A wheelchair cushion

[Spinster]

Yesterday, I went down to Confederate Memorial Park in Marbury, Alabama, to aid in dressing the "Homefront" case for the new museum opening at the end of the month.

The site is a different one than those we normally think of---that of an Old Soldier's Home that functioned into the mid-20th century, careing for aging Confederate soldiers and their wives.

So, amongst all the weapons, uniforms, and tattered flags are beds pans, canes----- a turn of the century wheel chair. Its back is padded out with a classy, but cheery fabric typical of1900-1910, rather tropical looking with waving palm fronds.

And the seat of the wheel chair is currently hard flat bare metal. Now you know that the aging veteran did not sit on that bare metal--even if he was incontinent, they had him padded up with something.

And in my stash of "she who dies with the most vintage fabric wins", I have a length of material that remarkably close to the fabric on the chair back.

So, the question is: Construction of a 16 x 16 pillow for a wheelchair, quite possibly made by a woman who learned needle skills in our era (more on that later)

Knife edge? Boxed and corded? Button in the center? Not tailored at all? I've got enough feathers around here for stuffing, but was some other material preferred by then?

Any body got an image of any empty wheelchair from anywhere around 1890 to 1930?

[lambrew]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

I've googled the heck out of this one, and every thing I have read tends to suggest that most wheelchairs of the era in question were not padded. Infact the closest thing I have found is woven wicker seats. When I was in Washington D.C. last summer I looked at FDR's wheelchair and it was not padded. Maybe they used a pillow of some sort. It had to get painful sitting on a hard seat after awhile. I hope this helps.


Your ob't servant....

[Greg Barnett]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

Mrs Lawson,

Believe it or not wheelchairs and seating for wheelchairs is my modern business. I am a physical therapist and a custom seating specialist. This is an area, of the conflict, I have always had an intrest in. There continues to this day to be problems with wheelchair seating. The biggest issues are pressure, moisture, frictions and temperture. I am sure that the restorative nursing of the day faced the same problems faced today, "Pressure ulcers." They had to pad the seats. This would be an obvious problem. Material used were subject to problems, such as: urinary incontinence, material breakdown and cleanliness. I suppose that the material of the day was the same as what was used in bedding. These materials were likely feathers, straw, shredded cloth, etc. The cover would have probably been buttoned as to allow the changing of the material.

I would like to offer more sudy on this area and would appreciate any dialouge in this regard. I will do more research and see wht I can come up with.

[Spinster]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

Greg,
In a few weeks I'll have copies of the documentary shots of this wood-frame chair--no wicker here.

In the meantime, in looking at what this particular chair has been through, "the back of the back" of the chair shows the lovely cheery fabric. The front of the back of the chair was also covered in the same fabric, with a subsequent layer of brownish green polished cotton placed over it, showing extensive wear.

The actual seat of the chair is sheet metal. Based on your speculations, at this point, I'm thinking of making a firm cushion of the printed fabric, and a subsequent slipcover of a polished cotton ----I'm pretty parsimonious with myvintage stash, but this is a quality use for such.

Additionally, the collection has a number of fine needlework pieces made by the widows, and UDC records at the time note the sales of various items by those ladies to aid in their own support.

[yankeebelle]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

Ms. Terre,

In the book An Introduction to Civil War Civilians by Juanita Leisch on page 79 there is a picture of a man sitting in a wheel chair. This may actually be earlier than the chair you have. What I am noticing is what seems to be a blanket folded up or something of the sort sticking out the side. This may just be for added padding.

If anyone has this book and can describe it better please do.

Beverly Simpson

[Greg Barnett]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

Mrs Lawson
I think a good photographic study would prove quite beneficial. This is something I have not studied.

I am interested in the sheet metal seat pan. Metal seat pans are still used today for a quality surface for a cushion of some type. I can't help but wonder if that pan was a later addition. I would suppose that the back of the chair and the seat would have originally been the same.
In general, original wheelchair design included modified furnitue, because that is where people sat. People in third world countries, today, utilize what is at hand to make things functional.

I am sure that the women's societies of the day would have done all that they could to make the veterans comfortable with a touch of lovliness.

I will be quite interested in seeing your photographs.

Regards

[Becky Morgan]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

I'm curious, Mr.Barnett--do you happen to know what the average length of survival was like for wheelchair-bound patients then vs. now? Obviously, the condition which put the patient in the chair had a great deal to do with survival then, too, since Mrs. Lee's arthritis didn't actually immobilize her as, say, a gunshot wound to the spine would. I'm thinking in terms of wounded soldiers who were not going to regain their feet.

Pressure sores that became infected weren't going to get antibiotic treatment (except for the old standby, moldy-bread poultices, when doctors weren't looking) and kidney infections are still a real problem. When my cousin was born with severe spina bifida and hydrocephalus in 1963, his life expectancy was less than five years, but he lived into his forties because the rapid progress in antibiotic development enabled his doctors to be aggressive in treating his kidneys, pressue sores and shunt problems.

I know the great number of paralyzed and double-leg-amputee WWII veterans made a huge difference in treatment options. Is there any evidence that returning CW veterans had the same effect?

[Spinster]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

Mrs Lawson

I am interested in the sheet metal seat pan. Metal seat pans are still used today for a quality surface for a cushion of some type. I can't help but wonder if that pan was a later addition. I would suppose that the back of the chair and the seat would have originally been the same.
In general, original wheelchair design included modified furnitue, because that is where people sat.

This particular chair was quite obviously built to the purpose, not modified I did not explore below the padding to look for a metal back, but I will get another look at it the night before the museum opens, as I've got a pair of handspun handknit stockings to add to the 'home front' case. (Yep, right here as I'm finishing up tax season ) First I have to make them though.

I'm very familar with the modified furniture concept for wheelchairs--my own widowed grandmother was unable to walk after about 1931, and used a straight back chair with small casters on the legs. She became so accustomed that when post WWII prosperity enabled her daughter in law to purchase a real wheelchair, she rarely used it. It was returned to my home after her death in 1977, nearly unused though 25 years old.

[Greg Barnett]

Re: A wheelchair cushion

Ms Morgan,
In reply to survival rates for decubiti. I would suppose that when a patient developed a "bed sore" his prognosis was very poor. I would suppose that the surgeons had very good debriding skills and good wound healing techniques. The few things that they did not understand were sterilization and antibiotics. They did sterilize horse hair sutures by accident. The common practice was to boil the hair to soften it, but they did not know they were causing sterilization as well. In todays decubiti treatments, patients live for years with open and active decubiti.

I have done a photo search for wheelchairs in period settings. I have found two thus far. Both photos do not show any type of cushion. Although it is difficultu to tell. I did learn a bit about the chair design. I learned that Peter Gendron invented the wire wheel in 1874. This leads me to believe that any know chairs of the recent conflict would not have wire wheels. I have found many examples of wooden wheelchairs, many of which, have wire wheels. These would most likely be post 1874 production

I am posting two period example photos.

Mrs Lawson, I am still researching the seating surfaces.