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.N. R. Kleinfield, "Wheelchair Manufacturer Target of Complaints" The Index-Journal (April 22, 1981): 12. via Newspapers.com The design was patented in October 1937.Raymond V. Smith and John H. Leslie Jr. Rehabilitation Engineering (CRC Press 1990): 195-196.
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.Richard I. Bourgeois-Doyle, George J. Klein: The Great Inventor (NRC Research Press 2004): 166-168. Geoffrey Reaume, Lyndhurst: Canada's First Rehabilitation Centre for People with Spinal Cord Injuries, 1945-1998 (McGill-Queens Press 2007): 49. M. Tremblay, "Going Back to Civvy Street: A Historical Account of the Impact of the Everest and Jennings Wheelchair for Canadian World War II Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury" Disability & Society 11(1996): 149-170.
The Everest family sold its interest in the company in 1943,Everest Jennings Inc. vs. E. J. Manufacturing Co. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.·263 F.2d 254 (9th Cir. 1959). but Gerald Jennings, son of Harry Sr., was chief executive from 1952 until he retired in 1985."Gerald M. Jennings, Wheelchair Maker" New York Times (November 8, 1989)."Gerald Jennings; Ran Wheelchair Firm" Los Angeles Times (November 8, 1989).
In 1956, the company was "the first to manufacture the electric wheelchair on a mass scale".
Success and legal troubles
By the early 1970s, Everest & Jennings International was "the world's largest supplier of wheelchairs.""Obituaries: Harry C. Jennings Jr." Manhattan Mercury (July 13, 1976): 2. via Newspapers.com But this status brought increased scrutiny.Jack Anderson and Les Whitten, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Justice Department" Daily Standard (December 26, 1977): 2. via Newspapers.com In 1977, the United States Justice Department formally accused Everest & Jennings of practices that violated antitrust laws. The resulting settlement required Everest & Jennings to make annual compliance reports to the Justice Department; the settlement was called "little more than a slap on the wrist" by consumer advocate Ralph Nader."Wheelchair Manufacturer Deal Blasted by Nader" The Pantagraph (May 29, 1978): 5. via Newspapers.com Nader was also involved with protests about the quality, safety, and price of Everest & Jennings chairs, by a disability rights group."Wheelchair Builders Rip Off the Disabled, Nader Group Says" The Independent Record (December 24, 1976): 15. via Newspapers.com A class action suit was brought by equipment dealers, but dismissed in court in 1984."Wheelchair Maker Claim" Santa Cruz Sentinel (March 22, 1984): 20. via Newspapers.com
Everest & Jennings recorded sales of $145 million in 1980, and profits near $8 million. In the 1980s they launched "Avenues," an adaptive clothing line for wheelchair users."'Avenues' Fashion Models are on Wheels, not Heels" Santa Cruz Sentinel (September 6, 1989): 38. via Newspapers.com They also diversified into hospital beds, but it suffered major losses. Changes within the company and in the business landscape during the 1980s left Everest & Jennings struggling at decade's end.James F. Peltz, "Wheelchair Maker Tries to Regain Profits" Los Angeles Times (April 3, 1990).
Later developments In 1992, facing financial difficulties from lost market share,Joseph P. Shapiro, No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement (Crown/Archetype 2011): 214-218. Everest & Jennings moved from Camarillo, California to St. Louis, Missouri.Larry Speer, "Wheelchair Company to Lay Off 450: Camarillo" Los Angeles Times (February 29, 1992). In 1993, the company acquired Medical Composite Technology, a carbon fiber technology company.Guy Lasnier, "Bike Company Aims for Comeback" Santa Cruz Sentinel (May 22, 1994): 21. via Newspapers.com
In 1996, still struggling with debt and falling sales, Everest & Jennings announced the sale of the company to Graham-Field Health Products.Lee Conrad, "Everest & Jennings CEO Getting $660,000 from Stock" St. Louis Business Journal (June 23, 1996). Graham-Field soon closed the Everest & Jennings plant in Earth City, Missouri."Court Okays Everest & Jennings Plant Shutdown" St. Louis Business Journal (June 27, 2000). Graham-Field continues to market wheelchairs under the Everest & Jennings name.David J. Morrow, "Vehicles for Market Share; Wheelchair Makers are Trying to Expand their Turf" New York Times (January 21, 1998).
Notable customers Among the prominent early users of Everest & Jennings wheelchairs were Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sergeant Alvin C. York and Winston Churchill.James Bates, "Wheelchair Maker Looking For a Way Back to the Top" Los Angeles Times (March 3, 1987). Ed Roberts and other members of the Rolling Quads used Everest & Jennings power chairs.Ben Mattlin, Miracle Boy Grows Up: How the Disability Rights Revolution Saved My Sanity (Skylight Publishing 2012): 36. 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."Joni Eareckson Tada and Steve Jensen, Barrier-Free Friendships: Bridging the Distance Between You and Friends with Disabilities (Zondervan Press 1997): 124. Actor Christopher Reeve's first wheelchair after becoming quadriplegic in 1995 was made by Everest & Jennings.Rebecca Grilliot, "Remembering a Superhero" HomeCare Magazine 27(11)(November 2004): 82.
References