transport wheelchairs

transport wheelchairs

While most of my family was setting up the booth, Jimi and I took a
tour of the show area to see if we could figure out who our
competitors were going to be. I had never seen so many wheelchairs
in my life. Some of the large manufacturers had gigantic displays,
which were very humbling. There was every make and model from all
over the world. But I was able to surmise that the WmegaTrac� was
the only American true front wheel drive powered wheelchair.

wheelchair fuck

wheelchair fuck

Early the next day we all went over to the huge exhibit hall in the
World Congress Center. There were GES forklifts carrying big
wooden crates zooming up and down the isles. Large cranes held
workers that were hanging the Medtrade banners from the ceiling.
Hundreds of people were setting up booths as show coordinators
rode bicycles through the maze of activity delivering messages and
taking orders for the service contractors. Overwhelmed, I wondered
how everything could possibly be ready in time for the show opening.
My emotions were a mix of excitement, anticipation, hopefulness and
a firm belief that if the WmegaTrac� was not the best wheelchair in
the world, at least we could truly say that we had tried our best.

wheelchair cushion

wheelchair cushion

UPS, FedEx, Airborne and other deliveries were part of the daily
events. The arrival of the gears put everybody in a euphoric state.
They looked like jewelry, especially the bronze gear. The anxiously
awaited call to pick up our gearbox came so Tommy rushed to pick it
up. It seemed like forever before he got back. We all gathered
around the table watching as Dad filled the gearbox with the shiny
new gears that formed the transaxle. With no redesign time left it was
crucial that the transaxle worked. After Dad and Tommy assembled
the transaxle, they attached it to the piano dolly that had been
equipped with batteries and a kitchen stool. It looked crude, but Dad
could ride around the driveway. He even gave our dog, Buckshot, a
ride.
My stepbrother, Joey Hladek, an aspiring industrial designer, worked
on our models, the chair body and the display ramp for the show.
Sunday Hladek, one of my stepsisters and the youngest family
member, was his partner.

wheelchair women

wheelchair women

Together with our longtime friend and accountant Bob Cole, we
prepared a presentation and began sharing our ideas with whoever
would listen. One listener was the vice president of research and
development for a major wheelchair manufacturer. His arrival in
January 1995 was my first real encounter with an industry leader. He
very generously shared a lot of his knowledge, saying that, in his
opinion, our design was excellent. He also commended us for solving
the stability problem that was inherent in most wheelchairs.
Unfortunately, his company did not have any investment funds. Even
so, we were energized and encouraged by his compliments and well
wishes.

wheelchair table

wheelchair table

Publishing the gearbox drawings for the mock-up became my first
priority. My attendant Jimi Harr was promoted to engineering
assistant. I provided Jimi with a jigsaw so that she could cut the
gearbox pattern out of plywood. She then glued the pieces together to
make a mockup. I can't really say that Jimi has grown into an engineer
but she has been a very good sport when it comes to searching the
salvage yards for blocks of aluminum, making calls and keeping my
files in order (and me too).
To keep us going financially, Dad sold some of our land, the tractor,
one of our windmills, cashed in insurance policies and took out his
retirement fund. I reduced my attendant staff hours to save money.

wheelchair stairlift

wheelchair stairlift

"You can't sell from an empty wagon" is Dad's philosophy, so we
started designing products. Aviation of course was Dad's primary
interest. A landing gear for an unmanned aircraft for Alliant
Techsystems was the first item in the wagon. This was followed by a
thrust reverser design. Then we really got industrious and began a
100-passenger high performance aircraft.

braun wheelchair lifts

braun wheelchair lifts

Evidently the rehab demonstration set the wheels in motion for Dad
too, because a couple of days later he called me from his car phone
and told me he thought he had an idea that "we" could incorporate in
a wheelchair design. He asked me to start checking on gear cutters. I
didn't know what he had in mind, but I said "Sure Dad that sounds
great".

electric wheelchairs and medicare

electric wheelchairs and medicare

As soon as I got home from the wheelchair clinic I turned on my
computer and stared at the blank screen. Even though I had wanted
to design a better wheelchair and had taken two or three stabs at it
with my CAD program I wasn't focused enough to really accomplish
much. With a sense of purpose I entered into my computer three
specific things that I wanted my wheelchair to do. I wanted a
powered wheelchair that could travel ten miles per hour while pulling
five hundred pounds up a 25 percent grade. How I was going to
achieve this goal was a mystery to me, but I was intent on figuring it
out.

manual wheelchairs

manual wheelchairs

Dad and Janet even went to medical equipment trade shows,
including the Abilities Expo in St. Louis, and then to the biggest show
of all, Medtrade/NHHCE in Atlanta. The Medtrade Show has over
40,000 attendees and participants and is held in the Georgia World
Congress Center. In London they discovered the German and
Swedish front wheel drive wheelchairs. Together we attended an
Abilities Expo in Dallas. Some wheelchairs looked great and were
loaded with bells and whistles and headlights but lacked the
performance and maneuverability I was seeking.
In the meantime I was doing quite a bit of research on my own and
came to the conclusion that the only way to get a better wheelchair
was to design one.

wheelchair user

wheelchair user

The big news in the late '70's and early '80's was personal computers.
Dad bought a TI-99/4A for me. Because I could only press one key
at a time with a mouth stick my new computer had to be adapted to
work on dual key commands with shift lock switches. It was tedious,
but it worked. I knew it was only a matter of time before the voice
recognition systems would be developed.