Antique Straight Back Wood and Wicker Rocking Chair. Simple, elegant, classic design. 

Size: 26 1/2 x 17 3/4 x 30 1/4 in. 

#7022 . 

A rocking chair or rocker is a type of chair with two curved bands (also known as rockers) attached to the bottom of the legs, connecting the legs on each side to each other. The rockers contact the floor at only two points, giving the occupant the ability to rock back and forth by shifting their weight or pushing lightly with their feet. Rocking chairs are most commonly made of wood, and some modern versions are made to fold for transportation. Rocking cradles long predate rocking chairs and an example exists from antiquity, found in the ruins of Herculaneum. Originally used in gardens, rocking chairs were simply ordinary chairs with rockers attached. In 1725, early rocking chairs first appeared in England. Though American inventor Benjamin Franklin is sometimes credited with inventing the rocking chair, historians actually trace the modern rocking chair’s origins to North America during the early 18th Century, when Franklin was a child. The production of wicker rocking chairs reached its peak in America during the middle of the 18th Century. These wicker rockers, as they were popularly known, were famous for their craftsmanship and creative designs.  The first known use of the term “rocking chair” was in an English nursery poem in 1766, and it has since come to be synonymous with parenting, evoking the gentle rocking motion commonly used to soothe infants and help them to sleep. During the 1830s Peter Cooper designed the first steel rocking chair in America, which was displayed at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851. In the 20th Century several innovations were made in style and weight distribution, as the rocking motion was found to be as soothing to adults as it was to children and adolescents, and contemporary studies of gentle rocking motion have shown it to provide faster onset of sleep than simply remaining stationary. Rocking chairs are also usually more comfortable than stationary chairs because when a user sits in one without rocking the chair automatically rocks backward until the sitter’s center of gravity is met, thus granting an ergonomic benefit with the occupant kept at an unstressed position and angle. Some doctors recommend rockers for use during pregnancy as it reduces back pain and promotes relaxation and stress reduction. Contemporaneous varieties of rockers include those mounted on a spring base (or platform) called “platform rockers” and those with swinging braces commonly known as gliders.