Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5.
An Odd Chair
For studying or reading, the chair shown in Fig. 3 will be found a useful piece of furniture.
The wood is three-quarters or seven-eighths of an inch in thickness, planed on both sides, and may be finally stained and varnished or painted. The front posts are fourteen inches high and four inches wide, while the back ones are thirty-four inches high, three inches wide at the top, and eight inches wide at the bottom. The side-rails are twenty-eight inches long, three inches wide at the front, and six inches across the widest place near the rear. The side-rails are fastened outside the rear uprights and inside the front posts, as shown at Fig. 3. At the back, near the foot, the chair is held together with a plate of wood six inches wide and eighteen inches long, screwed fast to the lower edge of the high posts, as shown in Fig. 4.
The top of the rear uprights are bound together with a piece of two-inch curtain-pole, with a saw-cut in the end to the shoulder, as shown in Fig. 5. After it is in place, glue-covered wedges are driven into the saw-cuts to make a key, and so hold the joint securely. Between the front ends of the side-rails a similar piece is placed; or a two-inch square piece of wood, with the front top edge rounded off, may be substituted.
The seat and back is composed of one piece of leather, fabric, or even carpet, caught to the front and top cross-pieces, and adjusted so as to form a comfortable support to the body.
This chair can be made with a shifting back by rounding off the lower ends of the back uprights and attaching them to the side-rails with bolts and washers, one bolt to a side. With two or three corresponding holes in the side-rail and upright, pegs can be fitted into them, or a rod passed through from side to side of the chair, in fashion similar to the well-known Morris chair. The pegs must be stout, or the rod substantially heavy, since the leverage is great and would snap off light pegs or bend a thin rod.