The wheelchair was developed over centuries using man's earliest inventions, the chair and the wheel. The first records we have of wheel being combined with chairs are of spoked wheels on chariots back in 1300 B.C. in China. The next step in evolution of the wheelchair was the wheelbarrow, a 3rd century invention of the Chinese in which they carried the sick or disabled to the "fountain of youth-. In 1595 King Phillip II of Spain had his own rolling chair with foot rests. Next came the self-propelled chair. Stephen Farfler, a paraplegic watchmaker, built a hand pedaled chair in 1655 as a means for him to get around. The "Bath- Chair, developed in Bath, England, was one of the first marketed wheelchairs. Invented by John Dawson in 1783, it consisted of two large rear wheels and one small front one. In the 18th century, the problem of uncomfortable seating for the disabled became a consumer issue. The convertible chair was invented. This chair had a reclining back and adjustable foot rests.
The developments in the wheelchair may have led to the development of the bicycle. The self propelling chair operated by a crank axle connected to a steering rod for the front wheel inspired the first tricycle. The developments in the bicycle also helped in the further development of the wheelchair. In 1867, the wooden wheels were changed to iron, and in 1875 hollow rubber tyres were added. In 1881 push rims were added for propulsion, 1900 saw wire spoked wheels being adopted by wheelchairs, a 1 ¾ horsepower engine was attached to an invalid tricycle in 1912, and in 1916 London produced the first motorized wheelchairs.
Herbert A. Everest and H.C. Jennings, an engineer, teamed together in 1933 to manufacture the first folding metal wheelchair. Samuel Duke independently created his own design and put in on the market in his home town of Chicago on year later.
There were a number of reasons the wheelchair needed to upgrade.
