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For the remotely controlled vehicle used in bomb disposal, see Wheelbarrow (EOD).
A common wheelbarrow
Older wheelbarrow
Wheelbarrows on the Belomorkanal
A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles to the rear or a sail may be used to guide the ancient wheelbarrow by wind.
It is designed to distribute the weight of its load between the wheel and the operator so enabling the convenient carriage of heavier and bulkier loads than would be possible were the weight carried entirely by the operator. Their use is common in the construction industry and in gardening. Typical capacity is approximately 170 litres (6 cubic feet) of material.
A two-wheel type is more stable on level ground, while the almost universal one-wheel type has better maneuverability in small spaces, on planks or when tilted ground would throw the load off balance. The use of one wheel also permits greater control of the deposition of the load on emptying.
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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. The earliest depictions of single-wheel Chinese wheelbarrows come from 2nd century Han Dynasty tomb murals and brick tomb reliefs.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 263-267. The painted tomb mural of a man pushing a wheelbarrow was found in a tomb at Chengdu, Sichuan province, dated precisely to 118 AD.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 265. The stone carved relief of a man pushing a wheelbarrow was found in the tomb of Shen Fujun in Sichuan province, dated circa 150 AD.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 264-265. And then there is the story of the pious Dong Yuan pushing his father around in a single-wheel lu che barrow, depicted in a mural of the Wu Liang tomb-shrine of Shandong (dated to 147 AD).Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 263. However, there are even earlier accounts than this that harken back to the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. The 5th century Book of Later Han stated that the wife of the once poor and youthful imperial censor Bao Xuan helped him push a lu che back to his village during their feeble wedding ceremony, around 30 BC. Later, during the Red Eyebrows Rebellion (c. 20 AD) against the usurper Wang Mang (45 BC–23 AD), the official Zhao Xi saved his wife from danger by disguising himself and pushing her along in his lu che barrow, past a group of brigand rebels who questioned him, and allowed him to pass after he convinced them that his wife was terribly ill.
The one-wheeled Chinese wheelbarrow, from Zhang Zeduan\'s (1085–1145) painting Along the River During Qingming Festival, Song Dynasty.
Nevertheless, the Chinese historical text of the Sanguozhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms), compiled by the ancient historian Chen Shou (233–297 AD), credits the invention of the wheelbarrow to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD) of Shu Han from 197–234.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 259-260. It was written that in 231 AD, Zhuge Liang developed the vehicle of the wooden ox and used it as a transport for military supplies in a campaign against Cao Wei.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 260. Further annotations of the text by Pei Songzhi (430 AD) described the design in detail as a large single central wheel and axle around which a wooden frame was constructed in representation of an ox. Writing later in the 11th century, the Song Dynasty (960–1279) scholar Gao Cheng wrote that the small wheelbarrow of his day, with shafts pointing forward (so that it was pulled), was the direct descendent of Zhuge Liang\'s wooden ox.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 262. Furthermore, he pointed out that the 3rd century \'gliding horse\' wheelbarrow featured the simple difference of the shaft pointing backwards (so that it was pushed instead).
Unlike the wheelbarrow innovated later in medieval Europe (with a front wheel meant to carry relatively light loads), the central wheel and axle of wheelbarrows in China allowed their wheelbarrows to haul considerably heavier weights.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 258. Wheelbarrows in China could generally transport six human passengers at once, and instead of a laborious amount of energy exacted upon the animal or human driver pulling the wheelbarrow, the weight of the burden was distributed equally between the wheel and the puller.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 258-259. European visitors to China from the 17th century onwards had an appreciation for this, and was given a considerable amount of attention by a member of the Dutch East India Company, Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest, in his writings of 1797 (who accurately described its design and ability to hold large amounts of heavy baggage).Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 259.
Wheelbarrows near Xi\'an, c1905 by Quaker missionary John Shields
Due to scarce references in Chinese literature, the earliest date for which the Chinese began mounting masts and sails on large wheelbarrows is uncertain, but European travelers from the 16th century onwards mentioned them with surprise. In 1585 (during the Chinese Ming Dynasty), Gonzales de Mendoza wrote that the Chinese had many coaches and wagons mounted with sails, and even depicted them in artwork of silk hanfu robes and on earthenware vessels.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 274-276. In the 1584 atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum written by the cartographer Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598), there are large Chinese wheelbarrows depicted with sails and masts.Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 276. Likewise, there are the same Chinese wheelbarrows with sails depicted in the Atlas of Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594), as well as the 1626 book Kingdome of China by John Speed. The English poet John Milton (1608–1674) popularized the Chinese sailing carriage in Europe with a poem written in 1665. European interest in the Chinese sailing carriage is also seen in the writings of Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest in 1797, who wrote:
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The wheelbarrow may have been first invented in ancient Greece.M. J. T. Lewis, p.470ff. Two building material inventories for 408/407 and 407/406 B.C. from the temple of Eleusis show "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 interpret this as a one-wheeler seems to be the best explanation. However there is no other evidence for the use of wheelbarrows in ancient Greece. The Hellenistic world also shows no evidence of it.The Classical World, by Robin Lane Fox, Penguin (2006)
The wheelbarrow was found in Europe sometime 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).M. J. T. Lewis, pp.453-55 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.M. J. T. Lewis, p.463 According to the medieval art historian Andrea Matthies, the first archival reference to a wheelbarrow in medieval Europe is dated 1222, specifying the purchase of several wheelbarrows for the English king\'s works at Dover.Andrea L. Matthies, p.357 The first depiction appears in an English manuscript, Matthew Paris\'s Vitae Offarum, completed in 1250.Andrea L. Ma The often held view that a wheelbarrow shows up in a stained-glass window at Chartres soon after 1200 is according to Lewis "a myth. There is none. The nearest approach is a handbarrow." (M.J.T. Lewis, p.463)
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.M. J. T. Lewis, p.456 It also seemed to be limited to England, France, and the Low Countries.Andrea L. Matthies, p.358
In the 1970s, British inventor James Dyson produced his ballbarrow, an injection moulded plastic barrow with a spherical wheel.
The Honda HPE60, an electric power-assisted wheelbarrow, was produced in 1998.Honda Worldwide | News Release | April 27, 1998HPE60 video demonstration
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