IMPROVE- MENTS APPLICABLE TO READING CHAIRS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED TO SIT OR
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Ellisdon, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Designer and Cabinet Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS APPLICABLE TO READING CHAIRS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED TO SIT OR
Sealed the 22nd February 1859, and dated the 27th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Ellisdon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
August 1858.
I, JOSEPH ELLISDON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Designer
and Cabinet Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO READING CHAIRS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED TO
SIT OR RECLINE UPON," to be as follows (that is to say):
This Invention consists in applying a reading desk or a writing desk, or
both, to easey chairs, sofas, couches, and other like articles of household
furniture, and to the seats of railway carriages, &c., in such a way that when
not in use they can be folded up and stowed away out of sight or observation
in recesses formed in the arms of the chair or other articles to which they are
applied.
To apply this Invention to, say, an easey chair, a suitably shaped folding
desk is mounted by one end upon and at a right angle to a spindle which
fits into a hole formed vertically down through the arm supporter or front
leg, or both. The end of the desk, which is in union with the vertical spindle,
is constructed to form a head or cap to the front leg or arm supporter of the

page_text: chair. When the desk is in use it can be elevated or depressed at pleasure
by raising or lowering the supporting spindle, which also forms an axis, upon
which it has an horizontal circular motion, so that it can be placed in any
convenient position to suit the person using it. By folding up the desk, and
depressing it down to the arm of the chair, it can be turned round until it
takes into a recess formed to receive it beneath the pad of the chair arm; and
the outer portion of the desk being made to match the outside of the chair,
it would not be readily seen by a casual observer. The vertical supporting
spindle may be provided with a set screw or spring, or both, to hold it in
position when elevated. The reading desk and writing desk are both fitted in
the same way to opposite arms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Ellisdon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ELLISDON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Designer and Cabinet
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Ellisdon, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Ellisdon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Joseph Ellisdon, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO READING CHAIRS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED TO SIT OR RECLINE
UPON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Ellisdon,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Ellisdon, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
:-
This my said Invention consists in applying a reading desk or a writing
desk, or both, to easy chairs, sofas, couches, and other like articles of household
furniture, and to the arms of railway carriages, &c., in such a way that when
not in use they can be folded up and stowed away out of sight or observation
in recesses formed in the arms of the chair or other articles to which they are
applied.
To apply my Invention to, say, an easy chair, I use a suitably shaped
folding desk, which I mount by one end upon and at a right angle to a spindle
which fits into a hole formed vertically down through the arm supporter or
front leg, or both. The end of the desk, which is in union with the vertical
spindle, I prefer to construct so as to form a head or cap to the front leg or
arm supporter of the chair or other seat. When the desk is in use it can be
elevated or depressed at pleasure by raising or lowering the supporting
spindle, which also forms an axis, upon which it has an horizontal circular
motion, so that it can be placed in any convenient position to suit the person
using it. By folding up the desk and depressing it down to the arm of the
chair, it can be turned round until it takes into a recess formed to receive it
beneath the pad of the chair arm; and the outer portion of the desk being
made to match the outside of the chair, it would not be readily seen by a
casual observer. The vertical supporting spindle may be provided with a set
screw or spring, or both, to hold it in position when elevated, but I prefer to
line the hole through which the vertical spindle works with india-rubber,
gutta percha, cork, or other suitable elastic or semi-elastic material. The
reading desk and writing desk are both fitted in the same way to opposite
arms.
That this my said Invention may be the more readily seen and understood,
I have hereunto annexed Drawings in practical illustration of one modification
of the same as applied to an easy chair; like letters marked thereon have
reference to similar parts.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the front of a chair fitted with my
improvements, showing the writing desk, which is fitted to the right arm of
the chair, partially turned out of its recess beneath the pad of the arm, and
the reading desk at the left arm elevated; Figure 2 is a back view of the
same, exhibiting both the reading desk and writing desks elevated and drawn
out on their supports, and turned to face the chair, the recess to receive the

page_text: writing desk being shown. The reading and writing desks are here shown
mounted upon horizontal supports, to which they are attached by groove
joints, to admit of their being extended from the spindle. In these Drawings
the vertical sliding spindle is shown to work within the front leg of the chair;
but if the contour of the leg of the chair, to which the Invention is applied,
should not admit of this arrangement, the rod can work down below the
frame in rear of the leg:
A, the writing desk, shown at Figure 1 folded up and turned partially into
its recess below the arm support of the chair, and at Figure 2 elevated and
drawn out upon its horizontal support, and turned to face the centre of the
chair; B, the folding reading desk; C, the vertical sliding spindles, upon
which the reading and writing desks are supported; D, horizontal supports of
reading and writing desks, which are rigidly attached to the vertical spindles
(C), and to which the desks are attached by a slot or rabbet joint, to allow
the desks to be removed further from their vertical supporting spindle;
E, recess to receive folding desks when out of use; F is a sconce fitted
to the writing desk, which, when folded, can be packed away within the
recess (E).
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said
Invention, and how I believe the same may be best carried into effect, I
wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise minor
details herein-before set forth, as the same may be varied without departing
from the Invention; but what I do claim is the means of applying reading
and writing desks to chairs and other articles of furniture used to sit or
recline upon substantially and in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Ellisdon, have hereunto set my
hand and affixed my seal, this Twenty-third day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
44, Castle Street,
Liverpool.
JOSEPH
(L.S.) ELLISDON.