Synopsis: William Krase brings his aerospace engineering skills into play in designing a versatile table — small enough to seat two, expandable to seat six, yet more functional than a drop-leaf table and easier to set up. His idea incorporates a base stable enough for both sizes of tabletop, but it isn’t so big that it gets in the way of users’ feet.

I vividly remember the colorful language my mother used when I was a kid as she struggled to extend a removable-leaf table that was prone to jamming. So when a client asked for an expandable table, I sought a better solution. An apartment dweller, my client wanted a table that would fit against a wall and seat two and that could on occasion be expanded to seat six. He expected some sort of drop-leaf table, but it’s difficult to sit around that kind of table when the…