Wheelchair

The ancient Chinese used early wheelbarrows to move people as well as heavy objects. The first records of wheeled seats being used for transporting disabled people date to around the third century BC there.

Depiction of Chinese philosopher Confucius in a wheelchair, dating to ca. 1680.

Images of wheeled chairs made specifically to carry people begin popping up in Chinese art in around 525AD.

An unknown inventor built for Philip II of Spain an early dedicated wheelchair, which was known as an invalid's chair. Essentially an elaborate, portable throne, the chair was made of leather, wood, and iron and included comfortable footrests. The design still had shortcomings since it did not feature an efficient propulsion mechanism and thus, requires assistance to propel it.

Stephan Farffler (1633 – October 24, 1689 was a Nuremberg watchmaker who was either a paraplegic or an amputee. In 1655, he built the world's first self-propelling wheelchair. The three-wheeled device used a system of cranks and cogwheels and is also believed to have been a precursor to the modern-day bicycle and tricycle.

Farffler's carriage of 1655

The bath chair was invented by James Heath, of Bath, England in the early 18th century. A rolling chaise or light carriage for one disabled person with a folding hood, it was mounted on three or four wheels and drawn or pushed by hand.

In the 19th century they were often seen at spa resorts such as Buxton and Tunbridge Wells. Some versions incorporated a steering device that could be operated by the person in the chair. Animal drawn versions of the bath chair became known as invalid carriages.

By the late 19th century improvements for wheelchairs such as hand rims for self-propulsion, rubber tires, and wire-spoked wheels were introduced.

On June 23, 1887, Queen Victoria engaged two Indian Muslims as attendants, one of whom was Abdul Karim. He served her during the final fourteen years of her reign and in Victoria's last years, the impassive Abdul was the servant who pushed the infirm queen around her homes in her wheelchair.

When Thomas Edison was confined to a wheelchair in the last years of his life, his friend Henry Ford bought one too, so that they could have wheelchair races.

In 1933 Harry C. Jennings, Sr. and his paraplegic friend Herbert Everest, both mechanical engineers, built the first folding, tubular steel wheelchair. (Everest was disabled after breaking his back in a mining accident.) The pair saw the business potential of the invention and the Everest & Jennings chair would become the industry standard for years to come.

Jennings and Everest were also responsible for developing the first powered wheelchair in the 1950s. Run by a transistor-based electrical motor, the Everest & Jennings powered chair was the first to make chairs both motorized and relatively lightweight.

By the early 1970s, Everest & Jennings International was the world's largest supplier of wheelchairs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sergeant Alvin C. York and Winston Churchill all used Everest & Jennings power chairs.

Everest & Jennings wheelchair. By Penny Richards

In 2000, a man in Munich was arrested for being drunk in charge of his motorized wheelchair.

In 2007 21-year-old Michigan resident Ben Carpenter's electric wheelchair was hit by an 18 wheeler. The handles were ensnared within the grill of the truck and he was pushed at over 60 mph for several miles he Red Arrow Highway. Amazingly, he escaped without injury.

Wheelchair athletes with spinal injuries will sometimes intentionally injure themselves on the lower body (e.g. break a toe), causing their bodies to respond by raising blood pressure and enhancing their performance. This practice has been banned as cheating.

Source Mental Floss