Improved Railroad Car Seat

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


To travellers by railroad, there is nothing more desirable, and, at the same time, so rare as a comfortable seat. To furnish this desideratum, an improved car seat has been invented by William M. Warren, of Water-town, Ct., who has taken measures to secure a patent. By this plan a person may adjust the seat in a moment of time, so as to make it convenient for sleeping on, merely by raising a hinged back, which is attached to another fixed back—the car seat being hung on pivots, so that it can be more or less depressed as the movable back is raised. This is effected very simply by using a metal strip attached at its lower end to the cross-piece, which supports the pivots for the seat, at the upper part this strip ip connected by a hinge to the adjustable back, in such a manner that when the back is depressed the seat is brought to a horizontal position, but if raised, the seat, by the action of the metal strip, is made to incline, a result due to the relative position of the hinges. The seat can likewise be made to face in any required direction, a spring securing it when adjusted.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 8 Issue 21This article was published with the title “Improved Railroad Car Seat” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 8 No. 21 (), p. 164
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican02051853-164f

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe