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The Ballbarrow was a variation of the wheelbarrow design, by James Dyson and was released in 1974 in the UK. It featured a moulded plastic hopper on a steel frame and a spherical plastic wheel, allowing increased manoeuvrability. Dyson said that the surface area of the ball, larger than that of a conventional design, made the wheelbarrow easier to use in soft soil and more laterally stable with heavy loads on uneven ground.
The original design featured a galvanised steel hopper, forming integral rear legs. Conventional barrows use a bend in the frame to form these legs. Later the design was changed to a plastic hopper, with an optional clip on height-extension piece.
The Ballbarrow won the Building Design Innovation Award in 1977. Dyson continued with the ball-wheel concept in his design for the Trolleyball boat launcher in 1978, and the DC15 vacuum cleaner in 2005.