Millions of people around the world use wheelchairs. They are an essential tool for increasing mobility and independence for a wide range of users.
The wheelchair is probably the most recognizable mobility device, so much so that it features on the International Symbol of Access, a universal symbol that denotes disability access and is used to mark accessible toilets and parking spaces.
Wheelchairs are used for a variety of reasons; they are commonly used by people with long-term disabilities and chronic illnesses. About a third of wheelchair users in the UK use them occasionally, choosing to walk or use other mobility aids at other times. They are also used to transport people in places like hospitals.
The appearance and use of the wheelchair has changed over time. Its history shows us how design and technological advancements have been driven by the ingenuity of wheelchair users throughout the ages.
The first wheelchairs
While it is uncertain as to what can be considered the first wheelchair, stone inscriptions from Ancient China and Greece suggest that wheeled furniture has been used to transport people since at least the sixth century AD.
In Medieval Europe, people with limited mobility were transported by being pushed in wheelbarrows. Wheelbarrows were introduced to Europe in the 1200s and used to transport materials for building and farming. However, they were repurposed to transport people with limited mobility, enabling them to collect alms, go on pilgrimages, and engage in community life.
One of the best documented early examples of the wheelchair was made for Phillip II of Spain (1527-1598) in 1595. In the later years of his life, Phillip II lived with severe gout which made it difficult for him to walk. The wheelchair that was created for him was, as you would expect, fit for a king. It had an elaborate design with plush upholstery, arm and leg rests, and four small wheels that meant that he needed to be pushed around by a servant. Phillip II’s affluence enabled him to benefit from the best assistive technologies of his time. Such luxury mobility aids would not have been available for less wealthy people.
The self-propelled wheelchair
While early wheelchairs improved the lives of disabled people by allowing them to live a life outside of the home, they could not be operated autonomously. The first self-propelled wheelchair was invented in 1655 in Nuremberg, Germany by a paraplegic clockmaker called Stephen Farfler (1633-1689). Farfler had broken his back as a child, and this had rendered him paralyzed from the waist down.
At the age of only 22, Farfler used his mechanical expertise as a clockmaker to create a wheeled chair that would allow him to move independently. The frame was based on a three-wheel chassis and worked by turning handles attached to a geared front wheel using a system of cranks and cogwheels.
Mechanical wheelchairs increased in use from the 17th century onwards. A more modern design of the self-propelled wheelchair was popularised by inventor John Joseph Merlin (1735-1803). Merlin’s design used gears and cranks to propel users. The design was so popular that wheelchairs were referred to as ‘Merlin chairs’ for near too a century after his death. They were featured widely in medical equipment catalogues in the 19th century, where they were advertised for patients with gout and other illnesses that affected mobility.
The design principles employed by the likes of Farfler and Merlin can be seen in wheelchairs in the Science Museum Collection made many years later. This example, built between 1910 and 1920, has three main wheels and is driven via chains by two-hand cranks on either side of the rider.
Eighteenth-century bath and the wheelchair
From the second half of the eighteenth century, important wheelchair developments occurred in Bath, a city in south-west England. Bath was renowned for its healing mineral waters. The large number of spas and bathing therapies made it a popular destination for many people with disabilities and health conditions from across Britain and Europe.
To cater to the needs of sick, elderly, and disabled visitors travelling in and around Bath, several wheelchairs were designed and became available to rent. The first Bath Chair was developed in 1750, but the most popular design was created by John Dawson in 1783. Dawson’s version of the Bath Chair was a model supported by two wheels joined by an axle underneath the seat, with a small pivoting wheel in front of the supporting footrest.
Whilst the Bath Chair could be steered by the rider via a long, curved rod connected to the front wheel, it still had to be pushed by an attendant. The popularity of the Bath Chair soon saw it replace the Sedan chair (an enclosed box with a seat carried on poles by two men) as a form of transportation for wealthy disabled people across Britain. It was even used by Queen Victoria in 1893.
Mass producing the wheelchair
The late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries saw a significant number of armed conflicts. Millions of soldiers fought in wars and a lot of them received life-altering injuries. Innovations in medicine increased survival rates for soldiers. Whilst a spinal injury would have almost certainly caused death from a fatal infection during the First World War, the introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s increased the survival rate from these injuries to 80-90% by the close of the Second World War. In the aftermath of the World Wars, hundreds of thousands of veterans returned home with disabilities that compromised their mobility. Consequently, wheelchairs became far more commonplace in society.
At the time, wheelchairs were usually made of materials like wood and iron. They were heavy and difficult for users to operate and assistants to push. A lot of wheelchairs were not capable of traversing multiple terrains. Crucially, these wheelchairs were also not easily transportable.
As more and more people started to use wheelchairs, their design started to change to take into consideration user experiences. Wheelchairs were trialled that were made of lighter materials, easier to manoeuvre, and easier to transport.
