The Neville Blog

Working in a museum, I get to see plenty of interesting artifacts. Some are more widely recognizable and well-researched, and others are much more mysterious. One of our mysterious artifacts is this object--the wooden monowheel. While there are other monowheels in collections across the country, this is the only known one made of wood rather than metal.    What is a monowheel? This rare artifact is a self-propelled mode of transportation, much like a unicycle.   The big difference is the rider sits on the wooden seat inside the big wheel.   The rider uses the hand cranks to move the inner smaller wheel which transfers motion to the larger outer wheel with the stars.     What do we know about the monowheel? This monowheel was collected by Frank Duchateau in the early 1900s.   He donated it to the museum in 1943. According to a letter received by Duchateau in 1922, the monowheel was made by a Mr. Rowe in the 1860s.   It was first exhibited at the old museum on the corner of J