Legomatic folding chair


Leg-O-Matic was a division of Lorraine Ind., Bridgeport Conn. From the 1940s to the 1970s, they produced folding chairs which were sold through Sears and also by Airstream, for their travel trailers.
Information found on http://www.salvagelove.net/, and on the Airstream forum site: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f227/leg-o-matic-chairs-85207.html. My Leg-O-Matic folding chair apparently dates from the mid-1960s and was sold through Airstream

. I picked it up at a garage sale for $2.00 CDN. I thought it would make a good subject for detailed documentation photography.

Because it’s larger than the usual items I photograph on my workbench, I moved up to the billiard room (don’t get impressed – it’s just a room with a pool table in it). It’s next to the kitchen so most of the time my wife uses it to cool baking. Relax! We keep a modified table tennis top on it.

Lighting setup
Lighting setup

The setup is fairly simple: I used one flash with an umbrella high up on a stand, with a white backdrop clamped to my backdrop stand. The camera was pretty much locked down to target the centre of the chair, although I had to raise it to shoot the unfolded chair so the ceiling wouldn’t show.

 

The object is to photograph the object from as many positions as possible, closed, half open, and open. The first task (after ironing the backdrop) is to shoot the chair in its closed state.

Folded for storage - mechanism
Folded for storage – mechanism
Folded for storage - right side
Folded for storage – right side
Folded for storage - left side
Folded for storage – left side
Folded for storage - front
Folded for storage – front

I first took it the way it looks when stored, sitting on its hinges. Then I shot it lying down, ready to be opened.

Lying down - hinge end
Lying down – hinge end
Lying down - head end
Lying down – head end
Lying down - right side
Lying down – right side

Next, I shot the sequence of opening it from the bottom.

Lying down - hinge end
Lying down – hinge end
Half unfolded - bottom view
Half unfolded – bottom view

 

 

 

 

Unfolded - bottom view
Unfolded – bottom view

Then, I shot the side view of it opening.

 

Lying down - right side
Lying down – right side
Half unfolded - side view
Half unfolded – side view
Unfolded - side view
Unfolded – side view

Finally, I was ready to shoot the chair standing, unfolded. It was necessary to raise the camera at this point, to keep the angle consistent with the other shots.

Unfolded chair - rear
Unfolded chair – rear
Unfolded chair - left side
Unfolded chair – left side
Unfolded chair - front
Unfolded chair – front
Unfolded chair - right side
Unfolded chair – right side

 

To round out the images, I then shot a closeup of the label attached to the underside of the seat. There should be another with instructions on how to use the chair, but that was missing when I purchased it.

The next step would be to measure each dimension, open and closed.

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