A

L T

MARIANNA HEIKINHEIMO

ALVAR AALTO'S PATENTS

LVAR AALTO patented seven inventions

in Finland. Four of these were methods

of bending wood or pieces of furniture

made from wood, which are all variations on the

same theme. Aalto was active in making patent
applications in the early 1930s, at a time when
many of the furniture types he designed were
Marianna Heikinheimo
is an architect. This article
is linked with the author's
research for her doctoral
thesis Arkkitektuurin ;a
tekno/og1an suhde Alvar
Aallon suunnittelemassa
Paimion parantolassa
!The relationship between
architecture and technology
in Alvar Aalto's Paimio
Sanatorium! at Helsinki
University of Technology.
marianna.heikinhe1mo
@archtours.fi
Translation: Nicholas Mayow

Table of patents
granted to Aalto in
Finland.

taking shape and going into small-scale massproduction.

By patenting an invention, the inventor,

seller or manufacturer of an object that is
made according to the patent aim to protect
their commercial position. For example,
during the 1930s, the Swiss company
Wohnbedarf patented Aalto's inventions
in various markets, such as Belgium, Italy,
Austria, Switzerland and France. A patent
does not simply confirm that an invention
is part of a commercial product; it also
confers on the inventor-owner certain legal

rights to his invention.1 Only a few wellknown 1920s and 30s European designers
who were able to see the principles behind
the furniture they designed as technical
inventions and patented them immediately
gained any financial benefit from their work. 2
Paradoxically, patents on furniture were
aimed at technical innovation rather than
design.
Patenting and standardisation were
two different things. The latter aims at
the substitution and compatibility of
parts in industrial production. ELINA
STANDERTSK)QLD has made a study of
Aalto's standard drawings' which were
made at the same time as key inventions
leading to his patents. In those days,
patent applications had to be submitted
to the patent department at the Ministry
of Trade and Industry, which besides the
application form and any necessary power

FINLAND

NAME

DATE GRANTED
IN FINLAND

PATENTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

16222
18256

Metal-leg chair
A method of making furniture
and other objects of that nature.
and chairs and other items of
furniture made using the method
A bending metl1od for wood.
and the articles produced by this metllod

07/12/1934
24/09/1938

Germany 1935
Sweden 1938, Denmark 1936,
Great Britain 1935

07/06/1940

Stair tr~ad
A metl10d of bending pieces of wood
and the bent wood products made with it
Combining pieces of bent wood
An anti-glare shade for light fittings

'14/12/1943
10/01/1949

Belgium 1935, Great Britain 1935,

Italy 1935, France '1935,
Netherlands 1936, Austria 1936,
Sweden 1936, Switzerland 1936,
Denmark 1936, USA 1936,
Czechoslovakia 1937
Sweden 1945
None

10/02/1956
10/08/1965

Sweden 1956
Sweden 1965, Denmark 1965

18666

19798
23421
28191
35162

Sources: r~ational Archives of Finland: Espacenet database http://ep.espacenet.com. Artek archives and patent offices
in other countries. Some of the foreign patents are in the name of Artek. some in the name of Wohnbedarf and some
in the name of Alvar Aalto. In Finnish patents, Alvar Aalto's name appears as inventor and applicant.

ALVAR AALTO'S PATENTS

ptah

2004:2

183U

f(uv. I
Kuvio 1

'V

A
1

A-A

The drawing for

patent no. 16222,
The metal-leg chair,
showed holes in the
back for lifting. <ecus
PRH

of attorney, dealt with the written patent

claims that were often accompanied by
diagrammatic drawings. Alvar Aalto's
patent applications were taken care of by
professional patent agents, principally Dr.
JALO ANT-WUORINEN, who was director
of a firm named 'Patenttitoimisto Suomea
ja Ulkomaita' (Patent office Finland and
abroad). The patent agents used local agents
as subcontractors in various countries.
Innovation described a new solution to a
specific problem. The research engineer in
the patent office examined the application
by applying six questions and compared
it with previous known inventions. The
procedure normally took several years and
was costly to the applicant.
The more important sources for this
article include the Alvar Aalto Archives, the
Artek Archives, the Patent Office Archives
and the National Archives of Finland.

