Development of the Wheel Chair

Technology has come a very far way in assisting us to get about. Current devices to help with mobility are faster, lighter and stronger, and because of the many different brands and manufacturers...far less expensive. There are power chairs, cushions, wheelchair ramps, etcetera. When considering your scooter or wheelchair or portable wheelchair ramps and other items, be sure to do a bit of comparison shopping and utilize the factors you require. Remember, this device is for a specific individual so it is incredibly pivotal for that individual to decide upon the device or chair that they personally want

Wheelchairs...Manual and electric powered. Although there is proof that wheelchairs were present as early as 500 B.C., the 1st self-propelled wheelchair, which gave an individual that struggled to walk the capacity to get around more self sufficiently, was probably crafted by Stephen Farfler in the year 1655. Farfler was a 22 year old paraplegic watchmaker and his chair concept handed him the capacity to move without assistance from someone. Farfler's hand-operated wheelchair resembled a cross between a soapbox race car and a manual bicycle. More than a hundred years later, in 1783 an additional wheel chair was manufactured by a man named John Dawson, who became a manufacturer of wheelcahirs and was known after that as The Wheelchair Maker. It was John that planned chairs with the well being and comfort of the individual using it in mind with stair lifts also adding footrests that were adjustable and a reclining chair back.

In 1932, Herbert Everest, a mining engineer, who also had a a walking disability, was searching for a means to take his chair along with him on a car trip. Not taking no for an answer, Herbert Everest contacted a man by the name of Harold Jennings, (a mechanical engineer), and together they developed the first folding wheelchair that even featured a seat cushion, sort of like a real small bed. This was an actual travel folding manual wheelchair that would be efficiently carried from one location to another by car and granted an additional freedom of access to those who used the chair. The two carried on to organize one of the biggest and best known companies that develop wheelchairs, Everest and Jennings. Mr. Everest and Jennings are additionally given credit for producing the very first powered wheelchair when they added batteries and a motor to their chair design in the 30s. This recognition is not however the truth, since the very first motorized wheel chair was truly made in 1912, when a 1 3/4 horsepower engine was added to a hand operated wheel chair. In 1916, motorized wheelchairs and mobility scooters were produced commercially in England. And the rest is mobility devices history.

In the year 1881, push rims were added to wheelchairs. These look to be small power scooter wheels on the principal wheels . Adding the push rim allowed the user the capability to propel himself without getting his hands soiled from the floor. This was considered by the disabled to be an amazing advancement as an accessory. The first light hand operated wheelchairs and parts were manufactured of Indian reed and was fifty eight pounds if push rims were used, and fifty pounds if the push rims weren't used. Some other wheelchairs were developed with wicker seats and such wheelchair parts and acceessories as movable arm and footrests and big spoked wheels, which gave even more independence and proficiency. These wheelchairs began to be increasingly more common at the end of the Civil War and once again following The Second World War as returning war veterans needed to carry on with their lives and live as normally as possible.

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