Nathaniel Alexander, Inventor of a Folding Chair

Nathaniel Alexander, Inventor of a Folding Chair On July 7, 1911, an African-American man named Nathaniel Alexander of Lynchburg, Virginia protected a lawn seat. As indicated by his patent, Nathaniel Alexander planned his seat to be utilized in schools, holy places, and different amphitheaters. His plan incorporated a book rest that was usable for the individual sitting in the seat behind and was perfect for chapel or ensemble use.​ Quick Facts: Nathaniel Alexander Known For: African-American patent holder for a collapsing chairBorn: UnknownParents: UnknownDied: UnknownPublished Works: Patent 997,108, documented March 10, 1911, and conceded July 4 that year Minimal Biographical Data Alexanders development is found on numerous rundowns for dark American designers. Notwithstanding, he has avoided having a lot of true to life data thought about him. What can be found mistakes him for an early legislative head of the province of North Carolina, who was not a dark American. One says he was conceived in the mid 1800s in North Carolina and kicked the bucket quite a few years before the date of the patent of the lawn seat. Another, which is composed as parody, says he was brought into the world a similar year as the patent was given. These appear to be clearly mistaken. Patent 997108 is the main innovation on record for Nathaniel Alexander, yet on March 10, 1911, his application was seen by two individuals: James R.L. Diggs and C.A. Lindsay. James R.L. Diggs was a Baptist serve from Baltimore (conceived in 1865), who was an individual from the Niagara Movement, and holder of a MA from Bucknell University and a PhD in Sociology from Illinois Wasleyan in 1906 indeed, Diggs was the main African-American to hold a Sociology Ph.D. in the United States. The Niagara Movement was a dark social equality development drove by W.E.B. DuBois and William Monroe Trotter, who gathered in Niagara Falls, Ontario (American inns banned blacks), to examine Jim Crow laws following the Reconstruction. They met yearly somewhere in the range of 1905 and 1910: in the middle of 1909 and 1918, Diggs related with DuBois about a potential history of the development, in addition to other things. There may have just been a passing association among Alexander and Diggs. Foldable Chairs for Churches and Choirs Alexanders collapsing seat isn't the main lawn seat patent in the United States. His development was that it incorporated a book rest, making it appropriate for use in places where the rear of one seat could be utilized as a work area or rack by the individual situated behind. This would surely be helpful when setting up columns of seats for ensembles, so they could lay music on the seat in front of every artist, or for houses of worship where a supplication book, hymn book, or Bible could be put on the perusing rack during the administration. Collapsing seats permit the space to be utilized for different purposes when there isn't a class or community gathering. Today, numerous assemblages meet in spaces that used to be huge enormous box stores, general stores, or other huge, huge rooms, Using collapsing seats set up just during administrations, they can rapidly transform the space into a congregation. In the early piece of the twentieth century, assemblies in like manner may have met outside, in stockrooms, horse shelters, or different spaces that didnt have fixed seating or seats. Prior Folding Chair Patents Collapsing seats have been being used for a huge number of years in numerous societies, including old Egypt and Rome. They were even normally utilized in holy places as ritualistic furniture in the Middle Ages. Here are some different licenses for collapsing seats that were conceded preceding that of Nathaniel Alexander: M.S. Sea shore of Brooklyn, New York licensed a lawn seat for seats, U.S. Patent No. 18377 on October 13, 1857. Be that as it may, this plan seems, by all accounts, to be a drop-down seat, for example, a plane hop seat as opposed to a seat you can crease, stack, and store away.J.P.A. Spaet, W.F. Berry and J.T. Snoddy of Mount Pleasant, Iowa were conceded U.S. Patent No. 383255 on May 22,â 1888, for a lawn seat intended to look a lot of like a standard seat when being used. It could be collapsed up to be put away and spare space.C. F. Batt licensed a lawn seat for liners on June 4, 1889, U.S. Patent No. 404,589. Batts patent notes that he was looking for enhancements for longstanding lawn seat plans, particularly abstaining from having a pivot along the edge arms that can squeeze your fingers when collapsing or unfurling the seat. Sources Alexander, Nathaniel. Seat. Patent 997108. 1911.Batt, C.F. Collapsing Chair. Patent 383255. 1888.Beach, M.S. Scorch. Patent 18377. 1857.Pipkin, James Jefferson. James R.L. Diggs. The Negro in Revelation, in History and in Citizenship: What the Race has Done and is Doing. St. Louis: N.D. Thompson Publishing Company, 1902Spaet, J.P.A., W. F. Berry and J.T. Snoddy. Collapsing Chair for Steamers. Patent 404,589. 1889.WEB DuBois Correspondence with J.R.L. Diggs, Special Collections, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.