IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKING CHAIRS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Howell Wells, of Brooklyn, County of Kings.
and State of New York, in the United States of America, for the Inven-
tion of IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKING CHAIRS."
Sealed the 15th February 1861, and dated the 22nd September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Howell Wells at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd September 1860.
I, JOHN HOWELL WELLS, of Brooklyn, in the County of Kings, and State
of New York, in the United States of America, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKING CHAIRS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing rocking chairs in the manner herein-
after described. The seat or body of the chair is connected to the lower fixed
portion thereof by hinge joints or pivots in the two side legs, and the lower
part of the seat or body. The rocking motion of the chair is regulated by
springs inserted between metallic bearings on the body and the legs respectively.
The legs are fixed at the middle of the front and back and two sides of the
body, instead of at the four corners as in ordinary chairs.
The body is capable of adjustment to any required angle of inclination, and
of being fixed in such inclined position by means of a curved perforated plate
fixed to the back leg of the chair, and a bolt in the seat frame thereof.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Howell Wells in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HOWELL WELLS, of the City of Brooklyn, County of Kings, and State of New
York, in the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Howell Wells, Her special licence that I, the said John
Howell Wells, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Howell Wells, 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 "IMPROVEMENT IN ROCKING CHAIRS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Howell Wells, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Howell Wells, 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:-
Various modes have been devised for the construction of a chair to allow the
vibrating motion of the body without the injurious effect of the action of the
rockers upon the carpet, and for the purpose of, at the same time, avoiding
the other grave objections which attach to the common rocking chairs now in
general use.
My said Invention consists in the arrangement of parts herein-after described,
by which the difficulties heretofore encountered in previous constructions are
obviated, and a favorable disposition to resist the strain imposed is secured,
thereby reducing the expense of construction, and making a neater, better, and
more reliable chair; and also in combination with this arrangement of the

page_text: devices herein-after described, by which the body of the chair can be fixed at
any desired angle with reference to the base, without at all interfering with the
arrangement of parts to accomplish the other purposes specified.
The accompanying Drawings represent my Invention as follows:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved chair.
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation or vertical sectional projection as made by
a plane passing through the centre from front to back.
Figure 3 is a sectional elevation, showing parts at the right-hand side of the
line x, x, as drawn across Figure 2.
1, 2, 3, 4, are the legs of the chair, which legs may be connected by any
suitable framework, and constitute the lower part of the chair; this frame will
of course be varied to suit different tastes, and as various modes of connecting
the legs of the chair are well known, or would readily suggest themselves, it is
not necessary to describe any of them particularly. It will be observed that
the legs are differently arranged in this chair from the construction in common
use, the legs 1, 2, being placed at the sides about midway from front to back,
and the legs 3 and 4 being placed centrally at the front and back of the seat
respectively. The legs 1, 2, are surmounted by metal caps 5, of which the
tenons 6 form a part; these tenons 6 fit into mortices or sockets, either in
side rails of the chair which support the seat, or in metal caps attached to
them for that purpose, and are secured in these mortices by pins 7, which pass
through the tenons, and form an axis upon which the body of the chair may
vibrate, the mortices being made of proper form and size to allow such vibra-
tion or rocking motion. To give the body of the chair a normal position, and
to regulate the rocking motion, I attach spiral springs 8 and 9 to the front and
back respectively of the frame which supports the seat, as shown; these
springs I extend down through the legs 3 and 4, these legs being made hollow
for that purpose. The springs are made fast at both ends to metal fastenings
10 and 11, and the fastenings are secured to the legs and body portions of the
chair by any convenient means, in such a manner as to cause the springs to
resist vibration in either direction. The front and back posts are cut away at the
top to allow the chair to vibrate; they are, however, left of sufficient length to
restrict the vibration or rocking motion within proper limits. The outer portion
of the front and back rails of the seat frame are extended downward a short
distance to cover and conceal the springs. The back rail of the seat is carried
well back to avoid the back leg of the chair, and to allow sufficient
rocking motion, and an iron brace or bar 12 is attached, as shown, to receive
the head of the rear spring.
range of
As above stated, the attachment to which the springs 8 and 9 are secured,

page_text: may be attached to the body of the seat frame in any desirable manner, but I
have deemed it best to attach them by a hinge joint, so as to keep the springs
straight and in line. The back post or leg 4 is extended backward to give
stability to the chair when rocking back. It may be desirable, and probably
often will be, to secure the chair in a fixed position, so that the same chair may
be used for a stationary or a rocking chair at pleasure. To accomplish this
purpose, and secure the chair in a fixed position at any desirable inclination, I
attach a curved plate to the back leg of the chair with several holes in it to
receive bolt 14, which is attached to the seat or body of the chair in such a
manner that it may be slid into any of the holes in the curved plate 13, and
thus secure the chair at any desired inclination.
The value and utility of a chair which answers the purposes of an easy rocking
chair, and at the same time avoids the injurious effect of the rockers upon the
carpet, and the inconvenient projection of the rockers, and is still strong in its
construction and tasteful in its appearance, is perhaps too obvious to require
extended comment; but in order to realize such an advantage, the parts must
be so arranged as to be strong and reliable without being cumbersome and
unwieldy.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, I wish it understood that I
do not claim all constructions by which the upper part of the chair may be
allowed to vibrate on the lower; I claim as my Invention the arrangement,
herein described, of the legs 1, 2, 3, 4, the hinged joint 7, 7, connecting the
seat with the under work, and the springs 8, 9, substantially as described in
such a manner as to accomplish the purpose set forth.
I also claim, combined with the above-specified arrangement, the curved
plate 13, and bolt 14, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Howell Wells, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, A.D. One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
TT
JOHN H.
WALTO
ES. (..)
WELLS
AA