Shaker tilting chair

The Shaker tilting chair – named for its ball bearing or ball and
socket[A] button mechanism assembled to the back two legs of a
wooden chair – allowed a person to lean back in the chair without
slipping or scraping the floor.[B]

Description
The device was a new practical way of being able to lean back
without slipping while sitting in a common Shaker ladder-back
wooden chair.[1] It prevented damage to carpets and scraping the
floors usually caused by the back legs of chairs when they
slipped.[2]

The main feature of the Shaker ladder-back chair was a tilting ball
and socket joint mechanism installed on the bottom of the two rear U.S. Patent No 8771 drawing image
[3]
legs to keep the leg bottoms level. Normally the inflection of the
chair feet edges into wooden floors would cause deep scratches and
into carpets would cause puncture tear holes.[4] The ball joint
mechanism idea would prevent unnecessary punctures and stress to
the chair components because the chair feet were kept level and flat
even though the chair was tilted back.[5][6] Initially the swivel idea
was developed using just wooden balls around 1834.[7][8] It was
later realized that this new concept for tilting caused major stress to Patent 8771 image close-up of parts
the chair.[9] More repair engineering work was required than
initially foreseen.[9] This was due to the weakening of the leg
caused by drilling involved in installation of the wooden ball joint
mechanism.[9] Ultimately, the wooden ball concept was discarded and the
production of this device ceased.[9]

Brother George O'Donnell of Shaker Village in New Lebanon, New York

came up with a strong metal attachment device in 1852.[10] It replaced the
wooden ball bearing that was inserted into the wooden legs and secured
with a leather strap.[10] The metal ball-bearing mechanism was patented by
him.[C][5][10][12] It consisted of brass ferrules and balls.[10] It was a
practical strong metal attachment to the back two legs of wooden chairs to
allow the sitter to tilt back without gouging the floor.[10] A version of
O'Donnell's tilt device is still being used on chairs in the twenty-first
century.[13]

The Shakers manufactured the "tilting chair" for sale in the 1870s to people
outside their community labeling them with "Shaker's Trade Mark, Mt. Shaker ladder chair with ball
Lebanon, N.Y." which was the place of the Shaker Village in the state of swivels on rear legs for
New York.[14] The tilting buttons on the two back legs that made it a tilting tilting
chair were sometimes referred to as "tilters", "swiveling tilter" or "ball and
socket feet" that allowed the flat underside of the foot to stay level when
the chair was tilted back.[15] In a catalog of New Lebanon Shaker chairs for sale it was an additional price
of twenty five cents for button joint tilts to be added to a chair.[15] It was noted by historian Kassay that the
general philosophy of a diner "tilting chair" was out of place in the Shaker community, as Believers were
not allowed the luxury of after-meal relaxation time.[15]

References

Notes
A. See also ball joint and Spherical bearing.
B. "Near the middle of the century the Shakers invented their tilting-chair device, which was
inserted under the tips of the back legs to prevent slipping or marring of floors when the chair
was tilted back against a wall".[1]
C. According to Jerry V. Grant, Director of Collections and Research at "Shaker Museum Mount
Lebanon": "The Shakers, while they patented some of their inventions, were prohibited by
Church rules from profiting from such patents – that is, they did not sell patent rights for their
inventions but rather patented things to protect themselves from having others patent their
inventions and turning around and charging them for using their own inventions."[11] The
Shakers thus were proactive in preventatives against Patent trolls.

Citations
1. Shea, John Gerald (May 5, 1992). Making Authentic Shaker Furniture: With Measured
Drawings of Museum Classics (https://books.google.com/books?id=XD6Jehgzp4kC&pg=PA
37). p. 37. ISBN 978-0-486-27003-6.
2. "Shaker Tilting Chair" (https://books.google.com/books?id=l0YcAQAAMAAJ&q=Shaker+%2
2tilting+chair%22). House & Garden. 1945. p. 47.
3. Smy (18 February 2014). "The Shakers and Their Furniture" (http://english.smystyle.com/20
14/02/18/the-shakers-and-their-furniture/). smystyle.com. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
4. "Shaker Tilting Chair" (https://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/iadshake/iadshake-29240.htm
l). The Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
5. "Patent model side chair for button joint tilters George O. Donnel (born circa 1823) New
Lebanon, New York, 1852" (http://www.janekatchercollection.com/html/shakerchair.html).
Selections from the Jane Katcher Collection of Americana. janekatchercollection.com.
Retrieved June 3, 2015.
6. Bronner, Simon J (2015). Encyclopedia of American Folklife (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=FvjqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1115). Routledge. pp. 1115, 1116. ISBN 978-1-317-47195-0.
7. Katonah Gallery (June 1, 1983). Shaker works (https://books.google.com/books?id=Rn9QA
AAAMAAJ&q=not+invent+Shaker+tilting+chair). ISBN 9780915171002.
8. Andrews, Edward Deming; Andrews, Faith (June 18, 1999). Masterpieces of Shaker
Furniture (https://books.google.com/books?id=-voy2O7dHVkC&pg=PA93) (1st Dover ed.).
Dover Publications. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-486-40724-1. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
9. Sprigg, June (1986). Shaker Design (https://books.google.com/books?id=WRpnncwN_4AC
&pg=PA75). pbk. S.l: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 74, 75. ISBN 0-393-30544-9. Retrieved
June 1, 2015.
10. Miller, M. Stephen (January 12, 2010). Inspired Innovations: A Celebration of Shaker
Ingenuity (https://books.google.com/books?id=3DI_xYBqKbwC&pg=PA127). University
Press of New England. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-58465-850-4.
11. email Wednesday, June 3, 2015 10:41 AM
12. "Patent of Geo. O'Donnell, of New Lebanon, New York. Chair. Specification of Letters Patent
No. 8,771" (https://www.google.com/patents/US8771?dq=8771+Donnell&hl=en). United
States Patent Office. March 2, 1852. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
13. Retrospect (2015). "Quick History:Quaker Design" (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/quick-
history-shaker-design-164608). Apartment Therapy. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
14. Segal, Troy. "Learn About the Origins of Shaker Style American Furniture" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20150602074353/http://antiques.about.com/od/furniture/a/ShakerFurniture01231
0.htm). About.com Home. Archived from the original (http://antiques.about.com/od/furniture/a/
ShakerFurniture012310.htm) on 2015-06-02. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
15. Kassay, John (June 28, 1980). The Book of Shaker Furniture (https://archive.org/details/book
ofshakerfurn00kass). University of Massachusetts Press. p. 127 (https://archive.org/details/b
ookofshakerfurn00kass/page/127). ISBN 978-0-87023-275-6 – via Internet Archive.

External links
Patent model chair for button joint tilters by George O. Donnel of New Lebanon, New York,
1852 (http://www.janekatchercollection.com/html/shakerchair.html)
"Shaker Tilting Chair, watercolor and graphite on paper, Rendered by John W. Kelleher
(artist)" (https://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/iadshake/iadshake-29240.html). Index of
American Design. From the Tour: Shaker Crafts from the Index of American DesignShaker
Tilting Chair rendition National Gallery of Art. 1937. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
"A chair button, used on tilting chairs" (http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/SP/936/). The
Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc., Historic Map Works. 1921. Retrieved
June 2, 2015.

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