Folding wheelbarrow

A folding wheelbarrow which is durable and also easy to store. The legs fold up against the frame and the wheel is suspended below the frame. This construction allows the topside of the frame to rest flush against a wall for storage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Wheelbarrows are used for the manual transport of small loads. Conventional 
wheelbarrows have rigid buckets which are fixed in place in a frame which 
rests on an anterior wheel and two posterior legs. The frame consists of 
two long handles which are attached directly or indirectly to an axle upon 
which the wheel rotates. A worker lifts the back end of the handles, thus 
raising the legs and, balancing the wheelbarrow on the single wheel, 
wheels the load to its destination. 
The rigid bucket causes the wheelbarrow to take up space when the 
wheelbarrow is stored. In a cramped garage or tool shed this is a problem 
which has been addressed with the introduction of folding wheelbarrows. 
Most of the folding wheelbarrows introduced to date construct the bucket 
out of rigid folding panels. 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,757 issued to Magyar, for a FOLD-UP WHEELBARROW 
introduced a bucket made of a plurality of sheet-like panels. The panels 
are made of materials such as nylon, reinforced plastic, and canvas. One 
end of each of the elongated members, or handles, is connected directly to 
the axle of the wheel and each handle pivots at that end to approximate 
the other handle for storage. A number of manoeuvres are required to fold 
the frame. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to introduce a folding wheelbarrow which 
is durable and also easy to store. The legs fold up against the frame and 
the wheel is suspended below the frame. This construction allows the 
topside of the frame to rest flush against a wall for storage. Another 
feature of the invention is the use of an anterior resting brace which 
serves as a platform upon which to rest the wheelbarrow as it stands on 
end for storage and serves also as a support upon which to pivot the 
wheelbarrow when dumping a load. The folding of the legs is the only 
requirement for storage.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIG. 3, the frame of the wheelbarrow is comprised of a first 
elongate member 10, said elongate member having a first end and a second 
end; a second elongate member 20, said elongate member having a first end 
and a second end, wherein said first and second elongate members lie in 
the same plane and the distance between said first ends of said elongate 
members is less than the distance between said second ends of said 
elongate members; an anterior resting brace 40 having a first end and a 
second end, one end of said anterior resting brace being connected to the 
first end of said first elongate member, and the other end of said 
anterior resting brace being connected to the first end of said second 
elongate member; at most one anterior bucket support brace 80 having a 
first end and a second end, one said end of said anterior bucket support 
brace being connected to said first elongate member, and the other end of 
said anterior bucket support brace being connected to said second elongate 
member; a posterior bucket support brace 30 having a first end and a 
second end, one end of said posterior bucket support brace being connected 
to said first elongate member, and the other end of said posterior bucket 
support brace being connected to said second elongate member. 
Referring to FIG. 4, a removable bucket 70 is removably attached by bucket 
support means 71 to at least two parts of said frame of FIG. 3, said parts 
of said frame being chosen from the group consisting of a first elongate 
member 10, a second elongate member 20, an anterior bucket support brace 
80, and a posterior bucket support brace 30, and said removable bucket is 
disposed between said first and second elongate members, posterior to said 
anterior bucket support brace, and anterior to said posterior bucket 
support brace; and a steering wheel 60. Said steering wheel is disposed 
between said first and second elongate members, posterior to said anterior 
resting brace 40, and anterior to said anterior bucket support brace 80. 
Said wheel support means comprises an axle, said axle having a first end 
extending from one side of said wheel and a second end extending from the 
other side of said wheel, a first wheel support member 51 extending 
between and being attached to the first end of said axle and said first 
elongate member, and a second wheel support member 52 extending between 
and being attached to the second end of said axle and said second elongate 
member. 
