wheelbarrow

Similar to your bicycle or motor bike.

Well, it does not so much if it was a very thin wheel, but as to why this is the case... Do you remember those wheelbarrows with a ball for a wheel. They seemed a lot less prone to eratic steering. Its probably due to the unequal forces not being in balance and the friction of the wheel. It donos not happen if you pull it instead as there is less downforce. Brian

I think it probably works as follows:

The tread pattern of the wheel is flat where it's in contact with the ground. When you tilt to the right, say, the right hand side of the tread pattern is side wall, whereas the left hand side is the centre of the tread. The right hand side has a smaller radius from the axle, so the circumference is smaller, compared to the centre of the tread. So, that steers the wheel round to the right as you wheel it.

Not sure if that helps!

The inner side of the tire is running on a smaller radius.

Nope !

Single wheel on (most) wheelbarrows . So no direction indication.

Bikes have two wheels and the turned wheel has an angled 'easy direction' hence the two 'easy directions' are at an angle to each other hence the bike turns.

In the case of the wheelbarrow its because the angle of tip is inclined as you hold te handles higher than the wheel tread.

This puts a proportion of the tilt into the wheel as steering angle

Still works with narrow flat wheels.

Because the wheel is being rotated around the axis of the barrow, and that is not horizontal. So some of the tilt simply leans it over (hence the need for round section tyres), but some also translates into rotation around the vertical axis, and hence gives you a steering input.

Jim K brought next idea :

I agree - the barrow goes to the side where most of the weight is placed, when equally balanced it goes straight. Just like a bicycle or a motorcycle, you lean it/imbalance it to get it to turn.

Because the contact force between tyre and road then has a horizontal component as well as a vertical one. If you tilt the barrow to the right, the tyre is trying to push the road to the left - and there's an equal and opposite force pushing the barrow to the right.

Dad had a barrow that was his fathers All wooden construction except for the wheel axle , nails and a flat Iron band which was fixed around the wooden wheel . Almost certainly made locally and possibly by Grandad himself with the wheel taken to a village blacksmith who would fitted the rim and produced the axle and more than likely supplied the nails. It was a heavy beast and I was about 10 before I could move it empty let alone with a load. Lasted until the early 70?s when it finally succumbed to old age and made a trip to the firewood stack, a journey it had done many times in its approx

GH

In fact on a motor bike you do not turn the wheel in the direction you want to go, you do the opposite (which makes it lean)or hold it straight and lean.

Ok smart ass, get a steerig column lock on your bike and engage it whilst riding and see how far you get 'holding it straight'

Whilst you cannot ride with the steering lock on, FMurtz is correct in his assertion that you can turn the steering away from the direction you are trying to go. It is a common technique. What turning away actually does, is tighten your turning circle. Its called counter steering. You push to the right, which allows you to lean even more to the left and produces an even tighter left turn.

Quite but with a wheelbarrow you have the means to balance it via the handles. ;-)

If you aren't moving with a loaded wheelbarrow and lean it it falls over. ;-)

So if you are moving and lean it I wonder if *you* also (subconsciously possibly) steer to 'balance' the load?

How often do we lose balance on a wheelbarrow load when moving compared to when we are stationary? The thought being that you have more control over the load when moving because you can steer the load over the COG than the sheer strength you might need to manage the same via the handles when stopped?

If you are walking along with an empty wheelbarrow and tilt it sideways a bit but don't change the angle between the handles and the wheel, does it still deviate from a straight line?

What about the stunt cars that put two wheels up a ramp and then drive at 45 degrees? What balanced, are the wheels facing straight ahead (even though at 45 degrees to the road, and ignoring any effort to counter slip etc)?

Cheers, T i m

You mean solid wheels that don't flex? In that case, think about the edge of the wheel in contact with the ground and the axis of rotation.

Speaking of which, why isn't a builder's barrow made with the wheel more under the load, rather than out in front? The barrow would have to be higher, or the load part would have to be shaped round the wheel, but you could carry much more in one go, or the same load would be easier on the back.

higher COG = bad instability = harder to work with Smaller wheel would be no good on rough ground.

NT

It happens that GB formulated :

Not common now, but they do/did a version with two wheels either side of the load, for really heavy loads. To steer that, you had to steer it like a push cart.