my pair of old DOWD (FOWLER) oak folding chairs

I picked up this sturdy old pair of oak FINGER-PINCHERS (no, wait...FALLING CHAIRS...no, that's not right either, I mean FOLDING CHAIRS?!) several years ago at a church rummage sale near Detroit. Always assumed that the "Dowd" name branded into their backs was that of a funeral home, as similar chairs were once commonly provided by funeral homes (etc) and utilized kinda all over the place (sometimes by the truckload) to provide 'temporary seating' at funerals, church picnics, school functions, lodge gatherings, and/or other assorted events where large numbers of people would gather in normally open spaces, often outdoors.

Turns out that, apparently, they are "DOWD" brand chairs instead, as made by the FOWLER CHAIR CO. of Fowlersville, MI, which seems to have existed there in the 1940's before eventually moving operations to PA then suffering a devastating fire which ended their operations. These particular two seem to have slightly different versions of the DOWD logo, though neither also has the FOWLER CHAIR CO. insignia under its seat that I find pictured on other examples of similar chairs seen online.

Back to the beginning reference -- that's a couple things I definitely remember (and have in fact remembered again once or twice since owning this pair of my own) about the unique design of these chairs from long ago experience. Unlike most modern day folding chairs, one raises the *rear* edge of the seat to fold it flat. The otherwise inarguably simple and sturdy method/mechanism by which it does this also, unfortunately, tends to like to grab itself a little chunk of one's hand if you're not being careful while opening/closing the da*ned things... <OWWWCHH!!>

And that 'rear-raising' seat design can also be (more than?) slightly prone to creating unexpected "gravity events" if one gets too close to the front edge while sitting on them. There's a sorta 'center of gravity' physics thing that goes on with 'em...cross that invisible line w/your body weight and <BANG> it just threw 'ya on the floor. <LOLOL> For that same reason, don't even *THINK ABOUT* trying to *stand* on one, unless you just really enjoy things like bleeding and broken bones and ambulance rides... ;-)