Stephan Farffler | |
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Born | 1633 Nuremberg, Germany |
Died | October 24, 1689 (aged 56) |
Nationality | German |
Occupation | Watchmaker, inventor |
Stephan Farffler (1633 – October 24, 1689), sometimes spelled Stephan Farfler, was a Nuremberg watchmaker of the seventeenth century whose invention of a manumotive carriage in 1655 is widely considered to have been the first self-propelled wheelchair. The three-wheeled device is also believed to have been a precursor to the modern-day tricycle and bicycle.
Farffler, who was either a paraplegic or an amputee, also created a device for turning an hourglass at regular intervals and added chimes to the clocktower of Altdorf bei Nürnberg.