WEST CHESTER, Pa. (WPVI) — A mobility device manufactured in Chester County, Pennsylvania, is helping people transition from sitting to standing and remain mobile, offering an alternative to traditional walkers and wheelchairs.
Zeen, a device that is part walker and part wheelchair, is assembled at a West Chester factory using hundreds of individual parts tailored to each buyer.
The device has been helping people remain mobile for years, according to company officials.
“We started in that little facility, which you’ll see across the way, and couldn’t originally make 1 or 2 Zeens a day. I think we’re up to 500 a month or something like that,” co-founder Garrett Brown said.
Brown said the idea for Zeen came while visiting his father and observing people who relied on wheelchairs and walkers.
“And I was hanging with my dad and his cohort, and they’re on wheelchairs and walkers, and nobody’s very happy about either one of them. And I looked at that. I said, there has to be something better than the,” Brown said.
Zeen was founded in 2016, and the device was commercially launched five years later.
Describing the engineering behind the product, Brown said developing the device presented significant challenges.
“It’s a lovely puzzle to get to a machine like this that’s economical and that every part pulls its weight and does its job and is lightweight and relatively inexpensive. And this took some work, I can tell you. I, you know, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, from every aspect of it to get the wheels right, to get the wonderful, dual-state casters in the back, because you can’t have ordinary four-wheel casters; they just wander. The dual-state casters go straight like a dream, and then can back up and change their axle angle to back up,” he said.
Brown also highlighted one of the device’s features that allows users to adjust and secure its height.
“And my favorite invention of all in the scene is how it how it locks up at any given height,” he said. “Here are these very clever rows of holes. And pins are simply released from the holes and inserted into the holes to stop it at any height, including whatever you set.”
Demonstrating the device’s maneuverability, Brown said, “So now I can want. Like an also closed. And I have a tremendous amount of agility. It turns in its own length. It goes sideways. It goes forward. And of course, you’ve got bricks.”
Brown is also known for inventing the Steadicam, which has been used for decades in films, television productions and sports broadcasts.
Since Zeen entered production, Brown said the device has helped adults and children with mobility issues.
“I don’t know how many exactly we’ve made today, but we’ve made thousands of them. And we were excited when we got to number 100. It’s amazing. They’re everywhere,” Brown said.
He added that the company frequently hears from people who use the device on the job.
“You know, being behind the counter at a store or at a parts depot. We keep hearing about people that use it for work, you know, teachers, people, people in a doctor’s office,” Brown said.
Brown said manufacturing the product in Pennsylvania remains important to him.
“It’s hugely important to me that it happened here in the States, first of all, and in Pennsylvania secondly. And in Philadelphia, which is dear to my heart,” he said.
As production continues in Chester County, Brown said the device is helping users regain mobility and return to daily activities and professional roles.
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