US30102A - System of school-desks - Google Patents

Description

S L. WILKINSON.

SCHOOL DESK.

No. 30,102. Patented Sept. 18, 1860.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SETH L. WILKINSON, OF CROSS PLAINS, TENNESSEE.

SYSTEM OF SCHOOL-DESKS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 80,102, dated September 18, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SETH L. lVILKINsoN, of Cross Plains, in the county of Robertson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in School- Desks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which a perspective view of a school desk constructed after my invention is represented.

The nature of my invention consists in so constructing and arranging the desks of a school room, that the desk of each scholar shall be at right angles to his seat, and the bottom of the desk be on nearly the same horizontal plane, the former being attached to the back of a contiguous seat, substantially as hereinafter described.

To enable others, skilled in the art, to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, A, represent two benches or seats made in the style of pew seats, and a series or row of these seats is placed one in front of the other and so extended to as great a distance as may be desirable. Between the front side of the back of seat A, and the back side of the back of seat A, two horizontal boards a, Z), are placed, the one 6, resting on the bottom 0, of the seat and the one a, being secured at or near the tops of the backs of the benches and serving as a desk for writing, &c., the space between the two being a convenient place of deposit for the books, stationery and other articles necessary in a school room. The upper surface of the deskis on a level with the top of the side cl, of the bench and answers a good purpose for the arm of the student and thereby conduces to an erect posture during the time of study.

The desk, as constructed above, affords many advantages over all desks now in use, it enabling the student to sit with his right side to the desk, which posture is the most natural and convenient and is considered by many teachers of writing to be the best. The seat is constructed so as to have room for only one student and thereby prevents, in a great degree, talking and the co1n1nunication of the students with each other, be-

cause if one wishes to talk with another, he

must of necessity turn himself around, thereby running a greater risk of detection by the teacher.

With this desk, there is in consequence of each student having his desk to himself, less liability of interruption by his neighbor.

lhis desk and seat take up less room than many other desks and seats in use; for it is not necessary to make the desk any longer than the usual space between two plain benches, and at the same time it affords every convenience for the deposition and abstraction of articles without it being necessary to take such an awkward and distorted position as when the desk is in front of the bench. It also conduces in a great degree to an erect posture, for the student cannot lean over it and thus acquire stooping or rounding shoulders.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- Connecting a series of seats A A in a school room by means of boards a, Z), running at right angles to the seatsin the manner and for the purposes herein described.

S. L. WVILKINSON.

Witnesses:

J NO. C. PATTERSON, EDWARD OELRICH.

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