Background Articles

This section includes some of the history, observations, and questions that have contributed to my search for a chair that can do more. These articles are just random thoughts and experiences I've had over the years. They're mostly my own but if others would like to contribute with thoughts that I feel are consistent with the mission, I can include them as well.

The Early Days

I was injured in 1979 and spent the first few years attending school at UC Davis to finish my bachelor's degree. One of the main reasons I chose UCD was that the campus and the town of Davis were flat. In addition, there was a large community of people there who liked bicycles, wheelchairs and the idea of creating an accessible community.

My first chair was an E&J (Everest & Jennings). It was the classic, fold-able, chromed steel, forty-pound dinosaur that had owned the industry since somewhere around 1939. My first act was to take off the hard rubber wheels (as well as the brakes and armrests), install knobby, pneumatic bicycle tires and order a hand-cycle attachment to make it go faster. That setup worked well because we lived off campus.

Then, during the mid-eighties, some great things started to happen in the world of wheelchairs. Some people started knocking at the door of the establishment with the idea of lightweight and ultra-lightweight chairs that even included rigid chairs. In the beginning, their efforts were shunned by giants in the industry but a few years later, some of those very same giants were out of business. There was a new hope of genuine breakthroughs that would open up the world in ways that weren't so common. These new chairs were like sports cars and all-terrain vehicles. Initially, they were made by small maverick start-ups that were truly inspired to create new and exciting products for users. One of my favorites was when Craig Vetter invented and manufactured the "Equalizer II", a super lightweight three-wheeler. I had to have it.

After a few more years, these start-ups sold out or became larger corporate entities. This was a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that bigger enterprises have the means to mass produce, insure, and distribute to a larger audience. The curse, at least to me, is that they became rigid in much the same ways as their predecessors did and rapid innovation slowed down. To me, many of the larger players in the new age of wheelchairs have developed certain product lines that they work hard to sell to broad categories of people despite limited aspects of the product. In many ways, it's understandable because of the immense cost of R&D and bringing a new product to market. It's also a blessing that higher-quality chairs are mass-produced. The issue to me is, that at the prices some chairs go for, there still seem to be niches in the market that are not addressed.

Wonderful Advances

In the last 20 years, some subtle but wonderful advances have been created or come to market. They are usually improvements to the basic side-frame chairs that dominate the industry such as lighter materials, better brakes, fancier wheels, and a host of other improvements. I especially like the use of carbon fiber for wheels and frames. Then there are the add-ons like handcycle attachments, custom casters, power assist units, custom seat backs, etc. They are all improvements. When you couple these improvements with specialty chairs for sports, all-terrain travel, cycling, standing, and just about anything you can imagine, you have a world of products that did not exist a few short years ago. They probably could have but they didn't. It just shows how the industry has come to recognize the needs and wants of users.

To me, it seems there is still plenty of room to grow and meet the demands of more people without infringing very much on the market space occupied by existing producers that helped to make these wonderful products available. The technology and economy of scale that is available to us today, should be able to expand the market. I may be wrong but, I feel that the number of people that could use better equipment are out there and they just might be doing more if they did have the right equipment.

I'm imagining a wheelchair as something that can adapt better to some very basic functions or conditions as well as a chair that is part of a custom system. 'A chair that is designed from the ground up to be more of an integral part of how a person needs to function. For example, one of the functions that people need to do is transfer.

They transfer from a bed to a chair, from a chair to a car, from a chair to a toilet, and a myriad of other transfers. For many people, it's difficult to do as they often rely only on arm strength to bridge a gap between the chair and another place where the body was or needs to be. Oftentimes, it's just plain luck that they were able to complete a successful transfer. Think of it like a high-wire act without a net when you have doubts about whether or not you'll make it. What happens when you don't make it? You end up on the floor with a whole new set of problems.

A relatively simple-sounding thing that can happen to help reduce the risk of an unsuccessful transfer, is to get the seat of the chair closer to the place that you're transferring to or from. This is difficult to do with the standard side-frame chair because the seat doesn't usually move independent of the chassis.

