Improvements relating to Seats for the Use of Shop Assistants and for other Purposes.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 29th May, 1899
Complete Specification Left, 28th Feb., 1900-Accepted, 31st Mar., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Seats for the Use of Shop Assistants
and for other Purposes.
I, JOSEPH BENJAMIN BRUCE, of Ernest Street, Holloway Head, in the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
My invention has for its object the construction and arrangement of compact
and convenient seats for the use of shop assistants and for other purposes, and
which when not required can be readily pressed into a narrow space under the
counter or elsewhere.
In the construction of one type of my improved seats, I employ a rectangular
or other bar, preferably of iron or steel, which I so twist or otherwise form that
the respective surfaces of the two ends shall lie at right angles to each other.
The circular or other shaped seat of wood or other material, I attach to a portion
of one end of the bar which is preferably so bent back that the edge of the seat
will not project beyond the loop so formed in the bar.
The seat with the attached bar is supported by means of a pair of brackets
secured under the counter or elsewhere. One of such brackets is arranged to
receive the forward end of the twisted bar whilst the other bracket is arranged
to receive the rear end of such bar, but I preferably so shape the bar at its
twisted part and the interior or socket like portion of the forward bracket, that
on pushing back the seat to its out of service position it is automatically turned
at right angles, or from a horizontal to a vertical position, and is thus packed
within so narrow a space under the counter as to cause little or no obstruction
to the storage of boxes or other articles usually placed under the counter. On
drawing out the seat for use it is automatically turned from the vertical to the
horizontal position.
The rear supporting bracket has a through way aperture sufficiently large to
allow the bar to rest therein with its feet or wider sides either horizontal or
vertical. But to prevent undue lateral movement I preferably employ a circular
socket piece which I screw into the central portion of the bracket, and having
an eye or aperture corresponding with the section of the bar; as the bar turns
through a right angle to change its position the socket piece turns with it and
thus I provide for the necessary freedom of movement whilst limiting the lateral
or side play.
Instead of arranging for both the seat and the bar to be turned automatically
through a right angle as hereinbefore described, I sometimes provide for a sliding
or lifting movement of the bar but so connect the seat with the bar that the
former can be turned through a right angle, to place it and secure it in its service,
or out of service position as may be required.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, &
25, Cross Street, Manchester,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements relating to Seats for the Use of Shop Assistants
and for other Purposes.
I, JOSEPH BENJAMIN BRUCE, of Ernest Street, Holloway Head, in the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement ;-
1
My invention has for its object the construction and arrangement of compact
and convenient seats for the use of shop assistants and for other purposes, and
which when not required can be readily pressed or drawn into a narrow space
under the counter or elsewhere.
The three accompanying sheets of explanatory drawings to be hereinafter
referred to, illustrate the application of my invention.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 a plan representing one form of my
improved seat when in position for service.
Figure 3 is an end section on the line ab (Figure 1) and Figure 4 an end
section on the line c d (Figure 1).
Figure 5 is a side elevation and Figure 6 an end elevation showing the seat
in its out of service position.
Figure 7 is a sectional plan showing the twisted portion of the sliding arm or
bar passing through the outer or front bracket.
Figure 8 is a side elevation of my improved seat (in its service position) fitted
with a modified form of sliding arm.
Figure 9 is an end view of the inner or rear bracket or support, and Figure 10
a sectional elevation on the line e f (Figure 8) showing the outer or front bracket
or support.
The same reference letters in the different views indicate the same parts.
In the construction of that type of my improved seats, illustrated by Figures 1 to 7
inclusive, I secure the metallic disc or other base piece or seat proper as A, upon
one end of the rectangular arm or bar B, which is preferably of iron or steel and
is so twisted or formed that the respective surfaces of its two ends lie at right
angles to each other. The arm B with its attached seat A is supported by means
of a pair of brackets as C and D) secured under the counter or elsewhere.
outer or front bracket ('has a slot or aperture through it to receive and support
the bar in a vertical position, but the inner or rear bracket 1) has a circular
aperture formed through it of a diameter slightly in excess of the width of the
bar or arm B, and thus the latter can be passed through the bracket D with its
wide sides either vertical or horizontal.
The
The sides of the slot or aperture through the bracket C are curved and tapered
to correspond with the twisted portion of the bar B, as illustrated at Figures 3, 6,
and 7, so that on pressing back the seat A from its service position (shown at
Figures 1 and 2) to its out of service position (shown at Figures 5 and 6),
both the seat and the bar are automatically rotated or moved through a right
angle and thus the seat is turned from a horizontal to a vertical position and
becomes so packed or closed up to its supporting brackets as to cause little or
no obstruction. Similarly, on drawing out the seat A for use it is automatically
turned from the vertical to the horizontal position.
I sometimes arrange a spiral or other spring to effect the automatic return of
the seat to its out of service position.
The modified form of sliding seat arm B shown at Figures 8, 9, and 10, consists
of a round bar in which I form a slot b¹ having one end at right angles to

page_text: the other end and curved longitudinally, as illustrated, so that on the reciprocation
of the bar it is caused, by the engagement with the slot of the stud d in the
inner or rear bracket D¹, to automatically turn through a right angle. Both of
the brackets C and D¹ have circular apertures to permit the arm or bar B₁ to slide
freely through them.
I preferably form the two suporting brackets in the one piece or casting; thus
the brackets C and D are connected together by the bridge or tie piece E, and the
brackets C¹ and D' by the bridge or tie piece E¹.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
-
1.An improved seat, for the use of shop assistants and for other services,
which on its reciprocation automatically turns through a right angle, substantially
as and for the purpose described.
2. In seats for shop assistants and for other services, the combination with
the sliding arm on which the base piece or seat proper is mounted, of fixed brackets
arranged to support the said arm and to turn the same through a right angle
on its movement in either direction, substantially as described and as illustrated.
Dated this 97th day of Wahr 1900
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, &
25, Cross Street, Manchester,
Agents for the Applicant.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, &
25, Cross Street, Manchester,
Agents for the Applicant.