Stair lift

A stair lift is a mechanical device for lifting people, typically those with disabilities, up and down stairs. For sufficiently wide stairs, a rail is mounted to the treads of the stairs. A chair or lifting platform is attached to the rail. A person gets onto the chair or platform and is lifted up or down the stairs by the chair which moves along the rail.

Stair lifts are known variously as stairlifts, stair gliders, stair-lifts, chair lifts (but distinct from the chairlift used by skiers) and by other names. The term stair climber can refer either to stair lifts, or more commonly to the exercise equipment by the same name.

Some of the first stair lifts to be produced commercially were advertised and sold in the U.S. in the 1930s by the Inclinator Company of America. Many users at the time were victims of polio.

Now they are for use by people who are elderly, fall-prone, or disabled and unable to navigate stairs safely.