REINVENTING THE WHEELCHAIR

At last, someone has reinvented the wheel—as a fold-up—and wheelchair users could benefit.
Invented by Duncan Fitzsimons of the London firm Vitamins, the design relies on a standard solid wheelchair tire—an inflatable would lose air when folded—and a wheel made of plastic reinforced by glass fiber and supported by sturdy folding spokes. It should enable the production of a wheelchair that fits into the overhead bin of a commercial airliner.
Vitamins had been trying to improve the performance of folding bicycles, but wheelchair users became interested, the company says.