10

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2004:2

Metal-leg chair Aalto's first patent, no.

16222 Metal-leg chair, covered a specific
form of bending for the leg of the chair
which enabled the chairs to be stacked,
one inside the other. According to the
patent application, stacking made the chair
easier to pack and to handle, which gave
some indication of the inventor's interest
in the ease with which the goods could be
delivered from the factory to the consumer.
Alvar Aalto adapted this invention
in the 'hybrid' chair in 1929. The name
suggests the combination of two materials,
steel tube with a bent wooden seat. The
patented feature of the chair, however, is
associated with the bending of the metal
leg, not the combined bent back and seat
made out of plywood, or the combination
of the materials. According to the approved
patent claims for the metal-leg chair "close
to the floor, the vertical part of the leg is
bent first to one side and then backwards
to form a part of the metal-leg chair that
rests on the floor in a recognisable way" and
the chair was known for the fact that "the
bends in both legs are first inwards and then
backwards",
OTTO KORHONEN, owner of a joinery
works and somewhat older than Aalto,
had earlier submitted a patent application
in Finland that had the same content.
A chair manufactured according to the
invention became generally known through
magazine articles, such as one published
in the German magazine Bauwelt in 1931.
Once the patent was granted, it conferred
protection on the invention from the
date the application was submitted. In
autumn 1932, the application in Korhonen's
name was withdrawn and resubmitted
immediately in Aalto's name. According
to the German company Desta, with whom
Aalto was conducting correspondence
about retail rights, the new application
could no longer have priority status. A
patent with priority status concerned an
invention of originator quality, whereby
other inventions would be subordinate
to it. Thus Aalto and Korhonen lost the
priority status of the patent for the stacking
metal-leg chair that was based on the
bend in the leg by switching the patent

application to Aalto's name. It is likely that

the design was Aalto's and the technical
innovation was Korhonen's, After all,
Korhonen had already patented a wooden
stacking chair. 4 Perhaps they thought that
Aalto could unequivocally be identified
as the designer of the chair when it vvas
marketed. Artek, which still markets and
sells furniture designed by the Aaltos and
made in series production runs by the Otto
Korhonen works, was set up in 1935 after
Otto Korhonen's death. REN)A SUOMINENKOKKONEN takes the view that the ideas of
PIERRE BOURDIEU can be applied to Artek.
Design products step across into the realm
of the production of symbols, whereby a
famous designer's name imparts a greater
value to a product than its production
costs. The aim of creating a well-known
name focusing on the objects, the company
symbol and the people involved is closely
tied in with the business enterprise. 5
AINO AALTO also adapted this invention
in several of the pieces of furniture she
designed, such as the metal-legged stacking
chair dating from 1932. 6
Korhonen's company, Huonekalu- ja
rakennustyiitehdas, met the costs of Aalto's
patents, in the same way that Artek and
foreign retailers did at a later stage. Besides
Finland, the metal-leg chair was patented in
Germany.
The Paimio chair- an armchair with a flexible
wooden structure According to the patent

claim, the frame of the chair made in

accordance with patent no. 18256 was "more
or less" U-shaped in a longitudinal direction.
The back and seat were made from a single
sheet of ply that was bent between the seat
and the back, and at its upper and lower
ends. The sheet was fixed to the U-shaped
frame at the front and to the rear end of the
armrest formed by the upper part of the
frame, at the back. The parts were made
of thin layers and strips of wood that were
glued together as in conventional plywood
lamination. Once the glue had hardened
sufficiently, the piece was bent to its finished
form in a press. The finished object showed
no signs of longitudinal stress or stretching
of the wood fibres.

ALVAR AALTO'S PATENTS

Kuv/o].

7
5

Kuvio 4

J
The granting of the patent was delayed
by the counter claims put forward by
business interests. According to the Wilhelm
Schaumanin Faneeritehdas company
and ASKO AVONIUS, the procedure was
generally known in Finland. According to
a representative of the Schauman factory,
the method described by Aalto had been
used for making wooden harness bows for
horses and for aeroplanes. 7 It was also known
in the professional literature in Germany.
However, the counter claimants were unable
to substantiate their opposition statements
and the application was approved. Despite
making an application in the USA, Aalto was
unable to obtain a patent for this invention
there, but besides Finland, it was also patented in Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain.
The bent leg Patent no. 18666, A bending

method for wood, and the articles produced

11

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2004:2

,;.

