The Origins of the Wheelbarrow
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4025542 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M J T Lewis (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 453 |
| Publication date | 1994-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Technology and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1353/tech.1994.0036 |
| OpenAlex | W4375906713 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
unknown in Europe before roughly A.D. 1200, whereas in China it had been used, asJoseph Needham shows, since perhaps the 1st century B.c.' Just how the Western vehicle came about has been matter for speculation. Along with Needham, Bertrand Gille and Andrea Matthies wonder if it was a case of stimulus diffusion-of westerners hearing at several removes, perhaps via Islam or Byzantium, of the Chinese man-powered one-wheeled cart and interpreting the concept after their own fashion.2 Lynn White, Albert Leighton, and Matthies suggest that it was also inspired by the two-man handbarrow-which had been in general circulation for a very long time-since, by substituting a wheel for the front man, the number of laborers needed could be halved. Leighton alternatively surmises that somebody maneuvering a two-wheeled cart by hand conceived the idea of a man-sized vehicle for small loads, which would be easier to manipulate with only one wheel. Less convincingly, because of the difference in size, Matthies also proposes that the wheelbarrow may have been adapted from a broken wagon. The Chinese wheelbarrow comes in two basic forms. The best known
China · Epistemology · Wonder · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · History · Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,26 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2020 (18) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |