Inventor Name
Seng Company
Repository
Winterthur Library
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Winterthur, DE 19735
302-888-4853
Physical Description
1 box
Summary
Ten patents, mostly related to furniture hardware, and one photograph. The patents are for hinges, a wire-coiling machine, extension table slides, a box lounge (a piece of furniture built like a box, but with an upholstered top), a box-couch opener, a davenport bed, and an adjustable chair. A patent for a filter came with the collection, but it is not related to furniture. The patents were issued between 1891 and 1908 to several different men. Most of the patents were then assigned to the Seng Company of Chicago, which manufactured furniture hardware. However, a few of the patents were assigned to other men, and one was assigned to the Kindel Somersaultic Davenport Company of Delaware. (It is not known if this company was related to the Kindel Furniture Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan.) The patent papers include diagrams of the invention being patented, as well as a written description about how the object works. The papers are marked with an official seal from the U.S. Patent Office and are tied together with blue ribbon. The photograph in this collection is labeled “Seng Fellowship Club Picnic, Orchard Grove (near Park Ridge), Saturday, August 26, 1939.” It is a posed picture of a group of men, women, boys, girls, and a clown. They are probably employees of the Seng Company and their families at a company picnic.
