permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

On 1/22/2012 8:36 PM, Bob Waldrop wrote:
> As most of us know, the typical wheelbarrow in use these days
> requires the person pushing the wheelbarrow to bear a good portion of
> the weight of the load. Our version of the wheelbarrow basically is
> like a stretcher, only with a wheel instead of someone up front
> carrying the front end.
>
> As it turns out, the Chinese had a much better idea for a
> wheelbarrow. It consists of one large central wheel, topped with a
> framework, with platforms on either side for the load. The person
> pushing the wheelbarrow thus carries none of the weight, he or she is
> just pushing and steering. All the weight lays upon the wheel and its
> axel. Going forward, we are all going to make a new acquaintance with
> manual labor, and I for one am going to try to build one of these for
> my work this summer, since I use a wheelbarrow a lot and as I get
> older, it’s not getting any easier to maneuver it.
>
> Here is a great article on the subject, complete with pictures and
> contemporaneous accounts from days of yore.
> www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/the-chinese-wheelbarrow.html

Thanks for the great link to Low Tech Magazine, Bob.
I have always liked the "Garden Way" two-wheeled cart though there could 
be improvements made to the design such as positioning the wheel axle in 
a more central position with regard to the load - I think the axis is 
moved forward somewhat to make it easier to dump out a load. I would 
suggest having two versions, one designed for dumping and one for 
hauling with manual load removal. Combining the two uses detracts from 
the energy efficiency and ease of use of the barrow. Designing the 
hauling with manual load removal version with a well designed and 
fabricated flip front panel (dump front) would be the best of all design 
option maybe as you could do incremental load dumping and spreading a 
whole lot easier than tipping part of the load out by lifting the barrow 
vertically.  See the pic of the one-wheeled version the fellow in 
balancing on his head. For me a one wheeled version would be less useful 
than a two wheeled one.