The drawing for

Finnish patent no.
18256, 'A method
for manufacturing
furniture and similar
objects and chairs
and other furniture thus made',
shows the bending
of the frame of the
piece of furniture,
the bending of the
back and two forms
of chair made using
the invention. When
somebody sits in
the chair, the angle
between seat and
back becomes smaller
and both the bends
are stressed. ILLus .. rRf-l

Abb. r.

....

182.56

esitetyistii

muutosehdotu.J.::sista,

lopulliseen

kuntoon,

niin

olen

etta

se

val::lis

saatta:r.3.a..>:.

voitaisiin

haker:::uben

hyv~ksyli.

..

lruv. I
lruv.

/i'bbf

.;.

Alvar

Asl to

psta.
P.ahmttito1rnk1c

According to the counter

claim by Asko Avonius I patent
no.18256l, Aalto's U-shaped
legs corresponded to the
frame of the chair in the
illustration if one half of it
were to be cut away G. F. rLws
KA, EISEL PICTURE LIBRAK,

!ioom;:\ ~;t t~::,r?-'1.!\a va:ftjl

)Y"' "/(t;t,-1::..<-<..A-<-'-._____

....

.;.

Aalto's response to
the Patent Office's
interim ruling
!patent no. 18256)
includes a diagram
which clarifies
the issue: 'With
reference to the
second observation,
it is of course open
to interpretation
whether the
reinforcement of
the integrity of the
bond derived from
the compression of
the strips of wood
against each other is
a result of 'friction
- however, the fact
remains that the
bond will open if
the bent structure
is loaded as in Band
will remain intact in
condition A even if
the loading is the
same m each case."
iLLUS

KA

by this method, are both known as the 1leg. Longitudinal saw-cuts in the direction
of the grain were made in different layers
of the piece of wood in the area that was to
be bent. Strips of wood of even thickness
were fitted into the slots and these remained
in place after bending. The layers of wood
and the separate insert strips were allowed
to slide over one another during bending
and the object was bent before the glue had
dried. The slots or saw-cuts could be made
in different lengths.
As a result of this invention, the wooden
object could be bent using less force
than before. Thick pieces of wood were
normally steamed and bent using special
equipment. In Aalto's method, the force
on each strip of wood was the same as it
would have been if they had each been
bent to the corresponding shape separately. The examiners claimed that the
invention was known in two German

12

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2004:2

patents. With regard to the second of

these, Aalto pointed out in his reply that
"The infill strips are not removed from
the saw-cuts after bending, because in
my invention, they are directly intended
to replace the wood removed by sawing".
Asko Avonius and the Wilhelm Schauman
Faneeritehdas again made counter claims to
the effect that the method had been in use
previously. It was the thankless task of the
examiners at the Patent Office to place the
content and credibility of the statements of
opposing witnesses side by side. The debate
developed some unpleasant features as the
patent examiners held a joint session on the
issue because of the claims for the patent's
rejection. It seemed impossible to do
anything except grant the patent, since by
that stage the invention had been granted
patents in 11 other countries.
In 1941, the patent lapsed because the
annual fee remained unpaid. Artek tried to

..

..

ALVAR AALTO'S PATENTS

13

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2004:2

The application process

for Finnish patent no.
18666 lasted almost
six years. During this
period, Aalto managed
to acquire patents
for his invention in
Belgium. Holland. Great
Britain, Italy, Austria,
France, Sweden,
Switzerland, Denmark.
czechoslovakia and the
USA.
German patent no.
410016. granted to
Heindrich Ohagen in
1924. According to the
Patent Office examiner,
Aalto would have to
restrict the principal
claim in his application
"... to apply solely
to bending in the
longitudinal direction
of the grain of the
wood. since bending
across the grain is
already known .. "
Aalto amended
the application as
suggested. The
polemic procedure
for examining patent
applications clarified
the content of
the patent.
Finnish patent no.
23421, 'A method of
bending pieces of
wood and the bent
wood products made
with it', was granted to
Aalto in 1949.
German patent no.
704619, granted to
Karl Karthner in 1941.
According to the
Patent Office examiner,
sawing grooves in the
same direction as the
surface of a piece of
wood was known from
this patent. He called
for the applicant to
clarify the specification
of the principal claim.
Finnish patent no.
28191, 'A combination
of bent pieces of
wood', was adapted for
use in many items of
Artek furniture.