Features

Lightweight, minimal design with single-point attachments makes this multifunctional chair easy to use and easy to transport with everyday vehicles. It allows a disabled person to seamlessly blend with the mainstream population. No other chair does that. The focus migrates from thinking about wheelchair users as segments into which we sell products, towards a deeper understanding of, and commitment to, creating value by solving problems. This chair goes beyond listening and responsiveness to a deeper understanding of the challenges facing wheelchair users and products that shape their needs. The product should be all about the user and not the producer.
Ability to raise the seat up at will, while seated or away from the chair. This happens with a simple, hardly noticeable mechanism that allows the seat to move up and closer to the center of gravity at the same time. It's an optional feature that allows for safer, easier transfers by putting the seat at the same level as a bed, an automobile seat, or whatever place a user is transferring to or from. The average travel distance is about nine inches but in many cases that's plenty. This feature is push-button with an optional, very small, electric motor or it can be manually operated. One of the great benefits of this feature is that it allows a user to rise to a comfortable level when speaking to people that are standing up without having to look up or having people bend or kneel down.
The chair can be ordered as a foldable or rigid chassis. The foldable version folds approximately one and three-quarter inches flatter than a standard cross-x frame. This allows for easier stowage when space is limited.
There are no side-frames that often limit how close the seat can get to an object that a person may transfer to or from.
The seat is independent of the chassis. This allows for a host of different kinds of custom seats that can be tailored to the needs or wants of the user.
The chair can be quickly transformed into an off-road chair to handle rough terrain.
There are several front-wheel arrangements to choose from depending on the user's preference. These arrangements include interchangeable casters and foot-plates that can be added or removed with quick-release pins. There's even a single front wheel configuration that makes the chair a three-wheeler for those that might prefer it. There are subtle benefits to this arrangement.
The chair can have a variety of custom-made attachments that can also be added or removed with quick-release pins.
All components and attachments can easily be removed if needed and stowed in a small vehicle or small spaces allowing for greater portability and diversified activities without the need to transport large, single-use chairs. All components have single-point attachments.

Picture The Possibilities

What are some of the benefits of having a custom chair system with so many options? Let me offer a few examples.

Let's say I want to go to the store that's only a mile away and get a quart of milk or a few bags of groceries. I could push the distance but it would take longer and be a lot of work. I could take the car if I had one but to start it up and negotiate traffic to only go a mile wouldn't be necessary if I had another option. A better option is to use a detachable handcycle. I've had them and they're wonderful but to me, the problem with them is that they are usually after-market products that are made to fit a variety of chairs. The problem arises because they are usually bulky, cumbersome designs that are not as sleek, lightweight, and minimalistic as they could be. If a handcycle could be part of a custom system with a single-point attachment that is specifically designed to work in concert with a chair, the end product would be so much more efficient, easier to use, and look good doing it. The freedom and range of travel made possible by a handcycle is a whole new world.

On another note, let's say that a person lives on a property that has some bumpy ground like a gravel driveway or a lawn that is generally more difficult to maneuver in a chair with smaller diameter wheels in front. When it's hard to travel over rough ground, some people just let it go and don't bother. It can also be dangerous if the chair gets suddenly stopped and the person gets flipped forward. I've had a few face-plants in my life and they're no fun.

The rough ground challenge can easily be met with a chair that is meant for rough ground or off-road use. They make them but, who has the money or the space to have an extra chair when they don't always need one? Some people do but many don't. The chair I've designed can easily and quickly transform to the off-road configuration. There is an aftermarket wheel, Freewheel, and a similar wheel on the RGK chair that does a pretty good job but, in my opinion, they don't offer the same off-road versatility as having a chair that is designed from the ground up as an off-road chair. Being better able to go just about anywhere that others go or take a hike with family or friends is wonderful.

Finally, when it comes time for a person in a wheelchair to have a car or a van, they sometimes get a larger vehicle than they might prefer to accommodate the chair and possibly other people. Why not make the chair accommodate the car a little better if choices are limited? This situation could be addressed with a chair that has more foldable or removable parts that are relatively easy to fold or remove with single-point attachments.

