A timber jack is a pole with a sort of fishhook-shaped grabber at the end that pivots a couple of feet from the end of the pole. To use it, you position the hook around a log, and when you pry with the pole, the hook digs in and the log is turned. Some have a metal "T" opposite the pivot point, which allows you to jack the log up off the ground for sawing.

My idea is for a similar device incorporated into a wheelbarrow. A wheelbarrow is essentially a big lever, but it is rarely used for picking items up. With the right arrangement, the nature of the wheel barrow could be used to lift cumbersome, heavy objects into the bucket.

What is needed is a large, light hook that pivots from at the back of the barrow, either from the edge of the bucket itself or from the handles, at the point where the handles meet the back of the bucket. A handle protruding from the hooks would allow you to move the hook up and down.

The hooks could be designed to lift specific loads, but dual hooks joined about 8 inches apart would do for most logging operations. The shape of the hooks would be very similar to that of a timberjack; slightly curved, but terminating in sharp 90 degree hook. They would bow above the bucket of the wheel barrow, like the top jaw of of a fish. A handle at the back of the jaw would let you snap it up and down to scare children and such.

To pick up a big log, you would simply push the wheelbarrow up to the load, pull back the jaw, and tip the wheelbarrow up to vertical. You would then let the jaw settle on the log. As you pulled back of the handles, the hook at the end of the jaw would bite the log, bringing it along until the wheelbarrow was again horizontal and the load was in the bucket.

This method lends itself to a variety of jaws; a jaw with a flat plate instead of a hook could be used to lift large bags of concrete. Lighter, sharper hooks could be used to load hay bales, etc.

You could also design the bucket to help lift and accommodate the load in tandem with the hook; a sort of simple, two-handled timberjack with two large wheels could be designed specifically for moving logs.
-- nomocrow, Nov 26 2008

Never heard it called anything but a Pee Vee. http://www.amazon.c...e-Vee/dp/B0000VUNUG
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 26 2008]

Verticle - dictionary definition http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Verticle
Look! It's in a dictionary! - admittedly a crappy dictionary, but... [hippo, Nov 27 2008]

random, halfbakery