Stephan Farffler (1633 – October 24, 1689), sometimes spelled Stephan Farfler, was a German
watchmaker of the seventeenth century whose invention of a manumotive carriage in 1655 is widely considered to have been the first self-propelled
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries (paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebra ...
. The three-wheeled device is also believed to have been a precursor to the modern-day
tricycle and
bicycle.
Farffler, who was either a
paraplegic or an
amputee, also created a device for turning an
hourglass at regular intervals and added chimes to the clocktower of
Altdorf bei Nürnberg.
the German WiKi says: either paraplegic as a result of an accident when aged three years; others describe him as a human with crippled legs
[Fabian Zilliken: ''Die Evolution des Fahrrads - Von der Laufmaschine zum "Custom(izing)" Artefakt'', 2012]
S. 10
/ref> („verkrüppelten“ - which could also mean disfigured or malformed and this might, for onlookers, be an accurate description when, as said, the accident happened at a very young age which would likely impair normal growth of the affected limbs)
See also
* List of motorized trikes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farffler, Stephan
17th-century German inventors
People with paraplegia
German amputees
German watchmakers (people)
1633 births
1689 deaths
People from Altdorf bei Nürnberg
Sustainable transport pioneers