Wheelbarrow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the remotely controlled vehicle used in bomb disposal, see Wheelbarrow (EOD).

A wheelbarrow is a small one- or two-wheeled cart designed to be pushed by a single person using two handles to the rear. Designed to ease the transport of heavy, often loose, loads (see lever), their use is common in the construction industry and in gardening.

A two-wheel type is more stable, while a one-wheel type has better maneuverability in small spaces or on planks.

Modern designs are usually single wheel, with a pneumatic tire, though some models have solid rubber tires. Common designs are all metal with a separate frame and tray. The heavier weight and noise generated by all metal designs in loading and moving means that for most uses polypropylene trays are more common being lighter and quieter but less durable.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Ancient Greece 1.2 China 1.3 Roman Empire 1.4 Medieval Europe 1.5 Modern times 2 References 3 Literature 4 See also

[edit] History

[edit] Ancient Greece

The wheelbarrow was first invented in ancient Greece.^[1] Two building material inventories for 408/407 and 407/406 B.C. from the temple of Eleusis mention "1 body for a one-wheeler (hyperteria monokyklou)":

Since dikyklos and tetrakyklos mean nothing but "two-wheeler" and "four-wheeler," and since the monokyklos body is sandwiched in the Eleusis inventory between a four-wheeler body and its four wheels, to take it as anything but a one-wheeler strains credulity far beyond breaking point. It can only be a wheelbarrow, necessarily guided and balanced by a man.

There is, however, no other mention of wheelbarrows in ancient Greek sources.

[edit] China

Despite the development of wheeled carts from around 5,000 years ago, the invention of the wheelbarrow is usually traced to China, where there are a number of competing claims. Invented around the 3rd century AD, it is usually credited to Zhuge Liang, advisor to the Kingdom of Shu from 197 to 234, who had the wooden ox developed as a transport for military supplies. The design was with a large single central wheel around which a wooden box was constructed, but it was soon adapted to a design with two handles for pulling.

[edit] Roman Empire

Another belief of the origin of the wheelbarrow is said to have occurred during the rule of the Roman Empire. Back then, as it is today on highways, vehicles traveling through the empire were taxed on a per axle and per wheel basis. Travellers with two axles with four wheels were taxed higher than those with one axle and two wheels. It became obvious to those who were travelling lighter needed a cheaper solution to get another tax break. So the wheelbarrow was created so that only one axle and wheel could be taxed. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Medieval Europe

The wheelbarrow showed up in medieval Europe between 1170 and 1250. Medieval wheelbarrows universally featured a wheel at or near the front (in contrast to their Chinese counterparts, which typically had a wheel in the center of the barrow).^[2] Research on the early history of the wheelbarrow is made difficult by the marked absence of a common terminology. The English historian of science M.J.T. Lewis has identified in English and French sources four mentions of wheelbarrows between 1172 and 1222, three of them designated with a different term.^[3] According to the medieval art historian Andrea Matthies, the first archival reference to a wheelbarrow in medieval Europe is dated 1222, specifing the purchase of several wheelbarrows for the English king's works at Dover.^[4] The first depiction appears in an English manuscript, Matthew Paris's Vitae Offarum, completed in 1250.^[5]

By the 13th century, the wheelbarrow proved useful in building construction, mining operations, and agriculture. However, going by surviving documents and illustrations the wheelbarrow remained a relative rarity until the 15th century,^[6] and, moreover, seems to be limited to England, France, and the Low Countries.^[7]

[edit] Modern times

Two-wheel wheelbarrows were much used in the construction of White Sea-Baltic Canal, as well as in other GULAG projects. Under heavy loads or on softer soils, two men drove a wheelbarrow: one pushing the handles and the other pulling the cart with a hook.

It was in America that the design was reversed with the wheel moving from the centre to the front of the box and the motive power to the rear. Modern wheelbarrows are often misspelled wheel barrels.

In the 1970s, British inventor James Dyson produced his ballbarrow, an injection moulded plastic barrow with a spherical wheel.

[edit] References

[edit] Literature

• M. J. T. Lewis, “The Origins of the Wheelbarrow,” Technology and Culture, Vol. 35, No. 3. (Jul., 1994), pp. 453-475
• Andrea L. Matthies, “The Medieval Wheelbarrow,” Technology and Culture, Vol. 32, No. 2, Part 1. (Apr., 1991), pp. 356-364

[edit] See also

• Hand-truck