shift the blame onto the cashier although the

person in question was known as a "careful
member of our staff who handles things with
accuracy and precision." 8 The real reason
for the bill being neglected was probably
a financial one or a case of negligence
resulting from frustration. How-ever, the
lapse was corrected by paying a fine.
stair element Patent no. 19798, granted in
1943 to the standardisation committee of the
Association of Finnish Architects, SAFA,
describes a pre-cast reinforced concrete stair
element. In addition to Aalto, the name of
WOLDEl\lAR BAECKMAN appears as inventor.
The shape of the elements allowed them
to be stacked up at differing angles. It was
thus possible to use the same treads to build
any staircases needed for normal use that
were all different in dimensions and ease
of climbing. The documents are stamped
'urgent', so it seems likely that getting the
patent quickly was more important than its
content. The applicant made no attempt to
rephrase the application as a result of the
examiner's intermediate decision, so that
the entire contents of the application would
have been protected by patent. The wooden
stair, which originally formed part of the
application, was left outside the scope of the
final patent claim. The office of rebuilding,
which came under the Association of
Finnish Architects, was set up in 1942
with Alvar Aalto as its director. The office
of standardisation was part of the office of
rebuilding, and the stair tread remained its
sole patent.

"'

"'

Patent no. 35162 shows an anti-glare shade for a light

fitting. The light source was surrounded by rows of mainly
non -transparent elements. The part of each element that
faced the light source was convex so that the rays of light
leaving the light source travel through the outer element
as reflections without glare '''us PRH
The Patent Office examiner compared Aalto's invention with
patent no. 67888, granted to the Swede Poul Henningsen
in 1926, 'Reflexionsanordningar for indirect belysning' Aalto replied to the examiner saying "The light shade according to Swedish patent no. 67888 is made up of concave surfaces facing the light source. The anti-glare shade in the
new principal claim, is made up of convex surfaces, e.g.
pipes or round dowels, thus differing entirely in both construction and effect from this and other known shades."
llLUS., ESP;;;CENET

14

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2004:2

Ionic arch Patent no 23421, A method of

bending pieces of wood and the bent wood
products made with it, was granted to Alvar
Aalto in 1949. The difference between this
and the earlier patent no. 18666 was that
the bend was made without the infill strips
of wood of the same thickness, but using
wedges that fitted the base of the slots. This
gave a bend that tapered more evenly as the
slots closed without wedges for most of their
length. According to the application, the slots
were to be sawn to different lengths. Despite
applying for a patent for this invention in the
USA, Aalto was not granted one. He is not

known to have made any patent applications

in any other countries for this invention.
The X- leg According to Aalto, the biggest
problem in making furniture was to make
tlw joint between the horizontal and the
vnrlical element as strong as possible. This
i 11vnntion produced an exceptionally large
conlact surface between the parts.
The innovation consisted of pieces of
wood sawn into wedge-shapes, which
wnl'll bent in a longitudinal direction. The
pincos were glued or connected to each
otlwr in some other way, in a radial pattern.
Tlw surface ofthe widening fan-shape
tl1 is produced could extend to the full
1:i rcumference of a circle or be limited to a
::1H:Ior of a circle. In the diagram, Aalto used
pincns ofvvood bent according to his patent
1111. 23421. According to the application, the
w idnning surfaces could also be curves, i.e.
thny could contain several bends.
Anti-glare shade for light fittings The antigl<~ rn shade for light fittings was Aalto's
lnsl patent and the only one related to light
li IIi ngs. Aalto had to revise his application
hv I i miting its principal claim. According to
him, the invention could be differentiated
i'l'llm previous ones by adding the principal
ciHim that the reflected light was allowed
!11 I ravel in a direction in which direct light
could not travel, or by adding to the last
word (convex) before the principal claim, the
words "at least in a horizontal direction". In
I!J is case, too, the words were very important.
The hygienic window and other inventions A
patented invention is more likely to be a
SII<:Cess story than it would be if the patent
had not been applied for or granted. Aalto's
'other' inventions reveal a whole range of
i nlentions.
In 1936, Aalto submitted an application
for a method for allowing uninterrupted
!J ighway traffic on streets. According to
/\alto, the problem of highway traffic could
be resolved either by using traffic ways on
different levels or by using his invention.
The first alternative would have been too
expensive. The application was rejected
because, according to the examiner, it was

