Telemark company designs metal-free wheelchair

Photo courtesy of EasyRoller
Easy Roller can be run through security without giving alarm.

Bjorn Olsen
Skien, Norway

Telemark is not just ancient history. From it comes a unique invention: a wheelchair that can be pushed through security at an airport without giving alarm. The wheelchair is ideal for airports, cruise ships, and anyone going through security. There are no cavities in the chair, making it impossible to use for smuggling. The wheelchair is also ideal for hospital use; it can be rolled right into the MRI machine without being affected.

The wheelchair is called EasyRoller, and so is the company headed by a few talented scientists and inventors. The people behind the development of this wheelchair are Torbjørn Skjæran, Ørjan Didriksen, Knut Bernhard Iversen, Svein Clausen, and Nils-Petter Svanholm.

Photo courtesy of EasyRoller
The wheelchair is already delivered to several major airports in Norway and Europe.

To get a practical and attractive chair, the team contacted the renowned Norwegian and international designer Bård Eker, who has designed famous speedboats and sports cars. The wheelchair won first prize in a design competition against 6,000 other health products.

The wheelchair is manufactured so that there is minimal service, and it also satisfies special hygiene requirements and can be washed with a pressure washer.

EasyRoller is already in use at several major European airports such as Gothenburg and Malmö in Sweden, Las Palmas and Gibraltar in Spain, Keflavík in Iceland, Bornholm in Denmark, and seven airports in Norway. Also prisons in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia have taken to using the chair. The largest university hospitals in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and Germany are now also using the chair.

The “boys” from Telemark want to get into the American market. They are currently shopping for a U.S. partner.

This article originally appeared in the Sept. 4, 2015, issue of the Norwegian American Weekly. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.