When Was the Wheelchair Invented?

The creation of wheels and chairs are at the root of the invention of the wheelchair. In their early days, chairs and beds with wheels were used in wartime, to provide easy mobility for infant beds and to transport nobles like Pharaohs, kings and queens. The many uses of wheelchairs have narrowed to mostly providing a means of short distance transportation for disabled persons.

Early Period A.D.

• The earliest image of a wheelchair dates back to 525 A.D. in China. An artistic engraving of the early wheelchair remains as existing evidence of the early invention. It wasn't until 1595 A.D. that another image of the wheelchair was made. At this time, an artist drew a picture of Spain's King Philip II sitting in a chair that had wheels attached to the ends of the chair's legs. A servant pushed the King around in the chair. Sixty years later, in 1655, Stephen Farfler, built a wheelchair for himself when he was 22 years old. Stephen was a paraplegic who earned a living as a watchmaker and created the chair to provide himself mobility. In 1783, England's John Dawson invented the bath chair. The chair was created with two large back wheels and one small front wheel.

19th Century

• British engineers built the first motorized wheelchair by 1916. Although most people continued to use manual wheelchairs due to their lower costs, the idea of a motorized or automatic wheelchair was gaining attention. Because manual wheelchairs continued to be difficult to maneuver and transport in and out of trucks, cars and public forms of transportation like trains and buses, there was a continued focus on improving wheelchairs. In 1932, Harry Jennings invented the folding wheelchair. Harry Jennings, a Los Angeles resident at the time, is often credited with inventing the modern wheelchair. He built the early folding wheelchair for his friend Herbert Everest.

Modern Wheelchairs

• Modern electric wheelchairs can be rented at shopping malls, grocery stores and other heavily populated locations. The wheelchairs are battery operated and can fold up to fit beneath a van seat or easily slide into the trunk of a car. Consoles at the front of the wheelchair allow users to move the chair straight forward or turn to the left or to the right. The batteries come in three types: wet cell, gel cell and Absorbed Glass Mats (AGM). Modern wheelchairs have advanced technology like reverse tilt seating and custom fit frames that allows users to participate in wheelchair sports like tennis, basketball and wheelchair racing. Quadriplegics can control the movement of power wheelchairs with their mouths or breath.

New Developments

• The Disability Information and Resource Center reports that wheelchairs have been developed that allow users to climb stairs using the equipment. The chairs are designed for indoor and outdoor use in residential homes and apartments. Improvements continue to be made to voice actuated mounted wheelchairs for quadriplegics.

Considerations

• The National Institute for Rehabilitation Engineering also continues to work with government and community agencies to ensure that wheelchairs meet safety regulations. One of the issues they work on is the safe storage of motorized wheelchairs in public housing areas to prevent the chairs from blocking entrances and exits, especially during emergency situations like fires and other natural disasters.