Fayette men win award for wheelchair brake system
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, August 9, 2008


Veach Brakewell worked with his cousin to develop a wheelchair braking system in his small shop in Fairchance.


Jim and Veach Breakwell admit that the wheelchair braking system they developed is pretty simple, but apparently it's innovative enough to receive the same award as a bionic hand and a voice-activated vehicle-control system.
The system the cousins developed over 18 months in Veach Breakwell's small Fayette County sheet metal shop is one of seven inventions given the da Vinci Award by the Michigan Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society this year.

"Just to be a small, two-man operation put in the same class and the same field as these multimillion-dollar and Fortune 500 companies ... I honestly didn't expect to actually win it," said Jim Breakwell of Baltimore.

The international awards, which were started in 2000, strive to honor products designed to be easily operated by anyone of any capability.



And the Breakwells believe their Brake-Well Wheelchair Braking system could offer new possibilities for people in wheelchairs and their caregivers.
Jim Breakwell came up with the idea when a close friend with multiple sclerosis mentioned that she'd like to be able to go shopping by herself. But she couldn't walk long distances.

Jim Breakwell said he started thinking about a wheelchair with brakes on the handles so the user could operate it either as a walker from behind or in the seat as a wheelchair.

He turned to his cousin, Veach Breakwell of Fayette County, who has a sheet metal shop in Fairchance.

"We had to do a little thinking and brainstorming, and then we finally figured out we could use the brakes on a bicycle," Veach Breakwell said.

Through trial and error, the cousins found the right hand brake. Then they had to build a bracket system to hold it in place on the large rear wheels of the wheelchair.

And the cousins discovered that the braking system didn't just make the wheelchair a walker.

It also gives more control to a caregiver pushing someone in a wheelchair, particularly on inclines.

"If you're going up a ramp you can just clamp off and take a break," Veach Breakwell said. "A small person can handle a heavy person. They can take a break; they don't have to be stretching so hard to hold back."

Jim Breakwell said when his friend, Shelley Comittino, started to use the braking system, people were amazed. One flight attendant called her colleagues over to see it.

"One of the first reactions is, 'You mean they don't have something like that out there?' and the next reaction is, 'That is so cool,'" Jim Breakwell said.

Tom Martin, a spokesman for the Michigan Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said the braking system's price tag of less than $100 makes it affordable.

"It's an interesting product in that it's very simple and it's a very elegant idea and, of course, it solves a lot of problems for people that are handling wheelchairs," Martin said.

The cousins have applied for a patent. Both plan to attend the awards ceremony next month.

There, they will show off their invention shoulder to shoulder with other winners. Ford Motor Co. won for the Ford SYNC system, which allows voice-activated control over media players and mobile devices in a vehicle. Yamaha Motor Co. received the award for a lightweight, power-assisted wheelchair.

Other winners include a bionic hand with individually powered digits and a three-wheeled adaptive bike for those with limited mobility.

The cousins hope the award will give their product more exposure and hopefully lead them to someone who will mass- market the system.

For more information or to order a Brake-Well system, visit www.brake-well.com.



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