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BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
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LicenseInvalid-chair
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Invalid-chair
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Invalid-chair. Detail view of a wheel against grey background.
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Invalid-chair. Detail of rear against light grey background
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Invalid-chair
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Invalid-chair
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Invalid-chair
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Invalid-chair
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Carved wooden wheelchair with sprung seat and rubber tyres, historically referred to as ‘invalid chair’, Europe, 1850-1890
Unlike most modern wheelchairs that have four wheels, this chair has three: two large front wheels and one small rear wheel. It could be manoeuvred by the user via the outer push rims or by an assistant pushing or pulling the chair using the rear handle. The elaborately carved chair is heavy so presumably they would not have gone very far or very fast. It is made of wood with a sprung padded seat. It was used at Brownlow Hill Infirmary, a large workhouse hospital in Liverpool. When the institution closed in the late 1920s, its entire contents were put up for auction where this chair was purchased on behalf of Sir Henry Wellcome for his Historical Medical Museum.
Details
- Category:
- Nursing & Hospital Furnishings
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A73063
- Materials:
- frame, wood, seat, iron, seat, spring steel and tyres, rubber, solid
- Measurements:
-
overall: 1140 mm x 700 mm x 950 mm,
- type:
- invalid chair
- credit:
- Turner and Smyth
