IMPROVEMENTS IN FOLDING CHAIRS OR SEATS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Townley Sugden, of No. 12, Buckingham
Street, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FOLDING CHAIRS OR SEATS.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Townley Sugden
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th May 1872.
I, HENRY TOWNLEY SUGDEN, of No. 12, Buckingham Street, Adelphi,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOLDING CHAIRS OR SEATS," to be as
follows:-
The object of the Invention is simplicity with strength and portability.
According to one arrangement the rest for the back is supported by
the upper ends of two side pieces, the lower ends of which extend
downwards and form the two front legs. The seat is hinged between the
front and back edge of it to a cross rail carried by these side pieces, or

page_text: by projections from them, whilst prolongations of the side parts of the
seat are provided with screws or studs, rings, or such like connection,
which are capable of traversing in slots or grooves formed in or on the
parts of other side pieces hinged from the top rail or back rest, and the
lower ends of these other side pieces form the back legs. By these
means considerably increased bearing strength is obtained with great
rigidity of the parts, and the several portions when closed fold one
within the other for facility of transport.
According to another arrangement the parts are similar so far as
regards the back rest with the side pieces which form the front legs, and
the seat being hinged between its back and front edges to turn on a rail
supported from such side pieces, so that the seat may be folded to lie
between the side pieces; but the other side pieces hinged from the top
rail or back rest, in place of in folding coming between those which
form the front legs, are hinged to the back of them, and are morticed or
are adapted to receive tenons or projections from continuations of the
seat, and the parts are held correctly in position by a chain or band, or
by a catch, screw, or pin.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Townley Sugden in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
TOWNLEY SUGDEN, of No. 12, Buckingham Street, Adelphi, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Townley Sugden, Her special license
that I, the said Henry Townley Sugden, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Townley Sugden, 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,

page_text: But that the invention may be fully understood, I will by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings proceed to describe means pursued by me
in carrying the same into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an edge view, Figure 2 a section, Figure 3 a front
view, and Figure 4 a back view of a folding chair arranged according
to one part of my improvements in the position the parts of the chair
assume when used for sitting upon.
Figure 5 shows an edge view, Figure 6 a section, Figure 7 a front
view, and Figure 8 a back view of the same chair with the parts of it:
in the position they assume when the chair is folded for facility of
carriage, stowage, or otherwise.
In each of these views the same letters indicate corresponding parts
wherever they occur.
a is the back rest, which is attached to the upper ends of the two side 1
pieces b, b, and these side pieces b, b, are also connected together by
the cross rails c and d. e is the seat, which is formed of the two side
bars e¹, e¹, the cross bars e², e³, and the laths e*. This seat is connected
to the cross rail d by hinges f, f, by those hinges being in part connected
to the cross rail d and in part to the side rails e', e¹, of the seat e, so that 2
the seat may turn upon the cross rail d. The side pieces e¹, e¹, of the
seat e are continued backwards, and at 9, 9, receive studs, which whilst
they are fixed in these end pieces of the parts e' also pass through, and
are capable of moving to and fro in slots h¹ formed to receive them in
other side pieces h, h, so that when the parts of the folding chair are in 2
the position for sitting on, as represented by Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, these
studs g may be resting against the upper ends of the slots h¹, and the
weight of the person sitting on the seat e is sustained by the cross bar d
from the side pieces b, b, and the lower part of these side pieces b, b,
form the front legs of the chair or seat, and those of the side pieces h, h, 3
form the back legs. By this arrangement of the parts 6 and d in
relation to the seat e it will be seen that great bearing strength is
obtained.

page_text: Having thus described my Invention, and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details of parts as shewn and described, but
what I do claim is, the adaptation or combination of means forming a
folding chair or seat, whereby the side pieces b, b, carrying the back
rest become by means of the cross pieces d the main support for the
seat, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Townley Sugden, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
H. TOWNLEY SUGDEN. (L.S.)