Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1960-05-05

JNNA oSO, SC1
move again, thanks to the
unstinting help of three big
hearted neighbors.
Although the only unassistec
movement Larry can accom-
pllsh is a downward-pushins
motion of his right fingers, thai
is enough to open up the near
oy world to the bedridder
youth.
He has a magic carpet, the
result of 10 months of work BY
Milton A. Proett, Hanforc
Browning and Jim Barnes, all
Oh Damascus. The carpet" &C
tually is an electrically driven
three-wheel cart designed anc
constructed by 44-year-old Pro
EFT, a math teacher at Damas
Gus High School.
When Larry was lowered into
the drivers seat for his first
trial spin about 10 days ago, he
was on the threshold of his first
trip under his own power since
August 25, 1852.
He touched a button with one
pale finger and lurched forward
INTO a new chapter of a cour
ageous fight for independence
TO see someone like Larry
become mobile again was worth
a million bucks to me. The
expression on his face was sec
ond to none-it was terrific, y
Proett said.
Larry wore a different ex
preston the afternoon of Au.
gust Is, 1852, the day he came
home from a weeks showing OF
swine at the Montgomery Coun
ty Fair. His parents, Mr.. and
Mrs. Franklin Burdette, were
worried.
Larry had a headache and a
backache. He was admitted for
observation at Montgomery
General Hospital Monday and
by Tuesday, he was in an iron
lung at a Washington hospital
After six critical weeks, Lar
ry was transferred to Children's
Hospital School in Baltimore
his home for the next nine
months. All his hospital costs
during this time were paid by
the National Foundation, then
known as the National Founda.
ton for Infantile Paralysis.
Home again, Larry had little
more than his parents devoted
help and his own aggressive
determination to stop a lapse
into total inactivity. He pur.
sued courses in radio repair,
learned to write with a pencil
and stuck to his exercises.
And he learned to play the
trumpet. His parents rugged
up an ingenious rack that sup
ports both the horn and Lar
rvs right hand. Springs under
the trumpet's valves enable the
youth to riff off some pretty
hot ticks these days with high
school buddies who come in for
weekly jam sessions.
But with his father working
on the farm and only his
mother to help him into a
wheelchair once a day, visits
to the outdoors were precious
and far between. And then he
had to depend on someone else
to move him about.
But not now. AS he learns to
master his new electric cart,
Larry will be able to go out to
the fields with his father or
even drive along side roads for
visits.
The cart was invented by
Proett, a mechanical lobbyist
for years. One day he was
visiting Jim Barnes garage to
have some work done on an
electric jeep car he made for
his boy. There he learned that
Barnes and Browning had been
working unsuccessfully to fit
power to a conventional wheel
chair for Larry.
Proett Immediately saw that
the chairs center of gravity
was too high for safety. He ac-
cepted the challenge to make
something truly workable for
Larry-a boy he'd never seen.
He obtained two surplus cleo
trio motors from U. S. Govern
ment warehouses. One he con-
nected to a chain drive to power
the carts two back wheels. The
second motor was used to
power the steering apparatus.
A wooden lawn chair was adapt
ed to special framework tailored
to fit Larry's slim body.
The real problem was to de-
sign a propulsion and steering
system that would respond
quickly and accurately to Lar.
RVS fingertip touch. Proett
came up with a set of pushbut-
tons mounted on the right arm
OF the chair. Larry pushes one
to go forward, another to 60
backward, and others to steer
left and right.
Even now Proett is finishing
sort of transmission that will
n Il