Teacher reinvents the chair to stop class clowns

LONDON (Reuters) - A teacher has designed a school chair that is physically impossible to tip backwards in the hopes of getting pupils to sit still, prevent dangerous accidents and give teachers a quieter life.

Tom Wates quit his teaching post in London to design the 'Max' chair to stop students from clowning around in class.

"The reason I went into it was because of the irritation of children leaning back," Tom Wates, who quit his teaching post in London to design the 'Max' chair, told Reuters.

"You would get into the flow of the lesson, the kid would fall off the chair, everyone would laugh and you would have to start again," the former maths and physical education instructor said.

The new 'Max' chair provides more support in the lower back, forcing children to sit up straight and its rear two legs are slightly splayed outwards, preventing any tilting.

Wates said it is physically impossible to swing the chair backwards more than a few centimetres.

He said each year 7,000 school children need to go to hospital after injuring themselves by tipping backwards on chairs.

Swivel chairs in most offices have five feet to prevent such tilting, but most schools can't afford these designs.

The ergonomic Max chair costs just 15 pounds, and before it has even been properly launched Wates' company, DLB Limited, has already received orders for 1,500 chairs from 18 schools.