Stephan Farffler was a German watchmaker and inventor, born in 1633 in Altdorf bei Nurnberg and died there or in Nurnberg in 1689. Paralyzed from the hips down after a childhood accident, he built a three-wheeled manumotive carriage in 1655 that is widely considered the first self-propelled wheelchair, propelled by hand cranks connected to the front wheel; the design is thought to have influenced the later development of tricycles and bicycles. He also worked on clockwork mechanisms, designing a device to rotate an hourglass at set intervals and adding chimes to the clocktower of Altdorf bei Nurnberg.
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1. Stephan Farffler biography (Wikipedia)
Lead paragraph, death year
Stephan Farffler (1633, October 24, 1689), sometimes spelled Stephan Farfler, was a German watchmaker of the seventeenth century
Lead paragraph, nationality
was a German watchmaker of the seventeenth century
Lead paragraph, alternate spelling
sometimes spelled Stephan Farfler
In Group: Cycle and Personal Vehicle Inventors, Lead sentence
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.
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