BY CORY GRAFFAs 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.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.How a chair designed to survive
torpedoes became a timeless
icon of industrial design.
MAY / JUNE 2022 49