US235437A - Seat for chairs - Google Patents

Description

s. .of HOPKINS.' .13e-ad',V f'or'Chjairs, Settee-s, `,and *Vle'h-cles. `No. 235,437.r V Patented Dec. 14,1880.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SYLVAUS G. HOPKINS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SEAT FOR CHAIRS, SETTEES, AND VEHICLES.

` SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 235,437, dated December 14, 1880.

' l Application filed December 4, 1879.

To all whom it 'may` concern:

Be it known that l, SYLVANUS C. HOPKINS, ot' Boston, Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Seats for Chairs, Settees, and Vehicles; and l do hereby declare that the same are fully described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

stock. Fig. 2 is `a plan of a seat with some of the bars broken away to illustrate its connection with the leg-frames. Fig. 3 is a side view of the seat as applied to a folding chair, and Fig. et a detail view of the same at the rear end.

My improved seat is composed of a series of parallel bars, a, resting upon and secured to transverse rails b, which are formed with notches or grooves'c c in their upper edges, of suitable shape, size, and number to receive the bars a, laid therein sidewise. In the drawings these bars are cylindrical, and the notches of a corresponding form, and I employ this shape almost exclusively because of its economy and simplicity. I sometimes split the bars longitudinally, making them semi-cylindrical, or nearly so, and insert them in the half-round notches, as before. This gives a more even upper surface to the seat; but it is not so ornamental nor so strong, unless larger bars are employed.

` I am accustomed to secure each bar in its notch by driving a single corrugated nail through each end into the rail, as indicated in Fig. 2. The advantage of these notches is, that by their aid the seat-bars are held more iirmly in place, and a much stronger seat is produced than would be possible by nailing bars of any shape on a plane surface, as is ordinarilyr done. My mode of construction is also much cheaper than where sockets are employed, into each of which the bars a are inserted endwise.

In constructing my improved seat I prefer to proceed as follows: l prepare stock of suitable dimensions and bore a series of holes of proper size in a line corresponding to the desired curve of the seat, then separate the board into two parts by sawing along the line of the centers of these holes, thereby leaving one edge of each of the two parts notched with halfround recesses adapted to receive the cylindrical or semi-cylindrical seat-bars, which may be rapidly and cheaply produced by wellknown means, and efficiently held in their sockets by a single nail near each end.

The seat thus produced has a very nea-t rustic appearance, and, being so cheap and strong, is Well adapted for summer-houses, lawns, and piazzas. Short sections of bamboo, cane, or other wood in the natural state may be employed for the seat-bars a, and secured in the notches c.

Another feature shown in the drawings, butnot original withme, relates to the means of connecting the seat to the leg-frames in the simplest manner. I perforate the cross-rails b at a suitable point, as at d, and pass through such perforations the cross-round e, which, in its full size and strength, connects the legs f together and supports the front of the seat. When the seat is applied to a folding chair, asin the drawings, this construction enables the seat to swivel or fold against the back frame. It arranged for the back instead of the front of the seat to swivel,the holes would be near the back ends of the rails, and through them would pass the middle round of the back or long posts of the chair. In a rigid chair both front and back holes would be employed for the rounds; but the seat would not swivel. Thus, without the castings, staples, screws, or hinges ordinarily required, or any other expense than the boring of the holes, and without weakening other parts of the chair, my seat is permanently secured in position.

This construction also admits of all the posts being placed outside of the seat-rails without IOO changing thc proper location of the rounds, l combination therewith ofthe seat therein illuswhich, in a folding chair with a scrollshaped seat, is convenient to admit the front of the scroll to pass between the front posts, thereby folding' more compactly.

In using my seat iu chairs employing a fabric back, I fasten the upper end ot' thet'abric to the cross-slet connecting the tops ot' the rear posts, and nail the bottom of thc fabric to the rear bar, h, inserted endwise into and iirmly secured in sockets i, through the edges of which cuts the rear end line ofthe mil b, so as to bring the periphery of' the bur h into the plane ofthe end ofthe rails I.

The advantage of this construction is, that a fabric of the full width of the sent, or of the space between the posts g, muy be used und nailed to the bar h its entire length without coming in contuct with the rails I. In folding chairs of any kind this bur forms n convenient handle for carrying the chair. lt also gives n more neat and unil'orm appearance to the sent :is a whole, and is stronger than a strip merely nailed to the end or bottom ot' the rails l; i'or the same purpose.

I make no claim tothe folding frame shown in Fig. 3, except as to the construction and tra ted.

I disclaim the construction and mode of 3o uniting the parts shown in the Patent No. 80,528, granted to T. J. Close, July 28, 1868, as forming no part of my invention.

I claim as of my invention- 1. The improved seat herein described for cars, settees, chairs, &c., embodying the combination ot a seriesgparallel bars with two or more transverse rails ormed with half-round grooves or notches, as described, across their upper ed ges, to receive the parallel bars sidewise land permit their ends to project, said parts being nailed to each other at each intersection, substantially as set forth.

L. The combination, in a seat, of a series of parallel cylindrical bars projecting at each end beyond the side rails, with two or more transverse rails having their upper surfaces shaped to the desired curvature of the seat, and provided with half-round recesses for the seat-bars, substantially as set forth.

SYLVANUS C. HOPKINS.

Witnesses:

A. H. SPENCER, E. A. IHELPS.

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