Current location:
Collection Storage Facility
Provenance:
This chair was used in Virgennes, Vermont. The Museum purchased the chair as part of a larger dentistry collection in 1980.
Technical history:
The back of this purpose-built dental chair folds down to be a child’s seat and the chair has a disk base rather than long wooden legs. Ritter chairs were the first to use hydraulic pressure to raise and lower the patient. These improvements made dentistry easier: the dentist no longer had to deal with tripping over chair legs or moving patients between chairs of different heights during an appointment.
History:
This Ritter “Imperial Columbia” chair made dentistry easier and more comfortable for both the patient and the dentist. Ritter dental chairs were famous in their time — one model was featured at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Ritter dental chairs have been used all around the world — in Canada and the United States, and even as far away as Brazil, Australia, and China.
CSTMC/SMSTC 1980.0055
Ritter Patent Image 1890 US605974
CSTMC/SMSTC L23386
CSTMC/SMSTC 1980.0055
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