Improvements in Seats for Outdoor Use.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Nov., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 4th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 30th Sept., 1899
Improvements in Seats for Outdoor Use.
WILLIAM TAPP, Business Manager, 5, Adelaide Terrace, Green Bank Road,
Lower Easton, Bristol, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The object of my invention is to provide what would be practically a dry seat
in wet weather without mechanical action, and is intended for use in parks, lawns,
and on tramcars, busses, pleasure boats and such like. My improvements relate
principally to the seat proper, but, if necessary the same principle may be applied
to the back also. Almost any of the usual forms of framework made in the
manufacture of outdoor seats may be utilized for the purpose of my invention.
In carrying my improvements into effect I prepare thin strips of wood, metal, or
other material applicable for the purpose and fix them on edge by suitable means
at such spaces, as will allow the rain, sea, or other water to pass easily through
such interstice, thereby readily draining itself with little chance of lodgement,
and at the same time forming a comfortable seat.
.
Improvements in Seats for Outdoor Use.
I, WILLIAM TAPP, formerly of Adelaide Terrace, Greenbank Road, Bristol, now
of 15, Sommerville Road, Bristol, Business Manager, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in seats for outdoor use, such as garden
chairs, omnibus and tramway carriage seats, and the like, and has for its object
to provide a seat, the upper part of which will always present a dry surface for
persons to sit on, without any mechanical action or covering.
My invention consists essentially in improvements in the seat proper, irrespec-
tive of the frame or other adjuncts; the seat is formed by placing a number of
laths, each having a keen or rounded upper edge, side by side, and bolting them
together with washers or the like between them to keep them at a sufficient dis-
tance apart for the storm or other water to pass readily between and as only the
apex of each lath is on the top and forms a line edge, the upper surfaces, on
which a person sits, present only a series of line edges to the rain and practically
all rain that touches the seat, falls on the laths on either side of the line edges,
[Price 871

page_text: and the tangential or touching surfaces will be dry, the water passing between
the laths without appreciably wetting the upper edges.
My invention and the means employed for putting the same into operation,
will be fully described in connection with the accompanying sheet of drawings,
in which Figure 1 shows a series of sections of laths suitable for bolting together
with washers between, to form seats; Fig. 2 shows a cross section of part of a
seat, bolted together ready for use; Fig. 3 is a view of a tramcar bench, with
reversible back, fitted with my improved seat; and Fig. 4 is a washer, with a
bolt and nut attached for securing seat to the frame.
The laths are made of any suitable material, shape, or size, as will be under-
stood by the examples given in Fig. 1, any one or more of which may be
employed in the construction of a seat; a transverse section of a seat made of
laths, section a, is shewn in Fig. 2, the laths A with their apexes B in a per-
fectly level plane, and washers D between each, are bolted together by rods and
nuts F, and the lower edges C of the laths may be either pointed, rounded, or
forked, to allow the water which comes down the sides of the laths to pass to
the ground. The laths are shown, g and k, with flat bottoms, are used when
transverse plates are provided on the frame, these are dovetailed to receive the
laths with flat bottonis and tapering sides, which will securely retain them in
position.
If preferred, the front and back edges of the seats may be protected by having
a stouter and deeper piece E bolted thereon, as in Fig. 2. When it is desired
to secure the seat to a frame, screw threaded eyes D with nuts on the end, are
used occasionally instead of the usual washer D, the end of the bolt passing
through the frame and secured by the nut.
The laths are made of wood, metal, or other suitable material; flat pieces of
metal, like, may be used with stouter washers placed between, the usual smooth
edges, on flat bands of rolled iron being sufficient to present line edves which will
not retain any water on their apexes; or the whole seat may be cast in one piece,
with the interstices left between; and the seat may be formed curved to any
desired shape, the rods by which the laths are fastened being similarly bent, and
the ends of the frame fitted to receive the seat.
As outdoor seats are fitted on frames of a great variety of shapes, the seat
proper will have to be arranged to fit them, but this is not part of my invention,
which consists entirely in the arrangement of a number of laths in such a manner
as to form a seat with only line edges on the upper surface.
The same arrangement may also be used for the sloping backs of chairs and
the like, which it it is desired should always present a dry surface.
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:
"
The construction of seats for outdoor use from laths of wood, metal or other
suitable material, presenting a series of parallel line edges to form a touching
surface for persons to sit on, and which will not retain any appreciable water
thereon, notwithstanding exposure to heavy rain, substantially as and for the
purpose herein described and shown in the drawings..
J. G. WESTLAKE,
Applicant's Agent, 2, John Street, Bristol..