereby raised, by which means the weight on the seat, by pressing on the
parts h, h, supports the back a of the chair in any position; and it will be
evident that by the passing or advancing of the parts h, h, along the curved
ends i, i, they will approach the weight on the seat b, and thereby shorten the
leverage and consequently lessen the action of such weight, whereby the back a
may be continued to be pressed into a greater inclination by a decreasing effort
or exertion of the person sitting or reclining in such chair; and thus will the
leverage by which the weight on the seat bacts on the back a of the chair be
continually adjusted by the advancing or receding of the parts h, h, on which
the seat b rests, and by the seat so resting and pressing on those parts h, h, the
back will always be supported, and will offer sufficient resistance and give
proper support to the person sitting or reclining in such chair. If it be desired
to bring the back a into a lesser inclination than that at which it may at any
times be placed, it will only be necessary for the person sitting or reclining
in such chair to relieve the pressure from the back of the chair, and thus
bring the weight on the seat to act without any counteracting pressure on the
back, which will cause the parts h, h, to recede back on the curved ends i, i,
and thus bring the back a into a lesser inclination.
Having now described the various parts represented in the Drawing, and
the manner of their action, I would have it understood that I lay no claim to
the separate parts of a chair which are already known and in use, neither do I
confine myself to making them in the precise shapes or forms represented;
but what I claim as my Invention is, the application of a self-adjusting leverage
to the back and seat of a chair, whereby the weight on the seat acts as a
counterbalance to the pressure against the back of such chair, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Minter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of January, One thousand eight hundred
GEORGE (L.S.) MINTER.
.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1831, the aforesaid George Minter came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-one.