Chair wheels types - Part 1

Part 1: The President’s Invention

Believe it or not, we owe the modern swivel chair to Thomas Jefferson. In the mid-1770s, Jefferson modified a Windsor chair by adding a central spindle, allowing the seat to rotate. While it didn’t have wheels yet, it established the idea that a chair should move with the person, not just sit there like a stump.

The addition of wheels (casters) gained steam during the Industrial Revolution. Legend has it that Charles Darwin—yes, the "Origin of Species" guy—put wheels on his heavy wooden chair in the 1840s so he could roll between his specimens and his desk more quickly. It was the ultimate "productivity hack" of the 19th century.