History of wheelchair

different types of wheelchairs

wheelchair History

The first wheelchair was made for Phillip II of Spain in the 1600s. The first wheelchair patent was registered with the U.S. Patent Office in 1869. Folding wheelchairs were introduced in 1909, but not in any great numbers they manufactured. In the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt had his wheelchairs jury-rigged from actual chairs.

The advent of the familiar modern wheelchair occurred in 1932 when engineer Harry Jennings built the first folding tubular steel wheelchair for his friend Herbert Everest. Everest & Jennings went into business together, and their company so dominated the U.S. market that in 1976 the Justice Department brought an anti-trust suit against them. They settled out of court.

History of wheelchair