A brief history of the monocoque
In light of the new process of building new MacBook, it is high time that you take remedial courses on the history of monocoque construction. This may sound revolutionary, but as some of you have aptly pointed out, the method used by Apple is not new. It is indeed derived from a manufacturer’s technical piece from the early twentieth century, gadgets which is to use the outer casing of an object to ensure its structural rigidity. This technique has its origin in the aviation industry, where a decline in aluminum prices in the 1920s helped to make this material affordable, and so meet the demand for skins tough, strong and capable of smooth the constraints of the high altitude and the growing power of aircraft.
Towards the end of the Second World War, almost all high performance aircraft was built with a technique monocoque or semi-monocoque. The use of single extended the automotive field from 1923 with the Lancia Lambda, but has not really taken off before Nash Motors leaves them 600 in 1941. As the hull was built from a single source, Nash produced a vehicle that was not only stronger but also lighter over 200 pounds compared to a traditional car with a body attached to the chassis. Today, the monocoque construction has become so sophisticated that windshields contribute significantly to the rigidity of vehicles.
Naturally, the interest of building a hull lighter and stronger is not limited to airplanes and cars. The technique has also had an impact one means in architecture, to eliminate load-bearing walls and thus open the horizontal planes. Only time will tell whether adoption of this process by Apple will inspire other companies in the computer industry in that direction.