Swiss inventor solves dinner party dilemma

The chairs move around the table at a constant rate of 9 centimetres per minute. www.dynamicmeetings.com

A Swiss inventor has come up with a novel way of ensuring that dinner party guests never have to sit opposite the same person for too long.

Paolo Rais, an engineer based in canton Ticino, says his revolving table and chairs mean no diner will ever have to spend more than a few minutes in the company of the same person.

The invention consists of an electric motor which powers two hidden chains hidden inside an 18-seater rectangular dining table.

“The chairs on wheels move very slowly around the table,” Rais explains.

“The trays for each place also move together with the chairs so that you can eat and drink like at a traditional table, with the advantage…that you change your conversation partners,” he adds.

Motion sickness

Rais says diners are unlikely to suffer from motion sickness as they revolve their way around the table, since the speed is kept at a constant 9 centimetres (3.5 inches) per minute.

“The idea is that you should not notice the movement,” Rais told swissinfo.

The inventor says the idea for the revolving table came to him when he was invited to attend a family wedding.

“There were many people there,” he said, “and I wanted to meet other friends, but I had to stay for about three hours at the table always next to the same person.”

Rais says his disappointment at having to dine in the same company for hours on end encouraged him to apply his skills as an engineer to finding a way around the problem.

Marketing the product

Though the idea has not yet reached the stage of entering mass production on factory floors around the world, Rais estimates a made-to-order 12-seater table would cost around SFr35,000.

“I wrote to some companies all over the world. Up until now I have had no positive response, but I am quite sure I will have some success,” Rais said.

The inventor says he even sent an email to the Queen Mother in Britain to ask whether she might like to give his revolving table the royal seal of approval.

“Last year, when the Queen Mother was 100 years old, there were many ceremonies, and I saw photographs of big banquets,” he said.

Even though such banquets are attended by hundreds of dignitaries and VIPs, Rais says, nobody can go home boasting they have met more than five or six people because of the static nature of the dining experience.

“I thought because the Queen Mother is quite old, she might like to try my table to move around.”

The inventor has yet to receive a royal reply, but says he has not given up hope of being invited to the palace to demonstrate his prototype.

by Ramsey Zarifeh