The Elaine Anne Lift: A Father's Invention

By Alan F. Troop

In 1983, Cliff Wolfe was perfectly happy with his work as a road construction consultant. He'd never given a thought to the problems that drivers with disabilities faced or the small range of mobility options available to them. But when his daughter Elaine Anne -- recently graduated from high school -- broke her neck in the shallow end of a swimming pool that summer, and her life began to change, so did Cliff's.

Though he never intended to go into manufacturing, let alone into the mobility business, Wolfe, unavoidably affected by the accident that left his daughter a C7 quadriplegic, set about inventing both the Elaine Anne lift -- the only lift of its kind -- as well as the SUV adaptation to accommodate it.

Check with many of the companies in the mobility industry and you'll hear similar stories. The Braun Corp. and its use of platform lifts started because of Ralph Braun's need for accessible transportation. Alan Ruprecht of the Drivemaster Corp. invented his own push-pull hand controls in the early 1950s because he'd contracted polio and found the hand controls of that era too bulky and cumbersome for him to use. The founders of Vantage Mobility developed the first use of a ramped vehicle because a close family friend needed a suitable accessible vehicle. And when Red Gates of Originator was approached by a quad friend and asked if he could help design something his friend could use to drive without any help, Gates invented the swing-out lift.

Cliff and Elaine started talking about Elaine's mobility options while she was still a patient at Royal Ottawa Regional Rehabilitation Center. "I was going through the rehab center's driver assessment program," Elaine says, "and I mentioned to my father that I didn't like the thought of driving a full-size van. They were just too big and too boxy. But that seemed the only option those days. He said, 'Well what do you want to drive?' I told him and he started drawing pictures. He's that type of guy. You tell him a problem and he sees the solution. He starts drawing pictures of it."

Not that anything progressed quickly. In 1984, after nine months of rehab, Elaine returned to the regular world and enrolled in Ottowa's Carleton University, majoring in communications. She moved on campus into their Glengary Residence, an accessible dorm. With no vehicle yet, she relied on the city's paratransit system. "It was very frustrating," she says. "Bookings had to be made 24 hours in advance. It didn't allow for any spontaneity."

Over the next few years Cliff continued to discuss with Elaine what she wanted in the way of a vehicle, and he continued to draw and refine his plans. In 1988 he was ready. Elaine bought her own very first car, a spanking new, navy blue 1988 Chevrolet Blazer, gave it to her father, and he promptly had the driver's side chopped off. "I was horrified," Elaine says. "Here was this brand new car and it was all cut up. I only hoped he knew what he was doing."

Fortunately Cliff did -- mostly. "I was his guinea pig," Elaine says. "I'd come to the shop and they'd lift me up on wooden planks and put me in the Blazer and we'd work things out." After seven months, the car was ready and Elaine drove it to a dirt quarry to practice until she felt ready for her driver's test.

"How did I feel when I first got it? Relieved," she says. I didn't have to wait for paratransit any more. I didn't have to wait for anyone. And happy. It gave me a great feeling of independence. It made a huge difference. It worked very well and, once I was in, it didn't look any different from any other car. It didn't look adapted."

Just as Elaine wanted, the car was set up so she could drive it by herself. At the turn of a key mounted on the Blazer's rear driver's side panel, the driver's door opened and a stainless steel platform -- operated by a pneumatic system -- extended out from inside the vehicle and lowered to the ground. All she had to do was push her chair onto the platform where it would automatically lock into a chair lock (another one of Cliff's inventions). Then, at the touch of a button on a control box mounted on an arm to the platform's left front edge, the platform would raise up and slide her into the car, behind the driver's wheel, and the door would close.

Once in place, pushing another button on the center console positioned her behind the wheel. A push of another button brought forward an automatic head and shoulder rest, designed by Cliff to prevent injury in case of accident. "Dad's pretty intense about safety," Elaine says. When the platform re-entered the car, it triggered the folding of a console height steel plate to the right side of the steering wheel, effectively cocooning the driver on all four sides. And, even with all that, the car drove like any other car.

Cliff's original plan was to design and build just this one car for his daughter. But before he was finished with the car, Mike Griffin, a quad who lived in Elaine's accessible dorm, saw Elaine's car and asked that Cliff make one for him, too. He kept asking until Cliff finally agreed. Later, others saw their cars and asked for their own adapted cars as well.

"So it got a life of its own and he had to get into the business," Elaine says.

Since then Cliff's KVB Manufacturing, officially founded in 1990, has adapted and sold over 100 vehicles. About 10 percent have been sold in Canada, 80 percent to the United States and the remainder to buyers around the world in locations as diverse as Austria, Israel and Belgium.

Over time the system has undergone some small refinements and a few larger ones. Originally the driver's door had been lengthened, but that was replaced by a gull wing section that raises out of the way as the regular, factory-issued door opens. The original key-operated door system has been replaced by a magnetic switch. Of course Elaine's car was updated with each modification.

Because of the way the driver's platform slides in and out to the side, the vehicle needs no more space on the side than a regular car door does. Neither puddles nor snow damage its stainless steel construction, and the platform actually self levels -- by slightly raising the vehicle -- for lesser terrain irregularities. The location of the lift system does mean a fair amount of loss of legroom in the seat directly behind the driver, but a large SUV equipped with a third bench can still crowd in seven adults.

Since Cliff originally designed the system for his daughter's Blazer, it has only been certified for GM vehicles. But that still gives customers a fairly wide range of vehicles to choose from. KVB has done them all -- Blazers, Suburbans, Tahoes, Yukons, Escalades, and GMC pickups. KVB's newest project is a Hummer H2 adaptation, ordered by a customer in Dade City, Fla., that is currently under production.

Whichever model is chosen, adapting one is pretty much a custom affair. Once the company has been contacted and the decision has been made, the buyer's chair first has to be measured -- to make sure it will fit.

If the measurements are OK -- not taller than 54 inches or wider than 28 inches -- then the project is put into the production schedule. The buyer is expected to provide the car -- KVB does work with a friendly automotive dealer on the American side of the border. Because of the customized nature of the operation, waits can run into months. And once the actual work begins on the car, it still can take about three and a half months to be finished.

After the car's finally ready, the buyer has to come to Smiths Falls, Ontario, 50 miles from Watertown, N.Y., and stay three or four days for a final fitting.

The whole process is time consuming and expensive. Currently an Elaine Anne lift and SUV modification costs around $47,000, depending on modifications and currency fluctuations, plus the cost of a vehicle.

For those who can afford it, is it worth the time and expense?

Montana resident Chad McCormick, a C5-6 quad, who has driven a KVB-adapted GMC pickup since 2001, thinks so. "I love it," he says. "And they're super to deal with."

Elaine Anne Wolfe certainly would agree. Now 40 and living in Ottowa with her husband Jim and their two daughters, 14-year-old Jamie and 10-year-old Emily, Elaine spends her days as a mom and as an artist producing strikingly beautiful graphite and charcoal portraits on commission. The Blazer has been replaced with a Suburban now, equipped of course with an Elaine Anne lift. Driving it reminds her every time just how super her father is.

KVB Manufacturing, 62 Maple Avenue, Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada K7A 2A7; 800/565-9845; www.kvb.ca; cliff@kvb.ca.

Alan F. Troop is a frequent contributor to New Mobility. His novel, A Host of Dragons, the fourth in his Dragon DelaSangre series, is now available at most bookstores.

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