The History of Wheelchairs

According to stone inscriptions from Ancient China and Ancient Greece, wheelchair-like furniture has been around since at least the 6th century AD. The first self-propelled wheelchair was invented in 1655 by Stephan Farfler, a paraplegic clockmaker living in Nuremberg, Germany. In 1783, John Dawson created the Bath Chair, which was widely used to help disabled persons get around not only in the town of Bath, England but across the whole of Britain and Europe. In the 1930s, the revolutionary X-frame wheelchair was developed by two American engineers named Harry Jennings and Herbert Everest. Since that time, there have been many advances in wheelchair design, including the introduction of lighter materials and the creation of wheelchairs specifically for sports performance. Of particular importance is the Model 8 version of the X-frame wheelchair, which was built in the 1950s and allowed either the patient or an assistant to propel the chair. The Model 8 is still used in hospitals and nursing homes today.