Everest and Jennings facts for kids
| Industry | Mobility equipment |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1930s |
| Headquarters | St. Louis, Missouri |
Everest & Jennings was a manufacturer of mobility and adaptive equipment. Everest & Jennings was the first company to mass-produce wheelchairs.
Origins
Herbert A. Everest and Harry C. Jennings Sr. were friends, and both were engineers. Herbert Everest was also physically disabled after surviving a mining accident in 1918. Everest complained to Jennings about the bulk of chairs available in the early 1930s, and in 1933, the pair designed and built a lightweight, collapsible model in Jennings' garage. The design was patented in October 1937.
The pair soon went into business to manufacture their improved design. In the 1940s, they supplied disabled veterans of World War II through government contracts that established the company as a recognized name in rehabilitation equipment.
The Everest family sold its interest in the company in 1943, but Gerald Jennings, son of Harry Sr., was chief executive from 1952 until he retired in 1985.
In 1956, the company was "the first to manufacture the electric wheelchair on a mass scale".
Later developments
In 1992, facing financial difficulties from lost market share, Everest & Jennings moved from Camarillo, California to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1993, the company acquired Medical Composite Technology, a carbon fiber technology company.
In 1996, still struggling with debt and falling sales, Everest & Jennings announced the sale of the company to Graham-Field Health Products. Graham-Field soon closed the Everest & Jennings plant in Earth City, Missouri. Graham-Field continues to market wheelchairs under the Everest & Jennings name.
Notable customers
Among the prominent early users of Everest & Jennings wheelchairs were Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sergeant Alvin C. York and Winston Churchill. Ed Roberts and other members of the Rolling Quads used Everest & Jennings power chairs. Author Joni Eareckson Tada once wrote, "If they ever made a statue of me, I would want my 300-pound Everest & Jennings power chair front and center." Actor Christopher Reeve's first wheelchair after becoming quadriplegic in 1995 was made by Everest & Jennings.
