Mechanical Advantage ~ MIT's Winter Leverages!

Great to see James Smith's Boston Globe piece MIT’s levered wheelchair extends freedom to Third World. Amos Winter's...

"...trying to revolutionize the wheelchair. Specifically, he wants to make that most familiar aid to the disabled work in the Third World, where roads are bad, money tight, and the need immense. A doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, Winter calls his invention the Leveraged Freedom Chair -- leveraged because it is powered by hand levers. Abdullah Munish has another name for it. "I call it my little angel machine," he said. For years after he survived a car crash but lost the use of his legs, Munish struggled to move his wheelchair along the rutted, hilly roads of his hometown in Tanzania. Frustrated, he often just stayed indoors, and lost touch with friends and relatives. Now, with the help of Winter’s invention, he has reclaimed his freedom and sense of connection."