ALVAR AALTO'S PATENTS

..

The method for

allowing uninterrupted highway
traffic on streets was
achieved by grouping
the traffic flow with
traffiC lightS. lllUS .. AAA
SIGI~

already known and did not come within

the scope of the architect's profession. This
invention gives an indication of Aalto's
early interest in town planning and the key
role that motor traffic had in his ideas about
the modern city.
The patent for the steel-framed window
did not progress beyond the sketch stage. On
the basis of the patent claim, the window
is the same as one that Aalto designed in
cooperation with the Turku shipbuilders,
Crichton-Vulcan, for the strip windows in
the patients' corridor at Paimio Sanatorium
and was the same design that Aalto planned
to send to the CIAM exhibition in Brussels
in 1930. 9 A second glass pane was fixed to
the opening frame of the steel window with
a hinged auxiliary frame, so that it was easy
to clean between the panes. The traditional
window, which was joined together, caused
cleaning problems because opening the
frames was difficult. According to the
inventor, this was an intermediate pattern
between the joined window and a doubleglazed steel window with a single frame.
In 1947, Aalto applied for a patent in the
USA for a method of bending wood in which
the part to be bent consisted of wooden
dowels, but the patent application was
rejected. This method completes the series of
methods for bending wood. In cross-section,
the wooden dowels were glued together
and bent to the desired shape. This method
differed from Aalto's earlier methods in that
it permitted a piece of wood to be bent in

15

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2004:2

15 4

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INVENTOR

fhv.q~R~L.TO
.,~

-!:.;.,.:TORN;;-.1.

In 1947, Aalto applied

for a patent, solely
in the USA, for a
method of bending
wood in which the
bent part consisted
of dowels. The
application was
rejected. ILLus P.AA

different directions. When bent, the cro~s

section of the piece retained the same shape.
What kind of inventor? The historian THOMAS
has made a study of American
inventors. In his book American Genesis,
A Century of Invention and Technological
Entlmsiasm,10 he divides inventions into two
categories, radical and conservative, the first
of which generate new systems. Aalto's furniture legs can be classified as conservative
inventions, meaning that they were
improvements on production methods that
were already in use in the joinery industry.
On the other hand, along with Aalto's
inventions, Huonekalu- ja rakennustyotehdas
went into small-scale mass production.
Hughes also stresses the importance
of stimulating ideas from the point of
view of inventing. The background of
many inventors has been influenced
by pioneers who have been well aware
of the critical aspects of technological
processes. In Aalto's case, the pioneer was
the experienced and innovative furniture manufacturer Otto Korhonen. The
interaction between Alvar Aalto and Otto
Korhonen is difficult to study, because none
of their correspondence has been preserved
either in the Alvar Aalto Archives or in the
Huonekalu- ja rakennustyotehdas archives.
The way the metal-leg chair was patented
suggests that Otto Korhonen also made a
major contribution. Nevertheless, Alvar
Aalto's grandfather HAMILKAR AALTO may
well have provided the role model and his
friend LAZLO MOHOLY-NAGY the inspiration,
both of them influences that GO RAN
HUGHES

16

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2004:2

SCHILDT had pointed out in his own earlier

research.
Aalto was an independent inventor who
did his work outside the institutions. Aalto
and Korhonen worked together from the
start of the 1930s at least until 1935 when
Korhonen died. Between 1932 and 1933, the
two men together developed the L-leg which
was crucial to commencing production of
Aalto's furniture. They were assisted by
the joiners in Korhonen's firm. The patent
created a bond between the inventors and
the technology that is characteristic of the
modern world.11 As inventors, Aalto and
Korhonen used an empirical approach .
Aalto's income was tied in to a significant
degree with the income from his furniture so Aalto could thus be considered as
a professional inventor.12 The creativity of
individual inventors often acquires a mystic
quality without the process that leads to the
results being visible.

