The Swivel Chair

Note to reader: I created this blog as I did my research, therefore my thought process is much more organized… subsequently, I actually end up with an answer to my question… more often than not, I end up somewhere far, far away from where my research started. I’m sure I’ll share that experience with you eventually…

While watching Part 2 of the HBO Series “John Adams”, Benjamin Franklin complimented Thomas Jefferson on his fascinating chair. The chair swiveled all the way around.

“Thomas Jefferson invented the swivel chair?!” I exclaimed.

That question led me here:

12 Things Thomas Jefferson Invented
[please try to ignore the stupid comments people with nothing better to do have left]
dumbwaiters for wine bottles
the Great Clock
the hideaway bed
macaroni and cheese, not to mention
a macaroni extruding device
the pedometer
the plow moldboard of least resistance
the polygraph (not a lie detector, but a copying machine)
a revolving bookstand
the spherical sundial
an improved swivel chair
the wheel cipher

It’s worth noting that “he never took out a patent, owning to his belief that every invention should benefit all of society.”

Anyway, I then wondered, what does this description mean – why an “improved” swivel chair?

And I went here: http://storis63.tripod.com/jefferson2a.html

Where the description of the mahogany ladder (found under the Great Clock paragraph) fascinated me…

But I still didn’t have my answer…

This sort of answered it:
REVOLVING CHAIRS
Thomas Jefferson introduced an improved revolving Windsor chair to the United States after seeing it in Europe. Combining the Windsor chair with a writing arm and a leg rest in Monticello's joinery, Jefferson, according to his own definition of invention, created a new piece of furniture.

Alas, I ended up at the beloved Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swivel_chair

BTW - my favorite page I found during my research: http://storis63.tripod.com/jefferson4.html :)

Had I not set out to find my answer about the “improved” swivel chair, without a doubt, I’d still be researching the history of the 10 Pavilions on the lawn at UVA…