The Exhibitor (Nov 1939-May 1940)

Irwin Seating Company Introduces “Crusader” Grand Rapids, Michigan — News was made last month when the Irwin Seating Company brought forth its new chair, dubbed “The Crusader.” Of the merits of the new chair, the company points out the following items: “The chair will aggressively promote the cause of better theatre seating. It is decidedly superior in mechanical features, with breath-catching beauty and unprecedented comfort, a tangible asset. “Theatre seating, unlike a chair in the home, is a built-in and integral part of the theatre structure; therefore, it is both an engineering and architectural problem. The various floor inclines, modern ventilation systems, and other technical factors make co-operation between the seating company, distributor, contractor, and architect all important. “Design. The design of the aisle standards and general appearance of the chair in the color schemes available form a unit where color and design are well correlated and form a chair in which all parts exist not as individual units but as a part of the complete chair. “Comfort. The pitch of the back, size of the seat, and resiliency of the springs in the seat have all been carefully worked out to assure extreme comfort. “Back. The back is full upholstered type with a steel back panel and is equipped with an aluminum rim. The aluminum rim serves three purposes: (1) it protects the covering material on the top and sides, (2) it extends over the rear face of the steel back panel, protecting the enamel finish on this panel, and (3) it also helps ushers and customers in readily locating unoccupied chairs in the darkened theatre, thus eliminating aisle congestion and confusion. “Seat. The upholstered seat consists of an integral coil -spring unit, with a greater number of coil springs being supplied on the wider chairs, so that the degree of spring stiffness is the same on all size chairs. The bottom of the seat and the entire hinge assembly is completely enclosed by a steel seat bucket, which covers up all bolts and nuts which might create a hazard of tearing or snagging clothes or stockings. The seat bucket also serves as a protection to the outside The Bodar Company’s Isoton Among electronic developments for the theatre is the Isoton, designed to meet the requests of many projectionists for a small unit to give a quick and accurate check of the actual sound level reaching the audience under varying conditions of projection. Th,e Isoton is an “electric ear” located in any desired position in the theatre, converts accoustical energy into electrical, which registers on a meter in the booth. “Conclusion. We believe that the Crusader chair represents the finest chair manufactured in the United States today, both from the standpoint of appearance and design, and, more importantly, from the standpoint of construction and comfort. A chair, in order to sell, must be well designed and have eye appeal, but more important than this, the chair must be comfortable and be built so that it will stand up over a period of years. These qualities, we feel, the Crusader chair has.” The Crusader chair is on display in the showrooms of branches of the National Theatre Supply Company. The Irwin Seating Company’s Crusader Pictured above is the Irwin Seating Company’s new Crusader, designed especially to “ promote the cause of better theatre seating.” For the chair, the company claims superior mechanical features, beauty and unprecedented comfort. covering material on the seats. The embossing and design on the seat bucket correspond to the design on the aisle standard and are decorated in corresponding colors. The comfort of any chair is determined chiefly by the type of construction and materials put into the upholstered seat. While it istrue, of course, that the upholstering material and the padding in the back of the chair aids to its comfort, the finest chair that is made will still be uncomfortable without the right kind of a seat. The construction of the spring unit employed in the Crusader chair is, we believe, the finest type of spring available. The springs have a floating range or when occupied can be depressed approximately two and one-half to three inches, which is very important in giving the chair comfort. “Hinge. The hinge is of the indirect compensating type and the indirect bracket member is cast from malleable iron. The hinge operates on fibre bushings which are die-swedged into the seat arms. The use of these fibre bushings assures a quiet, smooth-operating hinge action. The hinge is also equipped with rubber bumpers to soften the permanent up and down-stops and eliminate the possibility of the seat hitting or stopping with a jar. The hinge proper is, of course, concealed so that no working parts of the hinge are exposed. “Seat Lifter. The chairs are equipped with a self-rising seat mechanism with a counter-balanced spring so that the seat, when unoccupied, is automatically raised to a position approximately 30 degrees from the vertical. The counter-balancing spring throws the seat 30 degrees from the vertical and leaves it in a safe position. “Kick Boards. All chairs will be furnished with kickboards to protect the seat when in a folded position from occupants of the row behind placing feet on the surface covering material of the seat. The kickboard is high enough from the floor so that the chair occupants will not place their feet on it. To the degree that this is done, however, the kickboard has been made separate from the steel back panel so that it can be removed and re-enameled if necessary. “Center Standards. All center standards will be of H-steel and will be regularly furnished without filler panels which we strongly recommend. From a ventilation standpoint, the closing of center standards is undesirable. Where customers desire, filler panels will be supplied. “Installation. Installation of the Crusader chair will be easier than with the standard line chair, as the seats will be shipped with hinges and seat buckets already assembled. When installing, the standards should be fastened to the floor, the backs attached to the standards, and then the seat and hinge assembly can be readily inserted into sockets on the standards. THE EXHIBITOR January 17, 1940