Who Invented the Segway?
The Segway in an electronic and a unique vehicle powered by battery having only two wheels, it balances itself while the rider stands on it with the feet placed on bases located on the inside frame of both wheels. There controls for acceleration and braking and there is a steering feature in the center of the vehicle. This electronic vehicle was made by Segway Inc of the United States.
The Segway PT (personal transporter) was officially unveiled in 2001 by Dean Kamen who was the inventor of Segway. It was unveiled on a TV show ‘Good Morning America’ aired by ABC TV and hosted by Diane Sawyer.
Kamen’s new invention was widely speculated the previous year as the new invention of transportation was referred by Steve Jobs as a thing that would encourage redesigning of the cities. The story of the coming up release of Segway got leaked after Kamen had invited a journalist named Steve Kemper to his factory to see the Segway. The reaction of Diane Sawyer was sadly echoed by many and the sales of Segway were not encouraging with 6000 units in the first three years.
Dean Kamen already had made destiny with other inventions like the AutoSyringe that allowed patients to have medications without being under constant supervision and the iBot which was a special wheelchair that had the capability to climb stairs.
The inventions of Kamen helped him developing an invention designing company called DEKA. It had strength of more than 200 employees. Soon after the launch of the very first Segway, an offshoot company was formed for manufacturing and selling the Segway PT. The Segway was finally introduced in the market in 2002.
After the discouraging release of Segway PT in 2002, it surfaced that Dean Kamen might not be the real creator of the PT after Kazuo Yamafuji, a Japanese professor of Tokyo University had announced his invention and production of samples of a similar type of vehicle in 1986. In addition, he and his associates had also registered its patent.
Dean Kamen had never claimed to be the real inventor and his patent application had acknowledged the earlier Japanese patent. A representative of Kamen said that the Segway PT was so much unique that there was no need for changing their belief that Dean Kamen and DEKA had invented it.
