 In 1655, Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels.However, the device had an appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.The invalid carriage or Bath chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760.