stylistic:tone
History

The earliest records of wheeled furniture are an inscription found on a stone slate in China and a child's bed depicted in a frieze on a Greek vase, both dating between the 6th and 5th century BC. The first records of wheeled seats being used for transporting disabled people date to three centuries later in China; the Chinese used early wheelbarrows to move people as well as heavy objects. A distinction between the two functions was not made for another several hundred years, until around AD 525, when images of wheeled chairs made specifically to carry people began to occur in Chinese art.

Although Europeans eventually developed a similar design, this method of transportation did not exist until 1595 when an unknown inventor from Spain built one for King Phillip II. Although it was an elaborate chair having both armrests and leg rests, the design still had shortcomings since it did not feature an efficient propulsion mechanism and thus required assistance to propel it. This makes the design more comparable to a modern-day highchair or portable throne for the wealthy than to a modern-day wheelchair for disabled people.

In 1655, Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels. However, the device resembled a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.

A self-propelled wheelchair was made for the Parliamentarian commander-in-chief Sir Thomas Fairfax due to the many injuries he had received during the English Civil War, and he used it during the final years of his life. The wheelchair of Thomas Fairfax is currently on display at the National Civil War Centre in Newark-on-Trent.

The invalid carriage or Bath chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760.

In 1887, wheelchairs ("rolling chairs") were introduced to Atlantic City so invalid tourists could rent them to enjoy the Boardwalk. Soon, many healthy tourists also rented the decorated "rolling chairs" and servants to push them as a show of decadence and treatment they could never experience at home.