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Van Phillips Video Oral History and
Papers,
1991-2004 |
Extent and Forms of Material: 1.35 cubic feet; 3 boxes, 1
oversize folder; 4 Beta Cam SP video cassettes, four 1⁄2” VHS video
cassettes and transcript (58 p.)
Creator: Van Phillips and the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center
for the Study of Invention and Innovation
Abstract: Video oral history interview of Van Phillips, inventor
of the Flex-Foot and other innovative prosthetic feet, conducted by Katherine
Ott and Maggie Dennis, February 27, 2004, and design drawings and printed materials
regarding prosthetic feet by Van Phillips, Hilary D. Pouchak, and Slobodon Djordjevic.
Repository: Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. archivescenter@si.edu
202-633-3270
www.americanhistory.si.edu/archives
Collection Number: AC0859
Processing Note: Processed by Mitch Toda, August 2004; supervised
by Alison Oswald, archivist.
© 2006 by the Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved.
Information for users of
the collection
Conditions Governing Access: The collection
is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: Copyright
held by the Smithsonian Institution. Reproduction permission from
Archives Center: fees for commercial use. Reproduction permission
from Archives Center: fees for commercial use.
Preferred Citation: [Title and date of item],
Van Phillips Oral History and Papers, Archives Center, National
Museum of American History, box number X, folder number XX, digital
file number XXXXXXXX
In-depth information about the collection
- Administrative/biographical history
Scope and content
System of arrangement
Acquisition information
Custodial history
Related artifacts
Access points
Container listing
In 1976, after a waterskiing accident, Van Phillips had his left
leg amputated just above the ankle. At the time he was twenty-one
years old and a student at Arizona State University studying mass
communications and advertising. The accident and his frustration
with the prosthetic technology of the time motivated Phillips
to switch his studies to prosthetics. He graduated from Arizona
State University in 1981.
Phillips' idea of a C-shaped foot emerged from his desire to
design a prosthetic that was strong, flexible, and made of light
weight materials.
In 1982, while living in Utah and working for the University
of Utah’s Center for Biomedical Design, Phillips met Dale
Abildskov, an aerospace composite engineer. Using Phillips’
drawings, they called upon an aerospace company to help analyze
the performance of carbon fiber material, which at the time was
only used for military purposes.
Carbon fiber with its excellent strength and flexible properties
was cut into a C-shaped foot, with a sole on the bottom and a
prosthetic socket above. With this design, weight applied by landing
on the toe was converted into energy thereby simulating the spring
action of the normal foot and allowing users to run and jump.
After trying out his new design, Phillips immediately decided
to quit his job, develop his design, and start a new company.
Flex-Foot Inc. was formed in 1984 and demand for Phillips’
innovative prosthetic feet has increased ever since. While the
firm was sold in 2000 to Ossur, a company based in Iceland, Phillips
still owns the patent rights to his invention and continues to
contribute his ideas and expertise to research and development
projects.
The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention
and Innovation was founded in 1995 at the Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of American History through a generous gift from
the Lemelson Foundation. The Center’s mission is to document,
interpret, and disseminate information about invention and innovation;
to encourage inventive creativity in young people; and to foster
an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation
play in the history of the United States. The Innovative Lives
series brings together Museum visitors and especially, school
age children, and American inventors to discuss inventions and
the creative process and to experiment and play with hands-on
activities related to each inventor’s product.
This collection consists of a videotaped interview, 2004 and
design drawings and printed materials, 1991-2004. Katherine Ott
and Maggie Dennis interviewed Phillip’s on February 27,
2004. In the interview Van Phillips talked about his waterskiing
accident, his work towards designing his new prosthetic foot,
the founding of Flex-Foot Inc., his thoughts about being an amputee,
and his feelings towards the patent system and the legal actions
he has undertaken to defend his patents. During the the interview
Phillips mentioned several people who played key roles in the
development of Flex-Foot and who helped bring it into popular
culture including: Dale Abildskov, Bob Fosberg, Aimee Mullins,
and Dennis Oehler. There is a 58-page transcript of the interview
with an index.
The design drawings and printed materials related to several
different prosthetic feet: the Vari-Flex; the Sure-Flex; the K2
Sensation; the Delta Foot; the Geri-Flex; the Flex Sprint I, II,
and III (Cheetah); the C-Sprint, the Sprint Symes, and the Ski
Foot I and II. Additionally there are design drawings for a horse
prosthetic foot. The printed materials consist of letters, instructions,
and specifications of the Geri-Flex that were sent to Flex-Foot
Inc. by prosthetists.
- Series 1: Video Oral History
- Series 2: Design Drawings and Printed Materials
This collection was created in conjunction with a public program
titled “Artificial Parts” and the Innovative Lives
Program of The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study
of Invention and Innovation. The Innovative Lives series brings
young people and American inventors together to discuss inventions
and the creative process and to experiment and play with hands-on
activities related to each inventor’s product.
The collection was transferred to the Archives Center on March
9, 2004. The papers were donated by Ossur North America, the company
which bought Phillips’ company, on November 11, 2003.
