Wheelbarrow - Femme Osage, MO - Old Agricultural Equipment on Waymarking.com

County of quilt: St. Charles County
Location of quilt: State Hwy T & Cappeln Osage rd., Femme Osage

"Everyday, we overlook the ingenious simplicity of hundreds of inventions. Doors, latches, zippers, buttons, and hammers – just to name a few. At Quiet Valley, we explore this topic with school aged children through a presentation called Simple Machines. We walk the students through simple problems that can be solved with machines such as levers and fulcrums. How do you place a nail into a board of wood? With a hammer, your arm is the fulcrum allowing the hammer head to pivot and drive the nail into the wood. Hold it close to the head and you have a lot of accuracy but not a lot of force. Hold it low on the handle and you have a lot of force but lower accuracy.

"Presenting problems like that and walking students through solutions allows them to see how simple machines can be combined to form more complex machines. A lever, fulcrum, wheel, and axle can be combined to make a slightly more complex machine – a wheelbarrow. I was astonished, along with the students, while watching a presentation the other day. I had never thought about the number of components used in the humble wheelbarrow. From long years of moving dirt in archaeology to mucking stalls here on the farm, I have a great appreciation of the kind of work that can be done by one. The presentation got me thinking and I looked at the wheelbarrow in a new light.

"The wheelbarrow, as we know it, is probably a Greek invention from around 406 BC. Though the Chinese invented one around 100 BC as well. These earlier versions tended to have the wheel coming up through the middle of a raised platform. Some also had sails to assist them in going up and down hills. It appears also that in addition to moving goods, the humble wheelbarrow has also been used as an escape vehicle. It seems that there are a number of historic accounts of kings, politicians, etc. ending up on the wrong side of a rebellion and making an escape either hidden in a wheelbarrow or carrying others in them. The little wheelbarrow has a long history and without it, it would be difficult to do almost anything on the farm." ~ Quiet Valley

"A wheelbarrow is a small hand-propelled load-bearing vehicle, usually with just one wheel, designed to be pushed and guided by a single person using two handles at the rear. The term "wheelbarrow" is made of two words: "wheel" and "barrow." "Barrow" is a derivation of the Old English "barew" which was a device used for carrying loads.

"The wheelbarrow 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. As such it is a second-class lever. Traditional Chinese wheelbarrows, however, had a central wheel supporting the whole load. Use of wheelbarrows is common in the construction industry and in gardening. Typical capacity is approximately 100 litres (3.53 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, in water, 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 upon emptying." ~ Wikipedia