Stephan Farffler (1633 – October 24, 1689[1]), sometimes spelled Stephan Farfler, was a German watchmaker of the seventeenth century whose invention of a manumotive carriage in 1655 is widely considered to have been the first self-propelled wheelchair.

The three-wheeled device is also believed to have been a precursor to the modern-day tricycle and bicycle.

[2] Farffler, who was either a paraplegic[3][4] or an amputee,[5] also created a device for turning an hourglass at regular intervals and added chimes to the clocktower of Altdorf bei Nürnberg.

[6] the German WiKi says: either paraplegic as a result of an accident when aged three years;[7] others describe him as a human with crippled legs [8] („verkrüppelten“ - which could also mean disfigured or malformed and this might, for onlookers, be an accurate description when, as said, the accident happened at a very young age which would likely impair normal growth of the affected limbs)