The National Museum of American History, Division of Science,
Medicine, and Society, has in its collections these objects acquired
from Ossur North America on January 7, 2004 (Accession #2003.0315):
Flex Walk II with Pump (Catalog #2002.0315.01)
Air-Flex w/Split-Toe (Catalog #2002.0315.02)
Vari-Flex (Catalog #2002.0315.03)
Flex-Foot (Catalog #2002.0315.04)
Flex-Walk II (Catalog #2002.0315.05)
Modular Flex-Foot (Catalog #2002.0315.06)
Modular III (Catalog #2002.0315.07)
Allurion w/Split Toe (Catalog #2002.0315.08)
Low Profile Symes w/Split Toe (Catalog #2002.0315.09)
Flex-Foot Symes (Prototype) Catalog #2002.0315.10
Re-Flex VSP (Catalog #2002.0315.11)
Re-Flex w/Split-Toe (Catalog #2002.0315.12)
Sure-Flex with Cosmetic Foot Cover (Catalog #2002.0315.13)
Talux Product Prototype #9 (Catalog #2002.0315.14)
Talux Prototype (Catalog #2002.0315.15)
Talux Prototype (Catalog #2002.0315.16)
Air-Flex Prototype (Catalog #2002.0315.17)
Flex-Sprint III (Catalog #2002.0315.18)
Endoskeleton Connector (Catalog #2002.0315.19)
Subjects/Topical:
Prosthesis
Inventors
Inventions
Subjects/Names:
Djordjevic, Slobodon (creator)
Pouchak, Hilary D. (creator)
Flex-Foot, Inc.
Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center
Form/Genre:
Videotapes -- 2000-2010
Design drawings
Oral history -- 2000-2010
Interviews -- 2000-2010
| Box |
Folder |
|
| |
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SERIES
1: VIDEO ORAL HISTORY, 2004 |
| 1 |
OV 859.1
|
Van Phillips Video History Interview,
February 27, 2004
Total
Running Time: 32:30
Maggie Dennis and Katherine Ott interview of Van Phillips,
topics discussed: his life as a father; a desire to create
a Landmine Foot; his early disdain for the Flex-Foot; the
brainstorming process with partners about the design of prosthetic
feet; his work at Flex-Foot Inc. and the frustrations he experienced
with the science advisory board; his appreciation of creativity
and how ideas come to him; the founding of Flex-Foot Inc.;
his partners Dale Abildskov and Bob Fosberg; the decision
to sell the company to Ossur; and how he ended up at the University
of Utah's Center for Biomedical Design. |
| |
OV 859.2
|
Van Phillips Video History Interview,
February 27, 2004
Total
Running Time: 30:15
Continuing discussion of his work at
the Center for Biomedical Design for Jan Secosa; working on
his prosthetic foot designs on the weekend; problems with
various materials and the toes of the feet always breaking;
the overall development of his prosthetic foot design; setting
up his apartment to fabricate prototypes; calling companies
to get free samples of materials; differences between bolted
and bonded feet; how his energy idea was born; his own use
of prosthetic feet such as the Sach Foot and the Greisinger
Foot; the Seattle Foot prosthetic foot that was similar in
concept to Phillips; and the benefits of the split toe design. |
| |
OV 859.3
|
Van Phillips Video History Interview,
February 27, 2004
Total
Running Time: 28:20
In this portion of the interview, Phillips
talks about his amputation surgery and a subsequent surgery
(Ertl technique) 10 years later to correct the first amputation;
being able to finally use his own foot designs because it
no longer hurt his stump to do so; his experiences with the
patent system and the toll litigation takes defending his
patents; working with Aimee Mullins and Dennis Oehler; the
rise of the sprint leg in popular culture; and his thoughts
and opinions about people with disabilities and the culture
that surrounds them. |
| |
OV 859.4
|
Van Phillips Video History Interview,
February 27, 2004
Total
Running Time: 27:30
Phillips discusses the differences between
amputees and wheelchair bound individuals; his feelings about
his disability; life before his waterskiing accident; the
future of prosthetic technology; powered prosthetic feet;
the C-leg; osseo-integration; and gives advice to new amputees. |
| 2 |
RV 859.1-4 |
Reference Copy Videos of the Van
Phillips Video History Interview, February 27, 2004 (OV 859.1-4) |
| |
1 |
Transcript of Van Phillips Video
History Interview, February 27, 2004, includes index (58 pages) |
| |
|
SERIES
2: DESIGN DRAWINGS AND PRINTED MATERIALS, 1991-2002 |
| 3 |
1 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, the Vari-Flex, by Van Phillips, October 1990 (4 drawings) |
| |
2 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, alternate style of the Sure-Flex known as the Nipple
Foot, by Hilary D. Pouchak, February 1994 - June 1994 (12
drawings) |
| |
3 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, the Phoenix Foot later known as the K2 Sensation, by
Hilary D. Pouchak and Slobodon Djordjevic, April 1998 - May
1998 (13 drawings) |
| |
4 |
Design drawings for horse prosthetic
foot, the Barnaby, by Hilary D. Pouchak, April 2002 (4 drawings) |
| |
5 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, the Delta Foot (never made it to market), by Hilary
D. Pouchak, July 1995 (12 drawings) |
| |
6 |
Design drawings by Slobodon Djordjevic,
November 1999 - July 2000 (10 drawings) |
| 3 |
7 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, the first prototype of the Air Bladder Foot or Geri-Flex
(never made it to market), by Hilary D. Pouchak, July 1991
- December 1992 (10 drawings and printed documents: letter
and instructions regarding the Geri-Flex to prosthetist) |
| |
8 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, the second prototype of the Geri-Flex, by Hilary D.
Pouchak, December 1992 - March 1993 (27 drawings, 3 printed
documents: letter, instructions, and specifications regarding
the Geri-Flex to prosthetist) |
| |
9 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, the Flex Sprint I, II, and III (Cheetah), the C-Sprint,
and the Sprint Symes, by Hilary D. Pouchak, October 1991 -
March 2002 (24 drawings) |
| |
10 |
Design drawings for prosthetic
foot, the Ski Leg I and II, by Hilary D. Pouchak, March 1997
- February 1998 (9 drawings) |
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