The wheelbarrow was one wheel and two handles and a tray. That was the whole machine. One wheel. The wheelbarrow was the simplest vehicle ever invented and the most useful vehicle on the job site. The wheelbarrow carried mortar and brick and dirt and gravel and concrete and trash and tools and lunch. The wheelbarrow carried everything the builder needed from where it was to where it needed to be. The wheelbarrow was the delivery system for the entire building.

The wheel was the genius. One wheel not two. Two wheels need a flat surface. One wheel needs a path. A path is narrower than a road. The wheelbarrow went where the truck could not go. Through the gate. Up the plank. Along the scaffolding. Into the basement. The wheelbarrow fit wherever the builder fit because the wheelbarrow was the same width as the builder shoulders. The builder was the chassis. The wheelbarrow was the trailer.

You balanced the wheelbarrow on the wheel. The load sat over the wheel and the handles were the lever arms. A heavy load pushed down on the wheel and lifted the handles. You pushed down on the handles and the load rose and the wheel rolled. The balance point was the axle. Every load had a balance point and the builder found it by feel. Too far forward and the wheelbarrow tipped. Too far back and the handles were too heavy. The builder adjusted the load by shifting weight with the shovel. The adjustment was the skill.

The wheelbarrow was the first thing on the job and the last thing off. The builder arrived and unloaded the wheelbarrow and filled it with materials and started working. The builder finished and filled the wheelbarrow with tools and trash and wheeled it back to the truck. The wheelbarrow bookended the day. The wheelbarrow was the opening and the closing. The work happened between the two wheelbarrow trips. Everything important happened between arrival and departure.

They use skid steers now. A machine with a bucket that carries a cubic yard of material. The skid steer carries twenty wheelbarrow loads in one trip. The skid steer is faster. The wheelbarrow was slower. The skid steer needs a road. The wheelbarrow needs a path. The skid steer costs fifty thousand dollars. The wheelbarrow costs fifty dollars. The skid steer needs diesel. The wheelbarrow needs breakfast. The wheelbarrow ran on the builder body and the builder body ran on coffee and a sandwich and the sandwich was the fuel and the fuel cost four dollars. The most efficient engine on the job site was the man who ate lunch.

See also: Hod, Sawhorse