Inventions in Everything: The Wheel

Some inventions are so old that we don’t know the names of their inventors. Handaxes made from stone. The bow and arrow. Bricks. The wheel.

Well, maybe not the wheel, because we do know the name of its inventor! The wheel was invented by John Keogh, who was awarded Australian Innovation Patent 2001100012 for its invention in May 2001.

We’re not making this up! Here’s a colorized version of Figure 2 from the patent, which clearly depicts Keogh’s innovation:

Here is the portion of the Keogh’s patent that describes his invention, which certainly matches what we’ve come to know as the wheel:

The invention relates to a device for facilitating transport of goods and persons. In particular, the device relates to a circular object which enables such goods and persons to be held above a surface and simultaneously moved with respect to the surface approximately parallel thereto.

The background of the invention describes the problem Keogh’s wheel solves:

In the past, transportation of goods and persons has been conducted in a number of ways. The predominant means has been transport of persons on foot, and carrying thereby of goods requiring transport.

Other means of transport have included, in colder climates, skis, sleds, toboggans and the like, which slide over a smooth (low coefficient of friction) surface such as ice or snow, thus transporting the person and/or goods. These modes of transport have the advantage that when travelling down a sloped surface, free movement, that is, unassisted forward motion, is possible. The user is only required to apply effort to cause movement when travelling uphill or on a substantially flat plane, and this reduced effort helps the user move to the desired destination more quickly and more easily.

Unfortunately, such smooth surfaces for sliding over are not generally available in warmer climates where snow and ice do not form naturally. As such, and in the absence of alternatives, foot transport may be required. It would be useful if a device was available which enabled such unassisted forward motion on downhill slopes on surfaces having a much higher coefficient of friction than snow or ice.

It’s hard to believe that such a useful device has only existed as a patented invention since May 2001. But if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably thinking there’s something more to this story than the invention of the wheel.

You would be right! Matthew Rimmer’s 2025 book Sub-patent Innovation Rights: Utility Models, Petty Patents and Innovation Patents Around the World tells the real story behind Keogh’s successfully patented invention:

In 2001, a patent attorney called John Keogh was issued an innovation patent by IP Australia for a ‘circular transportation facilitation device’. There were also patent claims relating to rubber wheels and tires. The field of the invention was a ‘device for facilitating transport of goods and persons’. The background explained that a ‘circular transportation facilitation device’ would be an improvement on walking, and on other devices, like ‘skis, sleds, toboggans and the like’. The application was accompanied by an illustration of a wheel.

There was also a perspective drawing of a cart incorporating ‘a series of circular transportation facilitation devices in accordance with a preferred aspect of the present invention.’

Keough said that he patented the wheel in order to establish that the innovation patent system was flawed because it did not need to be examined by the patent office. He explained his concerns:

The patent office would be required to issue a patent for anything. All they’re doing is putting a rubber stamp on it. The impetus came from the Federal Government. Their constituents claimed the cost of obtaining a patent was too high so the government decided to find a way to issue a patent more easily.

Keogh noted that he had no immediate plans to patent fire, crop rotation, or other fundamental advances in civilization. John Keogh had previously written about the dangers of innovation patents, warning: ‘These junk patents may bring the entire Australian patent system into disrepute’.

Keough succeeded far beyond what he might have hoped. The Australian Patent Office was forced to recognize the deficiencies in their practices that were exposed by Keogh’s patent. On 30 August 2001, the Keogh’s patent was revoked. It would take another 20 years however before Australia’s government learned the lesson it should have and finally abolished the country’s second-tier innovation patent scheme. Australia’s IP Office officially phased out its innovation patent system on 26 August 2021.

Even so, Keogh’s patent for the wheel represents a true achievement. Both Keogh and the Australian Patent Office were jointly awarded an Ig-Nobel Prize in 2001 for their accomplishment.

The wheel is an amazing invention. But the story of its 2001 reinvention is just as amazing.

From the Inventions in Everything Archives

The IIE team has previously covered one other example of an invention whose true purpose was to expose problems in how patents are awarded:

• One Inventor’s Stick-to-itiveness