[Blind-rollers] On driving lessons, was, RE: hello.

[Dan]

Hello Petra,
You are correct. A center-wheel chair means that the middle wheels  
are the drive wheels. It also has rear casters and front anti-tip  
casters. All the casters are able to swivel. The front casters are  
part of a suspension system. On my chair, as the surface in front of  
me changes the two front casters and both motors adjust for the  
ground differentials. This means that all six wheels are firmly on  
the ground at all times. The rear casters are on a heavy bar that  
also swivels some to adjust for balance at the center line of the  
chair.  My drive wheels are 10 inch foam-filled tires not pneumatic  
tires. The rear casters are 6 inch spherical in shape. The front  
casters are 5 inch spherical casters. This makes it much easier for  
traversing low curbs. My chair has a 2 inch ground clearance some  
have 3 or more inches of clearance. There are many different  
configurations of wheels and casters from different manufacturers.  
While my chair is equipped with 10 inch drive wheels, some power  
chairs have 12, 14, or 16 inch drive wheels. and the casters are  
matched accordingly.
Also, you can have front-wheel drive which is usually a 4 wheel  
setup. And of course there is rear-wheel drive as well. The power  
chairs that I evaluated were front-wheel and center-wheel units. I  
didn't evaluate rear-wheel drive.
I hope this explains what you are asking.

On Jul 27, 2007, at 8:37 AM, Petra van Driel wrote:

> Hi Dan,
>
> What's a center-wheel drive? Is that the newer 6  wheel kind of  
> chair? And
> what's the difference between such a chair and a standard one?
>
> Best regards Petra
>
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