Foldable wheels could ease wheelchair travel
A new wheelchair wheel which folds into almost half its original size for easy transport and storage has been unveiled by US company Maddak.
When folded, the patented Morph Wheel takes up a total of 12 litres of space, compared with the 22 litres it would usually fill when fully circular. This enables its size to be reduced from 24in diameter to the more manageable dimensions of 32 x 12.5in.
The folding wheel was originally conceptualised as a folding bicycle wheel by Royal College of Art graduate student Duncan Fitzsimmons.
After receiving a great deal of public attention and calls from the wheelchair community telling him that this concept would be invaluable to wheelchair users, he redesigned it as a wheelchair wheel.
Each Morph Wheel tips the scales at 3.4kg and is constructed from glass-filled nylon, with a polypropylene hand rim and solid tyre.
The patented design features a safety mechanism that prevents folding unless desired by the user, and will, it is claimed, fit to any existing wheelchair able to accommodate a wheel with a quick release axle.
