Hand-Cranked Wheelchairs

Hand-Cranked Wheelchairs AG WORLD 29-1-21 If you're looking for a good cause to support, give Mel West a call in Columbia, Mo. Mel has changed thousands of lives around the world with his simple 3-wheeled, hand-cranked wheelchair that gives mobility to maimed and disabled poor people who would otherwise have no way to get around. We heard about Mel's PET (Personal Energy Transportation) project from a FARM SHOW reader who told us the wooden wheelchairs have the power to save lives. That's because if someone can't walk in a poor Third World country, there often are no resources to help them. With a PET they can get around on their own power, going to school, shopping or getting a job. A PET weighs about 83 lbs., has sturdy wheelbarrow wheels and non-puncture tires, and a simple front wheel brake with a wood-wedge parking brake on a rear wheel. They cost about $250 to build. Each part is outsourced to a volunteer who makes them in farm shops and ships them to one of five centralized locations where volunteers put the pieces together. The Gift of Mobility, the nonprofit organization supervising the work, buys some pieces, including wheels, chains and other small parts. West began the project in about 1996 in his garage. He'd been sending typewriters, sewing machines and other things to a friend in Zaire (now known as the Congo). The friend mentioned needing a simple wheelchair for people who were maimed by landmines or polio or other calamities. West and a product designer friend designed four prototypes before hitting on the pattern used today. The PET Project needs more volunteers to build parts, which can be done anywhere in your own shop. It also needs donations. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, The PET Project, 1914 Heriford Drive, Columbia, Mo. 65202 (ph 573 886-7877; email: petproject@giftofmobility.org; website: www.giftofmobility.org).

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