Somebody's great idea:

Theresa Larson sent this video to me.

Folding wheelbarrow

This is a cross between a plastic bag and a wheelbarrow (in a good way), and watching this in use brings up questions of what is and is not a wheelbarrow. "A barrow" can be a stretcher, seems—two poles with a canvas "bed." This is that, with a wheel to replace the second bearer.

Thanks to Theresa Larson for bringing it to my attention.

Allsop WheelEasy folding wheelbarrow—and it can be hung from one hook, collapsed—mostly wheel and handles.


I looked for and found other folding wheelbarrow entries on various mail-order sites, but "no longer available" seemed common, and some designs were a bit convoluted. Easy storage and loading seem the benefits, but I can't well imagine one of these being forty years old and still useful, and compared to a traditional, manufactured wheelbarrow, it's expensive.

Still, philosophically, it's a good "Is this a wheelbarrow?" item, and look at the pivot of the handles to the axle/frame of the wheel, when it's hung on the wall.

We use a fabric wood sling with two wooden handles. Using this for firewood is like a wood sling with a wheel.

It's causing me to review what I know of slings and wheelbarrows.

Chinese wheelbarrows

According to nameless people on the internet, the Chinese invented the wheelbarrow.  It doesn't seem at first glance that they made a great job of it.  Their wheel is big, and right in the middle, so needs to be covered up.   So it's kind of a big fender with two running boards.  There's a platform on either side, and maybe the "fender" is made of poles or slats so there are places to tie things.

I found an explanation on a page on sustainable transportation, that defends the design. The Chinese Wheelbarrow For being such a seemingly ordinary vehicle, the wheelbarrow has a surprisingly exciting history. This is especially true in the East, where it became a universal means of transportation for both passengers and goods, even over long distances. The Chinese wheelbarrow - which was driven by human labour, beasts of burden and wind power - was of a different design than its European counterpart. By placing a large wheel in the middle of the vehicle instead of a smaller wheel in front, one could easily carry three to six times as much weight than if using a European wheelbarrow.

Their source was "The Chinese Wheelbarrow" by Kris De Decker, and has this interesting bit (and a great deal more):

Compared to a two-wheeled cart or a four-wheeled wagon, a wheelbarrow was much cheaper to build because wheel construction was a labour-intensive job. Although the wheelbarrow required a road, a very narrow path (about as wide as the wheel) sufficed, and it could be bumpy. The two handles gave an intimacy of control that made the wheelbarrow very manoeuvrable.

There are two versions of the longer article, and each has a few photos the other doesn't have:

It was first in LowTech Magazine:
 http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbarrow.html#more
Resilience.org reprinted it:
 http://www.resilience.org/stories/2012-01-03/how-downsize-transport-network-chinese-wheelbarrow-0

Kris De Decker's article is as much about the history of roads as of wheelbarrows, which is also fascinating.  Please read it if you're at all interested in the history of China or Europe, or at least look at the pictures on both of them.  There is a list of 21 sources on which the author drew there, too.  I learned a lot!

The European wheelbarrow is a whole different design and for a different purpose.  In the Chinese version, the wheel takes the place of a pack animal, and the shape of the frame reflects that.  All the weight is on the axle.   The European wheelbarrow is a version of a litter or a stretcher, or for workmen, a barrow designed to be carried by two people.  So the wheel goes between the two handles on one end, and the remaining person has the other two handles, and half the weight.

The article shows a Chinese wheelbarrow carrying two people, and says they could carry six.  Women were transported that way, and one of the photos above shows one who seems to have had bound feet. If there was only one passenger and the load had no counterweight, the article says the operator of the barrow would tilt the wheel so that it balanced that way.

European litters generally carried just one person.  There are images from a French history of the wheelbarrow that show (in line drawings) people being transported.  It's not as elegant or as dignified as  the Chinese setup, and doesn't look nearly as comfortable.  With a small wheel out front, in the European version, the "seating" isn't level.

