IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKING-CHAIRS AND CRADLES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROCKING-CHAIRS AND CRADLES." A communication from abroad by the
Walter Heywood Chair Company (Incorporated), of Fitchburgh, in the
County of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th November 1879.
"
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKING-CHAIRS AND CRADLES." [A com-
munication from abroad by the Walter Heywood Chair Company (Incorporated),
of Fitchburgh, in the County of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, United States
of America.]
The Invention relates to improvements in oscillating chairs, and it consists of a
base or supporting frame projecting upward on the two opposite sides of the chair,
to the upper ends of which frames are secured downward projecting flexible con-
necting links, the lower ends of which are secured to the downward projecting ends
of the chair frame.
The connecting links may be made of wood, metal, woven wire, or fibrous or
textile material. The object of the Invention is to produce a rocking chair in
which the weight of the person occupying it is transferred as a pulling strain to
the connecting links in the linear extension of the latter, by which arrangement a
very simple, durable, and comfortable rocking chair is produced, and one in which
the stiffness of the connecting links is increased in a ratio as the weight is increased
on the chair. This is a great advantage over ordinary chairs in which the rocking
springs generally grow weaker as the weight upon the chair increases.
Stops on the supporting frames or base, or on the downward projecting chair
frames serve to prevent the chair seat from rocking too far in either direction.
This improvement is equally well adapted for cradles and chairs.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
May 1880.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKING CHAIRS AND CRADLES." A com-
munication from abroad by the Walter Heywood Chair Company (Incorporated),
of Fitchburgh, in the County of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, United States
of America.
This Invention relates to improvements in oscillating chairs, and it consists of a
base or supporting frame projecting upward on the two opposite sides of the chair,
to the upper ends of which frames are secured downward projecting flexible con-
necting links, the lower ends of which are secured to the downward projecting ends
of the chair frame, as will hereinafter be fully shown and described. The connecting
links may be made either of wood, metal, woven wire, or fibrous or textile material.
The object of the Invention is to produce a rocking chair in which the weight of
the person occupying it is transferred as a pulling strain to the connecting links in
the linear extension of the latter, by which arrangement a very simple, durable, and
comfortable rocking chair is produced, and one in which the stiffness of the
connecting links is increased in a ratio as the weight is increased on the chair.
This is a great advantage over ordinary chairs in which the rocking springs
generally grow weaker as the weight upon the chair increases. Stops may be made
either on the supporting frames or base, or on the downward projecting chair
frames, so as to prevent the chair seat from rocking too far in either direction.
This improvement is equally well adapted for cradles and chairs.
In the accompanying Drawings Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the
improved rocking chair; Figure 2 represents a side elevation; and Figure 3
represents a central longitudinal section. Similar letters refer to similar parts
wherever they occur on the Drawings.
a, a, a, a, represent the base or supporting frames; and a¹, a¹, are the upper ends
as shown; b, 61, 62, represent rounds or braces by which the frames a, a, are con-
nected; c is the back and d is the seat for the chair; e, e, e, e, are the downward
projecting chair frames; and e¹, e¹, are their lower ends as shown; f, f, represent
the flexible connecting links that are each secured at their upper ends to the upper
ends a¹ of the frames a, a, and at their lower ends to the lower ends e¹ of the
downward projecting chair frame e as shown, and for the purpose set forth; b² and b³
serve as stops on the frames a, a, against which the frames e, e, come in contact
when the chair is rocked to its limit in either direction; but such stops may be
either wholly dispensed with, or their location transferred or otherwise changed
without departing from the essence of the Invention.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of performing the
Bame, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The herein described rocking chair consisting of the base or supporting
frames a, a, downward projecting chair frames e, e, and the flexible connecting
links f, f, as and for the purpose set forth.
Second. In combination the base or supporting frames a, a, chair frames e, e,
flexible connecting links f, f, and stops 62, 63, as and for the purpose herein set forth
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
1
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)