Stephan Farffler

Stephan Farffler (1633 – October 24, 1689[1]), 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. The three-wheeled device is also believed to have been a precursor to the modern-day tricycle and bicycle.[2]

Stephan Farffler
Born	1633 Altdorf bei Nürnberg, Germany
Died	October 24, 1689 (aged 56)
Nationality	German
Occupation	Watchmaker, inventor

Farffler, who was either a paraplegic[3][4] or an amputee,[5] also created a device for turning an hourglass at regular intervals and added chimes to the clocktower of Altdorf bei Nürnberg.[6]

Notes and references

1. "A Brief History of the Tricycle". retropedalcars.com. 2012-12-02. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013.
2. "Medical Innovations - Wheelchair," Science Reporter, Volume 44, 2007, 397.
3. Jane Bidder, Inventions We Use to Go Places (London: Franklin Watts, 2006, 18)
4. Rory A. Cooper, Hisaichi Ohnabe, and Douglas A. Hobson, An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2007, 131
5. Clive Richardson, Driving, the development and use of horse-drawn vehicles (B. T. Batsford, 1985, 136)
6. Frederick James Britten et al., Britten's old clocks and watches and their makers (E. Methuen, 1973, 391)

See also

• List of motorized trikes