Referring to FIG. 5, said steering wheel 60 is rotatably attached to the 
axle 61 of a wheel support means. The posterior resting brace 90 comprises 
a leg 91 and a folding support arm 92. The folding support arm is hinged 
at hinge 93 and hingedly connected to said leg at hinge 96. The posterior 
resting brace is hingedly connected to elongate member 20 by hinges 94 and 
95. Although not shown, a second posterior resting brace is attached in 
like manner to elongate member 10. One or more cross braces can be 
attached between the legs of the posterior resting braces for additional 
support. All of the hinges can lock in place for safety during operation. 
FIG. 1 illustrates another embodiment of the wheelbarrow of this invention 
wherein the frame is constructed without the anterior bucket support 
brace. FIG. 2 illustrates the frame of FIG. 1. 
The parts of the frame can be made of wood, metal, plastic or rubber. The 
parts of the frame can be connected to other parts of the frame by means 
of conventional fasteners, such as screws, bolts, and braces or by 
conventional joints, such as tongue in grove, dovetail, or mortise joints. 
However, it is noted that an additional benefit of the design of the frame 
is that the frame can be molded in one piece from plastic, rubber, metal 
or wood particles. 
In accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention, the bucket 
is made of a flexible nylon weave which is covered on both sides by a 
flexible polyurethane material. However, any flexible material, including 
fabrics made from polyester fibers, plastics, polyethylene, natural 
fibers, flexible rubber and canvas, can be used in making the bucket. 
Typically, the flexible bucket is constructed with a bottom panel, two 
side panels and a rear panel, wherein the anterior of the bottom panel 
extends to the top of the side panels. In another embodiment, the flexible 
bucket is constructed with a front panel, a bottom panel, two side panels 
and a rear panel. However, it should be noted that the bucket can be of a 
variety of shapes. 
In the preferred embodiment, the bucket support means consists of flexible 
straps. These flexible straps are sewn to the fabric, extend over the 
frame and are reflected back onto the bucket where they are attached to 
the body of the bucket by snaps, hook and eye, or any other suitable 
fastening means. However, for the flexible bucket, the bucket support 
means can consist of straps, hooks, or any other suitable fastener, to 
enable the bucket to be removably attached to the frame. 
In a further embodiment of this invention, the removable bucket can be made 
of a rigid material, wherein said rigid material is selected from the 
group consisting of wood, plastic, inflexible rubber and metal. When a 
rigid, removable bucket is employed, the bucket support means may consist 
of straps or hooks. Straps can be extended from one part of the frame to 
another, allowing the bucket to rest upon the straps or straps can pass 
through eyes in the bucket and around parts of the frame and then fastened 
onto themselves with snaps, hook and eye, or any other suitable fastening 
means. Hooks may pass through eyes in the rigid bucket, allowing the 
bucket to be suspended from the frame. The bucket may be molded with 
hook-like extensions which can be draped over the frame allowing the 
bucket to be suspended. 
Another aspect of the preferred embodiment is the provision of a rigid 
bucket insert, 72 in FIG. 1, for use in the bucket made of flexible 
material, wherein said insert is made of a rigid material selected from 
the group consisting of wood, plastic, rubber and metal. In the preferred 
embodiment, the bucket insert is contoured to the shape of part, usually 
the bottom, of the bucket. One use of the rigid insert is to allow 
shoveling without damage to the flexible bucket. Another use of the rigid 
insert is to provide a flat surface for transport when such a flat surface 
is desirable. 
In the preferred embodiment, the axle is below the plane defined by the 
elongate members. This feature allows the frame to rest flat against a 
wall for storage. 
In the preferred embodiment, at least one cross brace extends between the 
legs of two posterior resting braces. Furthermore, in the preferred 
embodiment, all of the hinges, 93, 94, and 95, of the posterior resting 
braces lock in position for added safety. 
In the preferred embodiment, the legs of the posterior resting braces fold 
up against the bottom of the frame. However, as an alternative design 
choice, the hinges can be mounted so that the legs fold up to lie in the 
same plane as the first and second elongate members. 
A further optional feature is the ring, 73 in FIG. 1, which can be used to 
hang the bucket or the wheelbarrow for storage. Other rings or devices can 
be attached to the frame to allow hanging the frame with or without the 
bucket.