What Comes Next

I'd love to take the chair that I've drawn to the next level and beyond because it would just make sense to a world of people that use wheelchairs. What I don't know is how to proceed when I don't have the kind of money it would take or the technical expertise to do it right. What I am doing at the present time is building a prototype with a 3D printer and certain raw materials that can be readily purchased but may not be as good as custom parts. My thought is that if I can do that, it's one more small, affordable step I can take to show the full concept and what it can do. It's time-consuming to even learn about the world of 3D printing and the average 3D printer won't produce the final manufactured version of the chair but it will aid in the process of prototyping and perfecting the design. At the present time, it's drawn in a CAD program with great detail where a machinist or people in the industry could probably get a good visual just from the drawings.

The Single Use Issue

A chair can be more than one model with a generally single type of use. This seems to me to be what most of the manufacturers are producing. They each have specific models that have a name and each of these models is generally meant for a singular type of use. Thanks to today's technology, many of them are beautifully made, very light, and very maneuverable. Maybe they stick to certain models because they can sell more units if they offer several specific use product lines. Maybe they feel that an all-in-one concept would be too heavy and not have the maneuverability as the models they offer. Maybe there's no demand for all-in-one chairs or maybe a really high-quality all-in-one hasn't been invented yet. This is what's been bothering me for 45 years of using a wheelchair. This is also the reason for this journey to point out the issue as I see it and get feedback from others.

There's probably a combination of reasons that this is the way it is in the industry but I sincerely feel there are a significant number of people using chairs that want more. Especially, for the prices that high-quality units are commanding. Oddly enough, I also feel that if a manufacturer could offer a high-quality all-in-one, it actually wouldn't impinge much on their existing product lines. I think there's another niche in the market that is separate from people who are completely happy with what they have or what's currently offered on the market.

From my limited perspective in this endeavor, I'm beginning to realize how complicated and expensive it is to create and manufacture a new mechanical device. Especially, one with lots of parts. One thing I've noticed though is that other industries such as bikes and cars seem to have advanced so much further and quicker than wheelchairs. For the most part, we could have been making better chairs for the past 100 years and I'm curious as to why the industry didn't evolve sooner. Maybe it wasn't noticed by the general population or maybe people in chairs were just too quiet for a long time.

With today's technology, new inventions, and new designs, we have lots of cool stuff that we never had before. We have transformer toys, custom hitches and roof racks for every type of car on the market, and ATVs that can climb walls. In today's world, wheelchairs could be so much more versatile to better address a variety of common daily functions that people do and that people who don't use wheelchairs sometimes take for granted. I believe there is a whole new species of wheelchair that can make it happen and that it would be a milestone in the evolution of conveyances for disabled people. The design possibilities are unlimited. We just need to draw it and then make it happen. I believe I've drawn it and now it's time to figure out how to make it happen.

The Purpose of This site

As I've mentioned here and there throughout this site, my goal is to get input from people to see if they feel as I do that a wheelchair can do more than most wheelchairs offered at the present time. If they do, then are they on board with the features that I claim for the chair I've designed? Over and above seeking input from the general population, I'm also looking specifically for people that can help me take it to the next level. There are a variety of people that can do this. One type is a machinist with a shop that can build the prototype and provide the physical ability to perfect it as needed. It's a process. While the materials aren't expensive, it would be very time-consuming and require some very cool machines like a 3 or a 5-way CNC machine. Anybody with the right shop can do the job. There are shops that do prototyping all over the country but they are expensive and I don't have the kind of money it would take for them to go all the way through the prototyping process.

The nice thing about the design I've drawn is that it can be perfected. I believe the design is that good. The design is also that good because it is mechanically simple where the mechanisms and fundamental elements that make it work have been in existence in some machine or another since the dawn of time. There is no new technology. Just simple principles that work together to make a chair that is adaptable and more like a part of the body that it needs to be.

Concerns

It may sound as though a chair that offers many features in one chair would have issues such as too much weight or an inefficient design. In the process of drawing and re-drawing, there were versions of the design that were. The latest version is a beautifully simple design that has eliminated extra weight and needless material. The basic chair is now lighter and has fewer parts or materials that most if not all chairs on the market. In addition, it can do more and is easier to manufacture. It's been a long process to create such a simple design.

Wheelchair Journey

Researching a Dream