Anybody have the “pop-up trolley seat” on their on their BCC? Port Townsend Foundry sells the mechanism and I am looking for info about the usefulness of having this fold up seat available on the front of the icebox across from the galley.
Wayne Edney, BCC Odyssey
Oh, I ran into Mimi (the boat in the pic) in Norfolk just a few weeks ago. Got aboard for a short visit. They have varnished the interior with gloss, she looks fabulous. I saw the seat, but didn’t take the opportunity to try it out! Dumb! Roger has one I believe. So far I’ve never been standing right there thinking to myself, “I wish I had a seat right here”… but I’m just a rookie.
Ben,
I don’t have one yet, but have leaned against the ice box to put on shoes and thought, gee I could be sitting. Or when the boat is full of people, maybe just another temporary seat. Port Townsend makes the mechanism:
Hello Wayne,
Yes, we make the trolley pop up seat. Have attached a picture for your review. Cost is 150.00/ea without the seat, plus shipping.
Thank you for the inquiry
Cathy L. Langley
Port Townsend Foundry LLC
251 Otto St
Port Townsend WA 98368
Ben,
I don’t have one yet, but have leaned against the ice box to put on shoes and thought, gee I could be sitting. Or when the boat is full of people, maybe just another temporary seat. Port Townsend makes the mechanism:
Hello Wayne,
Yes, we make the trolley pop up seat. Have attached a picture for your review. Cost is 150.00/ea without the seat, plus shipping.
Thank you for the inquiry
Cathy L. Langley
Port Townsend Foundry LLC
251 Otto St
Port Townsend WA 98368
Yeah, it’s not a bad idea Wayne – and for some reason $150 seems reasonable to me - I think I’m getting jaded by the marine marketplace.
I’ve had one of those mounted on the ice box for many years. It is handy to have when using the chart table for navigation or making entries to the log. Also particularly when using the radio on the Ham nets when you may be there awhile and need to listen and be ready to transmit. It’s not exactly comfortable but it does help stabilize you when in that position. It works on either tack but probably is best when on port. I think I bought it from Defender but I don’t see it listed anymore.
Ron Thompson
Ho’okahiko 97
What are the dimensioned with and without seat folded and unfolded?
When the seat is folded it is 4 inches and when extended 11 inches.
Ron Thompson
I have today discovered by painstaking research (of the sort that must surely bring my sanity into question!) that the ‘trolley seat’ is more properly called a ‘counter seat’.
It was invented in Falls Creek, Mass., by Junius P. Prentiss in 1897 (US Patent 597739 granted in 1898). First produced by the United States Counter Seat Company in Portland, Maine.
Used in shops, including drugstores and cafeterias, for temporary seating at the counter. And perhaps later (in the early 20th century? as late as 1920) used as temporary seating (for the motorman? or passengers?) in trolley cars/streetcars in Chicago.
According to my research, Mike Pearson, master of BCC Metaphora, introduced the counter seat to Sam L. Morse Co.
Depending on the cosmic flow, the diagram from Prentiss’s patent will be attached.
To answer Wayne’s question (only 4 years late!), Zygote has a counter seat. Not used every day, but it does get used.
Bil
My library research further suggests that in 1881 at least one state in the US passed a law requiring storekeepers to provide seating for their employees.
And that led to the demand for ‘counter seats’, for temporary seating for employees and customers.
Seems even to have been legal argument that ‘counter seats’ could not be reserved for any particular employee and so were fair game for customers or anyone. Suggesting that counter seats were more likely on the customer side of a shop counter and that only lip service was given to the law.
Several different minimal seats arrived on the market. Junius Prentiss’s seems to have gained success in the marketplace.
My library does not stretch to revealing which state (?Maine, Massachusetts?) passed such a law in 1881. If anyone can fill the gap, I would be most grateful (and of course reward them with a free copy of the next edition of Zygote’s word list).
Bil
I take it the ‘counter seat’ doesn’t protrude any more than the hinged counter section? I had always worried it would be a knee banger!
I take it the ‘counter seat’ doesn’t protrude
any more than the hinged counter section? I had
always worried it would be a knee banger!
I’ve banged knees, shins, head, elbows, etc against most every part of Zygote!
But:
in drop-down stowage mode, the counter seat is lower than knee height;
it is mounted on the inboard face of the ice box almost as far aft as possible. So in drop-down mode, it does not over hang the flat cabin sole. It is instead vertically above the curve of the hull.
On Z, Dick and Tommie had first mounted a teak base pad to the inboard face of the ice box; that mounting pad is about 20 mm (13/16") thick. Then the bronze hardware of the counter seat is fastened through that (through bolted? Just long screws - I’m not sure).
Result is that in drop-down stowage mode, the counter seat does sit further proud than the drop-down counter leaf - but because the counter seat is further aft (in drop-down mode, it overlaps the edge of bulkhead #5 - the bulkhead that is the aft face of the icebox).
In drop-down mode, when the circular seat is close to vertical, the top of the seat is about 65 mm (2.5") proud of the inboard surface of its mounting base. The bottom of the seat is about 121 mm (getting close to 5") proud of that teak base pad. Its location make it hard, but not impossible, to hit with shins or knee.
I don’t remember donating skin or blood to the counter seat. And I’m happy to have it.
Bil
The price has gone up a little in the past four years - it will now cost you $265.00 to order one from Port Townsend Foundry…without the wood!
I measured the seat base of Zygote’s counter seat at 13/16" thick and 9.25" diameter.
I note that the Internet does show that second hand counter seats have been sold in recent times. Some have been handled by interior decorators/architects. Others by antique dealers.
The original streetcar/counter seats may have had iron bases, not bronze. These ones claim to have been cast iron: intact c. 1898-1901 refinished american industrial city streetcar flush mount drop-down folding chair with original oak seat and This item is unavailable | Etsy
Bil
Bil -
That seat base measurement is very helpful.
Thanks!
When in seat mode, the top of the seat is 22 3/16" or 564 mm vertically above the cabin sole. That puts it at or just above the top of my kneecap.
The aft face of the mount is 3" forward of the forward edge of bulkhead #5.
Bil
it seems to me that anything that lets you sit at the chart table is well worth a bit of effort.
Gene Roll
