Tip-top table

These multi-purpose tables were historically used for playing games, drinking tea or spirits, reading and writing, and sewing.

[8] The legs formed a tripod and came in a large variety from cabriolet with articulated shoulders to smooth curves sloping towards the floor.

[12] The tip-top tables appeared "suddenly" in the British North American colonies around 1740 and enjoyed a still-unexplained rapid spread.

Gloag[further explanation needed] points to the term being applied to both the tilting and also to non-folding round gaming tables.

The accounts of cabinetmakers have many records of fixing the tilting mechanism; the contemporary satirical pictures compared the instability of the table to the one of the fashionable society.

Folded late 18th century English loo table with Japanese motifs.
Tabletop with scalloped edges
Birdcage mechanism
Snap mechanism