So when articles say "the Chinese invented the wheelbarrow," they invented their wheelbarrow, not the  European version, which has a lowlier purpose and smaller capacity.

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I looked up the author, Kris de Decker, after writing the above.  He owns "Low-tech Magazine."  It's full of other interesting technological history and ideas.

New Wheels

This French company is advertising to dealers. There are pages of wheelbarrows for different purposes. These are from the agricultural page.

The wheels seem very different, and not all the same sort of different.
Click either photo to go to the page with a slide show of others by the same manufacturer, and you can get to their several other pages of wheelbarrows for particular trades.

This first one is elegant and pretty. Not as big and strong as I'm used to, but very attractive:


I think, but I'm not positive, that this one has a single handle. That it stands on two feet and two wheels, but can be pulled with one handle.


I suppose one would need to be a huge company to order any, but it's nice to see what exists in the world.

Italian electric wheelbarrows, and muck-trucks

The wheelbarrows I'm interested in are the one-wheeled, tripod, easy machinery wheelbarrows, but there is a site advertising "electric wheelbarrows."

I do know that "barrows" can also be two wheeled with two peg legs, or four-wheeled, but at that point I really think it's a hand truck. And I think this is a little battery-powered dump truck:

http://www.zallys.com/frontend/controller/prodotti.php?cat=27&gclid=CKvHk_nQvbgCFY_KtAodFUwA0w

Here's a similar one, petrol-powered:

£800
MUCK-TRUCK POWER BARROW 1/4 tonne capacity, Honda engine, 4 wheel drive, 3 forward/ 1 reverse, Unleaded petrol, Very good condition, £ new ...

Because I had no need to know, I wasn't aware of these, but I like them! A Canadian site says "Since 1993, Muck-Truck has evolved to become the world's most popular power barrow and motorized wheelbarrow," and the company's slogan is "It doesn't cost the earth to move it." Nice. So here's muck-truck Canada.

But they are hand trucks, and not wheelbarrows, in my sorting and labelling world.

(Speaking of Canada, if anyone came here on Learn Nothing Day, I believe you are hosed!!!)

another wheelbarrow invention

When I started to make ths blog, I looked to see what might already be out there. Found this article:

Wheelbarrow of fortune: Father and son who rejected £50,000 Dragons' Den offer for gardening gadget net £1.3million in sales
Mike and Joe Smith rejected an offer for invention on Dragons' Den
Duncan Bannatyne and Hilary Devey offered them £50,000 for 50 per cent of their Wheelbarrow Booster business
By ALEX WARD
PUBLISHED: 09:47, 18 October 2012 | UPDATED: 11:46, 18 October 2012


They didn't allow themselves to be "invested in" on a TV show for inventors, but it's available from Tesco and several mailorder places now: Wheelbarrow Booster

(Yesterday's blog post was about the ball barrow, and here's the answer: It's from the 1970's, designed by James Dyson, who apparently likes to design round things.)

"Ball barrow"

Consider when and where this might have been, if you don't know as soon as you look.
Reinventing the wheelbarrow.

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I've come back seven years later to say it was designed and patented by James Dyson, in the 1970s.
These should link to an article at Designophy with some photos, and the wikipedia page with the patent diagram.

How old are wheelbarrows?

The Inventors section of About.com says this:

History of Engineering: Wheelbarrow

Chuko Liang (181-234 A.D.) of China is considered to be the inventor of the wheelbarrow. Liang was a general who used the wheelbarrows to transport supplies injured soldiers. The Chinese wheelbarrows had two wheels and required two men to propel and steer.

I say that a two-wheeled "wheelbarrow" is just a handcart, and not nearly as elegant as a one-wheeled conveyance.

And seriously? Were there no wheelbarrows in the world before the third century? I doubt that very much, but if it's right, let's have it. Anyone who knows or cares anything about wheelbarrows, or just thinks they're great, or maybe has once considered them kind of cute—send links or photos or comments.

Wheelbarrows at Lowe's Home Improvement Store near my house, 2012