1. The chair was invented at so early a period, that its origin cannot
now be ascertained. It was used by all the civilized nations of
antiquity; and some of their patterns for this species of furniture
have been revived, with some modifications, in modern times; for
example, a stool for sitting at the piano, now called the X, is the
lower part of a chair used in the Roman empire near two thousand years
ago. The seat and back were stuffed with some soft elastic substance.
2. The seats used by the barbarous conquerors of the Roman empire,
hardly deserve the name of chairs, as they commonly consisted of
little or nothing more than a stool with three or four legs. Even the
great Alfred, who swayed the sceptre of England in the latter part of
the ninth century, possessed nothing approaching nearer to a chair
than a three-legged stool made of oak timber. This species of seat was
at length improved into a chair by the addition of another leg and a
back.
3. The next step in the art of chair-making was to cover the seats
with cloth, and to stuff them with some kind of wadding. The material
of which the frames were made was oak; and for a long period, they
were exceedingly heavy and inconvenient. The armed-chair is said to
have been contrived by an alderman of Cripplegate. Such chairs,
however, were in use among the ancient Greeks and Romans.
4. Our old-fashioned chair, with four upright posts, several
horizontal rounds and slats, together with wooden splints or flags for
the bottom, is comparatively modern, although it is impossible to
state the period of its introduction. Very few of any other kind were
used in the United States, until near the beginning of the present
century.
5. The Windsor chair seems to have been first used for a rural seat in
the grounds about Windsor castle, England; whence its name. It was
originally constructed of round wood, with the bark on; but the
chair-makers soon began to make them of turned wood, for the common
purposes of house-keeping. We cannot learn that any were made in this
country before the close of the revolution, in 1783.
6. A great proportion of the chair-maker's stuff is brought to the
proper form by means of the lathe; and this machine is used for this
purpose in every practicable case; but this part of the work is not
performed in the cities, since it is found to be less expensive and
more convenient, to purchase the timber turned in the country. Slats
for the back, bent to the proper shape, are also obtained from the
same source.
7. The Windsor chair is varied in its construction and finish, in
some particulars; but, in all cases, it has a seat made of thick plank
of cypress, bass, or some other soft wood. The slats, when employed,
are also made of the same wood, or of soft maple. The parts which are
turned, are commonly of the wood last mentioned.
8. In constructing chairs from these materials, the workman undertakes
several at a time, say from one to two or three dozens. We may
suppose, as is frequently the case, that he first cuts up a quantity
of planks to the proper size for the seats, and reduces them to the
proposed form and smoothness by means of the drawing-knife, adze,
spoke-shaves, and sand-paper. He next cuts the various pieces which
are to compose the frame, to the proper length, turns the ends of
those which need it, to make the joint, and bores the requisite holes
with a _bit_. In putting the parts together, the joints are made to
fit very closely, and their union is rendered permanent by means of
glue.
9. The chairs are next covered with three coats of paint, and with two
coats of copal or some other kind of varnish; and this, for plain
work, completes the whole process of the manufacture. But, when they
are to be ornamented, gold or copper leaf or bronze is put on before
the application of the last coat of varnish. The bronze used by
painters, is finely pulverized copper, tin, or zinc.
10. The _ornamenter_ uses paper patterns, which he applies to the
surface to be ornamented, to guide him in the execution of his work.
The powder is laid on with a camel's-hair brush, or with a piece of
raw cotton. Light and shade are produced by a proper distribution of
the powder, or by paint of a dark colour. The bronze is made to adhere
by means of _size_, which has been previously laid on.
11. Several other kinds of chairs are, also, made by the common
chair-maker; and the frames, or some parts of them, are sawn out of
planks with a narrow-bladed saw, which can be easily guided upon the
line of any pattern. The principal parts of the frame are commonly put
together with the mortice and tenon; and the bottoms are composed of
cane, flags, or a peculiar kind of rush. The cane is likewise used in
the backs of chairs, especially in those having rockers.
12. The manufacture of mahogany chairs with stuffed seats, sometimes
constitutes a distinct branch of business; at other times, it is
connected with that of making sofas; and again, with cabinet-making in
general. It is generally supposed, that rockers were first applied to
chairs in this country, but at what time or by whom, it cannot be
determined.
[Illustration: CARVER & GILDER.]