THE WORLD'S FIRST TACTICAL CHAIR

How a chair designed to survive torpedoes became a timeless icon of industrial design.

- CORY GRAFF

FIRE KILLS WARSHIPS. IN THE EARLY DAYS OF World War II, the USS Vincennes was set ablaze when Japanese shells shattered the heavy cruiser's hangar space. The damage itself was not fatal, but the boat's own paint and inventory-spare aeroplane parts, life jackets, and machine oil – fed the fire, lighting up the night sky to attract more heavy-calibre gunfire. In the early morning hours of 9 August 1942, the Vincennes rolled over and sank near Savo Island in the South Pacific.

As similar losses mounted, the US Navy embarked on a campaign to rid its combat ships of almost everything that would ignite. A new ban prohibited cork insulation, linoleum flooring, rugs, and curtains, along with items from sailors' personal belongings, such as excess books, dress uniforms and hair oils. When elimination proved impossible for some necessary items, such as wooden mess benches, the Navy sought non-flammable alternatives.

A proposal seeking submissions for a new shipborne chair caught the attention of a young Baltimore engineer named Wilton Dinges. The chairs had to be waterproof, fire- and corrosion-resistant, and light yet tough enough to endure constant abuse and withstand a torpedo blast. With help from aluminium producer Alcoa, Dinges created the seven-pound (3.1 kg) Model 1006 ('ten oh six').

Due to wartime scarcity, Alcoa could only supply Dinges with the softest zero-temper aluminium, recycled from scrap. But he used this to his advantage, leveraging the malleable state of the metal to craft the chair's gentle back curve and tapered front legs. Dinges then exposed the soft aluminium to a series of heat and acid treatments that achieved a hardness three times that of steel. Later testing showed that a single chair could support 770 kg.