Frank Ritter, a cabinet maker by trade went to New York from his native Germany in 1870. He manufactured his first dentist chairs known as Stuck Dental Chair in 1891. He established the Ritter Dental Co. and manufactured the chair's hydraulic design in 1928.
The chair in the museum's collection was based at the Ravensthorpe Hospital and was used by visiting dentists and Royal Flying Doctors to Ravensthorpe in the 1950s and 1960s. After the Perth Dental Clinic commenced visits to Ravensthorpe the chair became redundant. It was found in an old building by James McCulloch and brought to the museum in the 1970s.
Early members of the Ravensthorpe Historical Society (RHS) assumed the dentist chair had been used by Mattingley very early in the 20th century. Dentist Ken Parker who worked in Ravensthorpe during the first decade of the 21st century and looked at the chair told RHS members that the chair definitely was not manufactured until 1928 and he had learned dentistry on one just like it! The chair's age is confirmed on a website photograph of an idential chair dated 1928.