MARIANNA HEIKINHEIMO

1 i\Ialdonado, Thomas.
The Patent Between
Invention and
Innovation, in Rassegna,
Patent and Design 1991.

2 Benton, Tim. German

Origins- Thoneti\Jundus and its
Influence, in Tubulor
Steel Furniture. London,
1979.
3 Standertskjold,
Elina. Ahar Aalto

ja standardisointi
lAhar A alto and
standardisation)
and Alvar Aallon
Standardipiirust ukset
(AlFar Aalto's standard
drml'ings}, in Acanthus,

Standardien to ide
(The art of standards).
.Museum of Finnish

Architecture. Helsinki
1992.
4

Finnish patent no.14869

Chair. giving protection

from October 15. 1929.
5 Suominen-Kokkonen,
Renja. Aalto, Artek ja
nwotoilu (A alto. Artek
and design}, in All'ar
A alto ja Helsinki.
Porvoo. 1998.

6 Suominen-Kokkonen,
Renja. The Fringe of A
Profession. H'omen As

Architects in Finland
from The 1880s to The
1950s. Suomen nmi-

:c

u
n:::

<(

I '

rn

>

naismuisto}hdistyksen
aikakauskii]a 98
Fammala 1992.

7 Counter claim against

application no.
4890/34, by H'ilhelm
Schaumans Fane1jabrik
Ab dated September
25, 1937, Patentti- ja
rekisterihallit us,
National Archives of
Finland.
8 Letter from Artek to
Ahrar A alto dated April
9, 1941, Aln1r Aalto
Archives.
9 Standerskjold, 1992.
10 Hughes, Thomas P.,
American Genesis, A
Century of Inwmtion
and Technological
Enthusiasm. New York
1989.
11 Fiorani, Eleonora.
Theoretical Notes on
Patents, in Rassegna,
Patent and Design 1991.
12 Hughes divides inventors
into 'professionals' and
'non- professionals'
according to their source
of income and whether
they focus on one or
more inFentions.

The Alvar Aalto Foundation together with the Alvar Aalto Academy is publishing a 28-volume set of monographs
on Alvar Aalto's (1898-1976) architectural and planning works. The books, which present some five hundred built or
unrealised designs, will be the most comprehensive work on Aalto's architectural output. Written by experts, and
including hitherto unpublished original material and new photographs, the monographs offer a penetrating view of
Aalto's life's work. The language of the set is English.
VOLUME

7, SUNILA 1936-54

Among the main sources of Aalto's extensive output were commissions he obtained from Finnish industrialists,
especially the wood and paper industries. Dating from the early 1930s to the 1960s, these projects were extensive
and multifaceted, involving not just factories but office buildings and a variety of other projects in rural manufacturing
communities. Aalto's industrial architecture ranged from extensive neighborhood planning to modest timber houses
for workers. Leading Finnish industrialists also commissioned some of his most famous works, such as Villa Mairea and
the Enso-Gutzeit co. head office, for example.
Volume 7, Sunila 1936-54 examines Aalto's role in the service of Finnish industry in general, with particular emphasis on
the role ofthe Sunila industrial and housing project in Nordic Modernist architecture. The editor is Pekka Korvenmaa, PhD.
PRICES: Hardback EUR 6o- Soft back EUR 49
It is possible to place an ADVANCE ORDER for the whole set.
Customers ordering the whole set will receive the last volume
containing the complete cumulative index gratis
(postage & packing charged).
CONTACT FOR SUBCRIPTIONS: academy@alvaraalto.fi
Alvar Aalto Academy, Tiilimaki 20, FIN 00330 Helsinki
www.alvaraalto.fi.