IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF SCHOOL DESKS AND SEATS, AND ALSO OF THE STANDARDS FOR SUPPORTING THEM.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Sidebotham, of the Borough of
Salford, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
ARRANGEMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF SCHOOL DESKS AND SEATS, AND ALSO OF
THE STANDARDS FOR SUPPORTING THEM.'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Henry
Sidebotham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 20th December 1872.
I, CHARLES HENRY SIDEBOTHAM, of the Borough of Salford, in the
3 County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF SCHOOL DESKS AND SEATS,
AND ALSO OF THE STANDARDS FOR SUPPORTING THEM," to be as follows :—
I make each standard with upright supports for the desk and seat,
cast together with a rib or rail at the bottom, and capable of being
applied to fixed or convertible desks. On the top of the upright
support for the desk there are two plates with a space between them, in
which space there is a double bracket bolted to the upright in order

page_text: •
to give additional lateral support to such wood work as may be fastened
to the upright; and in the top of each upright support for the seat
there is a slot in which is placed a T shaped casting to which the seat
is fixed, and on the casting there are bosses jointed by links to bosses
at the back and front of the upright below the slot, so that the seat
can be moved back to allow of the ingress and egress of the scholars,
and brought forward to enable them to be seated at the desk, the
length of movement being regulated by the length of the links, and
the distance between the bosses, and instead of using links and bosses,
toothed racks and pinions, or plain sides and spring bolts, or two plates
working on eccentric centres may be employed.
To secure the convertible desk at any desired angle or position, I
provide a casting formed at the top as a segment of a circle, having
in it a number of teeth or projections, and at the bottom is a flat plate
with two projecting bosses on the under side, which plate is fixed to the
two plates at the top of the upright support for the desk by means of
bolts passing through both plates and bosses, the wood work forming
the shelf of the desk being placed between the two plates. I also
provide a small casting consisting of a top piece containing a number
of locking teeth or projections corresponding with those in the segment
of the circle, and a side plate placed in side plates of another casting
to a top plate of which the desk board is secured, and these side plates
carry a cam or crank on a shaft having a square end, wing, nut, or
handle, and the cam or crank works in a slot in the side plate carrying
the locking teeth, so that when the cam or crank is moved in one
direction it will raise the teeth above the toothed segment and allow
the desk to be moved to any position, and when moved in the reverse
direction the locking teeth will gear firmly into the teeth in the segment
and keep the desk board steady.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Henry Sidebotham, Her special
license that I, the said Charles Henry Sidebotham, my executors, admin-
istrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Henry
Sidebotham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and. vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVED ÅRRANGEMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF SCHOOL
DESKS AND SEATS, AND ALSO OF THE STANDARDS FOR SUPPORTING THEM," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Henry Sidebotham,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
his, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Henry Sidebotham, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and, in what mauner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement (that is to say) :—
This Invention consists, first, in improved methods of securing the
school desks on the standards at any desired position by means of
stationary and moveable racks put in and out of gear by a cam, crank, or
eccentric; secondly, in improved modes of making the seats moveable
backwards and forwards by means of slides and links, or other equi-
valents; and, thirdly, in an improved method of constructing the
standards generally.
These improvements will be clearly understood by the following
particular description thereof, reference being had to the Figures on
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2 are
transverse and longitudinal elevations, and Figs. 3 and 4 similar views
of school desks and seats, arranged and constructed according to my

page_text: improvements; and Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are enlarged views of
parts of the same; and in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 the desk boards are
marked a, and the seats b. I make each standard for the desk and
seat with upright supports c, d, cast together with a rib or rail c at the
bottom, and this standard can be equally applied to fixed or convertible
desks. At the upper part of the upright carrying the desk there are two
plates or surfaces g, h, to which the desk shelf i in screwed or bolted,
the plates or surfaces being either separate, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2,
or cast with the upright as in Figs. 3 and 4.
The seat b, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 is fixed to a tee shaped casting k :
having bosses jointed by links to bosses at the front and back of the
upright c, so that the seat can be moved back to allow the ingress and
egress of the scholars, and be brought forward to enable them to be
seated at the desk, the length of the movement being regulated by the
length of the links and the distance between the bosses, and instead of
using links and bosses, toothed racks and pinions, or plain slides and
spring bolts, or two plates working on eccentric centres may be
employed.
In one arrangement for securing the convertible desk at any desired
angle or position, I cast on the plate g, Figs. 1, 2, 5, and 6, a segmental
piece having in its exterior a number of teeth or projections o, and at
the centre p of this piece is jointed the cheeks q of the plater to which
the desk board is fixed.
In guides in one of the cheeks q is placed a small plate s having at
one end a number of locking teeth or projections corresponding with
the teeth o in the segmental piece, and at or about the middle an oblong
slot in which is placed a cam or eccentric t fixed at one end of a shaft
having a wing or other shaped handle u, and when the cam or eccentric
is turned by the handle in one direction it will raise the teeth in the
plates above the teeth o in the segmental piece, and allow the desk to
be moved to any position, and when turned in the reverse direction the
locking teeth in the small plates will 'gear firmly in the teeth o and
keep the desk board steady.
In another arrangement for securing the desk at any required angle
or position, I use an internal segmental rack cast to the plate to which
the desk board is fixed, and place a locking plate in guides on a vertical
plate cast either to a separate plate on the shelf or to the upright itself,

page_text: the locking plate being moved to and fro as required by a cam or
eccentric turned by a handle, as before described.
In Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10, v represents the plate to which the desk
board is fixed; w, the internal segmental rack; x, the vertical plate to
which the rack wo and plate v are jointed; y, the locking plate placed in
guides on the vertical plate; and a', the cam or eccentric turned by a
wing handle b¹ for locking and unlocking the desk; and it will be seen
that in Figs. 7 and 8 the vertical plate is represented as being cast to a
separate plate g, and in Figs. 3, 4, and 10, to the upright d.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
I desire it to be understood that for school desks and seats, I claim, -
First. The improved methods of securing the school desks on the
standards at any desired position, by means of stationary and move-
able racks put in and out of gear by a cam, crank, or eccentric.
Secondly. The improved modes of making the seats movcable
backwards and forwards by means of slides and links or other cqui-
valents.
And, thirdly. The system of making the head of the standard
separate from the pillar or lower part, and connecting the two together
with the book shelf between them, as such improvements are herein
described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Henry Sidebotham, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of Junc, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
ATTA
TTY STARDANT U
.
("S'T)
HIOTICIS IN SVHO