Trivia Junction

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Rocking chair patent of the absurd

U.S. Patent No. 92,379

The rocking chair would seem to be one of those inventions that was, well, pretty darn perfect. But not to Charles Singer, who in 1869 patented an

“improved” version that contained a bellows beneath the seat with connected tubing that ran up the back of the chair, then looped down like a shower head.

By rocking, the chair operator would expand and compress the bellows, forcing a cooling stream of air up the tube and then down upon himself. The harder one rocked, the more forceful the stream of cooling air – a contradiction that may explain why Singer's chair never really took off.

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