Relief Stretchers – Early Beginnings of the Modern Evacuation Chair

Throughout history anywhere there is battles, wars and disasters presently there has been a purpose for stretchers.

The particular Furley Stretcher and the Ashford Litter have been the first accepted stretchers developed for the St John’s Ambulance by Sir John Furley regarding Ashford in Kent. folding spine board was a basic Furley stretcher fitted with wheels and the canvas cover to protect the individual plus came to the particular fore during the First World Battle.


The Lowmoor Jacket was developed to conquer the difficulties that were experienced when using the Furley stretcher in enclosed spaces and began in the exploration communities of typically the North East around Bradford. While typically the Furley stretcher continued to be utilized in wide-open surface, the Lowmoor Jacket was better suited for restricted areas.

The Mansfield traction was another design that was commonly available on Royal Navy blue ships but now there were occasions when this was unsuitable, in particular whenever raising casualties from the boiler room through the thin hatch. The solution was the adaptation associated with Japanese hammocks, which often led to the “Hammock for Hoisting Hurt Men from Stokeholds and then for Use in Ships whose burning ash hoists are 2ft 6in diameter” traction.

This long entitled stretcher was going to contact form the basis involving what eventually became the Neil Robertson stretcher and that is continue to found for save in confined spaces a hundred years later. Similar developments were underway across the Atlantic, which triggered the Stokes Fill, and these 2 stretcher designs were often fitted using skids for use in pile rescue.

The Betty Stretcher was designed found in the 1930s by simply Eustace Thomas plus was commissioned particularly for mountain rescue, because the existing designs are not entirely suitable intended for these harsh conditions. This remained typically the dominant mountain relief stretcher well directly into the 1950s when its title seemed to be challenged by the Duff stretcher, initially this specific was a wheeled stretcher but by simply 1950 it had been adapted intended for rescue work. With regard to ease of transfer its runners could possibly be detached and typically the frame folded throughout half.

The 1974s saw the lightweight tubular frame stretchers of McInnes are available into force plus included models to be used at altitude and even motorised ones of which ran on some sort of two stroke powerplant. McInnes’s designs had been favored by mountain and even helicopter rescues because of to their excess weight and ability to be able to be operated by a single person. The next genuine advancement came inside the 80’s along with the Bell stretcher, which had the particular capability of dividing in half and had folding grips.