Library Collections: Document: Full Text

United States Patent Office.

OLIVE L. SMITH-FRASER, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

INVALID-CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 521,463, dated June 19,1894.

Application filed December 13,1892, Serial No, 455,017. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Olive L. Smith-Fraser, of Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, State of Minnesota, have invented certain Improvements in Invalid-Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in chairs designed for the use of invalids, and the invention consists generally in the construction and combination hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved chair, the position of the parts when it is to be used as a couch being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the chair the leg and foot rest sections being removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail side view of the means for operating the wheels to move the chair. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail horizontal section through one of the guides 75 illustrating the slide 81.

In the drawings, 2 represents the chair body formed as a box and supported upon wheels 3 and 5, the front wheels being preferably mounted upon an axle 7 and said axle being supported in the stationary bearings 9 that are secured to the forward part of said body. The rear wheel 5 is arranged centrally and is mounted in a yoke 11 that is pivotally secured to the under side of the body 2.

The box or body 2 is preferably provided with an open top and it may have a slatted bottom. This body is provided with a door 13 hinged at its lower edge and provided with a suitable stop 15, which holds the door in a horizontal position when it is open, as shown in Fig. 2. A pan or bowl may be placed in the body 2 being inserted or withdrawn through the door opening. The body 2 may also be provided with a drawer in its opposite side, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Above the body 2 is the seat 17 which is preferably supported upon springs 19 and 21, said springs being secured to the chair body 2 in any convenient manner and connected at their opposite ends to the coiled springs 17a.

The seat 17 is provided with a hole 23 which permits the chair to be used as a commode.

Hinged to the back edge of the seat is the back 25 which is suitably cushioned, an open space being left between the side bars 27 of the back at the lower part thereof.

A cushion 29 is provided for the seat of the chair and this cushion is of such width as to slide back between the side-bars of the back, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to uncover the hole in the seat when the chair is to be used as a commode.

The chair back is also provided with the pivoted handles 31 to which are pivotally secured the notched bars 33 the lower ends of these bars passing through the stirrups 35 that are secured on the underside of the body 2. The notched bars engage these stirrups and the back of the chair may thus be secured at any desired inclination. The notched bars are pivotally connected to the handles 31 by bolts provided with thumb nuts 37 by means of which said bars and handles may be rigidly secured together. When the chair back is turned down into a horizontal position the handles 31 form supports for it, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. At other times these handles serve as means to be grasped when it is desired to move the chair by pushing or pulling it along.

Hinged to the forward edge of the seat is a leg and foot rest consisting of a cushioned frame 39 having at its lower end the adjustable cross plate 41 that is secured to the said frame by means of the thumb screws 43, engaging suitable thread openings in frame 39 so as to be capable of being raised and lowered on said frame. This frame is provided with the notched bars 45 by means of which it may be secured in any desired position as indicated in Fig. 1, the notched bars engaging suitable lugs or projections 452 that are secured adjacent to the bearings 9.

I also provide the cushioned arm pieces 47 that are pivoted at their rear ends to the side bars of the back and at their forward portions are supported on the posts 49 that are pivoted to the arm pieces and to the seat. These posts may also be provided with the slotted guide-plates 51 that are secured at their upper ends to said posts, and at their lower ends too are engaged by suitable pins or lugs 51a shown in dotted lines on the sides of the seat. By this means the back and the leg rest may be brought into a horizontal position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus forming a couch, and when these parts are in this position the arms are turned down so as to lie below or flush with the seat frame. This permits a person to roll or be lifted from the chair directly onto a bed or vice-versa.

I may also provide a table or writing desk 53 secured upon the slotted posts 55 that are adapted to slide between guides 57, and secured to the arm pieces by thumb-screws 59. This table can be adjusted or removed at will.

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I may also provide the slotted posts 61 arranged to move between guides 63 and secured by thumb-screws 65. These posts are provided with cross-bars 67, and a band 69 formed of canvas, leather or other suitable material may be arranged upon these cross bars, and this band thus arranged forms a head support upon which a person sitting in the chair may rest the head by bending it forward so as to permit the forehead to rest on the surface of the band, or the band may form a support upon which the arms or hands may rest.

The axle upon which the forward wheels are secured may be provided with suitable cranks 71, that, as shown in Fig. 3, are arranged outside of the wheels and suitable operating rods 73 are connected to these cranks and pass through suitable guides 75. These rods are preferably provided at their upper ends with the handles 77, which are in position to be grasped by a person seated in the chair. Thumb-screws 79, or other suitable means may be provided for locking the rods and thus locking the wheels when desired. The guides 75 are preferably provided with the slides 81 as shown in Fig. 4 which may be moved so as to permit the rods 73 to be moved out of the guides and dropped down so as to be below the upper surface of the seat when it is desired to move a person from or to the chair leaving the back and the leg rest turned into horizontal positions.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent --

1. In an invalid chair, the combination of the chair-body 2, the springs 17a located on opposite sides of the chair body at the front and the rear thereof so as to permit movement of said springs without interference with said body, the springs 19 and 21 lying at opposite sides of the body 2, each of said springs connecting two of the springs 17a and being arched to bring the central portion thereof above the top of the chair-body 2, and the seat 17 extending from spring 19 to spring 21 and connected to both of said springs and formed with an opening 23 between said springs and over the chair-body 2, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination with the body 2, of the seat portion supported above it, the hinged back serving as a horizontal extension of the seat portion when lowered, the handles 31 hinged to the back and serving as supports for the back when the back is lowered, and the notched bars 33 pivotally connected at one end to said handles and adjustable relatively to a catch adapted to engage the notches of the bars, said bars serving to brace the handles in their raised or lowered position, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day of December, 1892.

OLIVE L. SMITH-FRASER.

In presence of --
A.C. Paul,
F. S. Lyon.