Mass producing the wheelchair gallery
One of the most commercially successful wheelchairs to ever hit the market was the ‘X-frame’ folding wheelchair. This revolutionary invention was developed by American engineers Herbert Everest and Harry Jennings, who patented the design in the 1930s. Everest was paralysed after a mining accident in 1918. Following this, he asked his friend, Jennings, to help him create a wheelchair that was relatively lightweight, collapsible, and easily transportable in a car. The ‘X-frame’ enabled Everest to travel and commute more easily.
The ‘Model 8’ wheelchair is based on Jennings and Everest’s folding wheelchair design. The basic design was low cost so it could be mass-produced. It was widely used by NHS hospitals, nursing homes, and private institutions from the 1950s onwards. By 1961, over 60 percent of wheelchairs prescribed by the NHS in the UK were Model 8’s.
Model 8’s feature push-rims on the wheels that allow users to propel themselves, as well as handles that let others manoeuvre the chair. Between the wheels there is an x-frame, which enables the chair to fold when not in use (while keeping rigid and stable when in use). Unlike previous designs of folding wheelchairs, the x-frame enabled the chair to fold side to side rather than top to bottom. This was more convenient as it allowed the larger drive wheels to remain attached to the frame when folded - in older designs the wheels would have to be removed.
Adapting wheelchairs for adaptive sports
In the 1940s, wheelchair users with mobility impairments, in particular younger veterans who had been disabled during the Second World War, began to play sports as part of their rehabilitation and for leisure. For a time, medical wheelchairs were used. In the 1960s and 1970s, wheelchair athletes began to innovate, design and modify wheelchairs specifically adapted for sports. For example, athletes removed the push handles on the back of their wheelchairs, making them much lighter. It was a declaration of independence from wheelchair users, as it meant their wheelchairs could not be pushed by other people. Wheels were modified to become faster and more manoeuvrable.
Specific wheelchairs were made to cater to different sports. Jim Martinson, a veteran injured in Vietnam, created the ‘Shadow Racer’ lightweight sports wheelchair for track and road racing in 1993-1995. The ‘Shadow Mono-Ski’, manufactured by Quickie for Sunrise Medical Ltd, was designed for skiing.
Electrifying the wheelchair
There have been many improvements in the design of wheelchairs to improve their operability. However, many disabled people with limited upper body mobility (like those living with thalidomide impairments), find manual wheelchairs difficult to operate and so opt to use electric wheelchairs. Electric wheelchairs are battery powered and can be operated using a controller or joystick. This allows the user to propel the chair without needing to manually turn the wheels or wind a crank.
In the 1950s, a Second World War veteran named John Counsell began to campaign for better care for quadriplegic individuals (those affected by paralysis of all four limbs). Counsell contacted the National Research Council of Canada. His advocacy caught the attention of engineer George Klein. In collaboration with the National Research Council and disability activists, Klein developed the first electric wheelchair. It was distributed to veterans in Canada first, and the prototype was distributed with patent-free rights, which enabled mass-production of the new technology across the world.
In 1984, Dan Everard developed an electric wheelchair that could be used by children as young as 12 months old. Everard’s daughter, Ruth, had been born with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic condition that causes severe muscle weakness. Everard’s invention allowed disabled toddlers to develop their independence and explore the world around them like any other child their age.
Personalising wheelchairs
Today, there are a vast variety of wheelchairs available for users to choose from. Wheelchairs are increasingly personalised to suit individual needs, personal preferences, and expressions of identity. Personalisation can range from using someone’s favourite colour, to being custom fit to increase support and comfort. However, access to personalised wheelchairs can be unequal. Many are expensive and not affordable for everyone. In the UK, there are limitations on the types of bespoke wheelchair that are available for free from the NHS. Those who can’t afford the latest in mobility technology use a standard issue NHS model that is less personalised.
The wheelchairs owned by physicist Stephen Hawking were more than just mobility devices. They were fitted with custom-built computers and related electronics that facilitated Hawking’s interaction with the world.
Personalising wheelchair gallery
Up until the 1990s, Hawking could operate his wheelchair himself with his hands using a joystick, and he operated his communications devices and computers with hand clickers. When he lost movement in his hands, he used infrared detection technology that read the movement off his cheek. This was the system he used for the last decade and a half of his life.
Hawking kept up his ambitious schedule of scientific work, public appearances and international travel with motor neurons disease, a condition that affects the nerves and brain. To do so, he was supported by technical innovations and a team of colleagues. Jonathan Wood, Hawking’s technical assistant, notes that this was far more than a wheelchair – it was Hawking’s mobile office and communication system, and carried ventilation support to help him breathe. On the back you can see the black box for Hawking’s iconic voice synthesiser.