Need Help Identifying Odd Wooden chair with electrodes and wiring in seat

Thanks, I thought it might be something like that.

I thought I'd apologize, it is his first post, and I sent it flying off the rails the minute I came in.

 

And it saves you having to stand with your back to the fireplace until your backside finally gets to a comfortable temperature. While your hands are still freezing.

 

you don't own that...it's been done before....
but it's nice that you are being thoughtful about it !!

 

I'm sorry too Jon for grabbing AJ's flying post and running with it, No .. Racing with it .. ((( AJ ))) .. Joy.

 

I am sorry to convey the opinion of my associate that the circuit as shown on the bottom of the chair would not be complete in itself - it appears that the outer ring is connected to one terminal and the inner ring connected to the other terminal. Therefore, the fundamental completion must be made by some "conductive material" seated on the copper terminals.......

 

A cushion ?? a BACKSIDE??? .....

 

Normal enough looking chair, but with the seat taken out and a custom plywood seat with the brass electrical contacts added. Someone did their own thing with a standard chair, maybe for a magic trick? Store display window of a moving mannequin?

U.S. Post Office Department, name used until 1971, maybe used in a post office for a holiday display of some sort? Or maybe those were just the leather belts someone found lying around to use.

 

LOL, I specialize in that sorta thing!

 

The gauge of the wire is overkill for a dampness sensor.

Clothing would prohibit a sitter from shock.

Might keep a dog off.

 

Sorry to say, but that looks like an electic, death, chair, even the straps, are either worn or burned
Or either is a "wrong answer chair" , a bit, brutal

you gave me an quest to look through the internet!

 

Not US Post Office
Possibly
US Patent Office.

From what I can find US patent office became USPTO - US Patent and Trademark Office in 1975.

 

Well guess it could be

 

I admit that I got bored with the reading, but there were people inventing chairs to discharge electrical shocks -- medical treatment, snake oil salesman... not really certain.

But for some it was important to hide the electrical set up.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1164205A/en?q=electric&q=chair&before=priority:19700101

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I took the galvanized metal strap off so I could see the markings around the perimeter of the bottom. The clear ones read: "2-CP", "J-3794", "NSS CO" . The markings where the leather straps connect at the front are a bit harder to see, but I think one says "WALNUT", and the other starts with the numeral 2 plus a couple more characters I can't make out-"2??"

I began googling those markings but no luck yet. I was hoping to find it had some therapeutic use.

The leather straps and electrodes appear to be original to the chair. The metal strap and the wiring appear to be added later, perhaps a DIY project? The suggestion that it was a heating system came to my mind when I first saw it, but I'm not convinced... I'm no electrician, but it seems that if you ran enough current through it, the parts that would get hot first would be the parts with the most resistance. Since the wires and the electrodes are both copper, it seems the smaller wires would get hot first instead of the larger electrodes. I guess that would provide some heat to the seat area, but would also be a tremendous shock and fire hazard.

 

I don't think there's any way this set up could produce magnetism, is there?

 

No magnetism. No heat.

The leather straps are not original to the chair. The wiring is not original to the chair. This was all added stuff and has no relation to the chair maker's marks.

 

Maybe a tingle then? Straps do look like repurposed belts to me & I could easily accept the chair as deaccessioned government property, with all those stenciled marks. Postal worker with a sense of humor?

 

Maybe I'm misreading the pics, but it seems like there was enough heat to char the leather straps a bit.