Kevin Woolfolk of Normal, Illinois invented the "The Hamster Workout Wheel", a small animal exercise wheel that records your pet's mileage or wheel revolutions.
Kevin Woolfolk on His Invention:
I thought of this invention one evening after riding on my stationary exercise bike. As I began writing down my mileage from exercising on the bike I happened to notice my hamster, Burt, running in his wheel. I began to wonder how far he traveled each night in his wheel. My curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to make a prototype. I used Super Glue to attach a small magnetic counter and magnet, which I purchased from the local hardware store, to Burt's exercise wheel. I placed the wheel into my hamster's cage that evening. As always, he exercised in the wheel all night. When I awoke the next morning I noticed that Burt had traveled 23,300 feet. I converted the feet into miles and was amazed to find out that he had traveled about 4.5 miles. At that time I decided to patent the idea. Approximately one year after receiving the patent on the idea, I entered into a royalty contract with a company called Multipet International. Multipet International is solely responsible for manufacturing, marketing and distributing the product.
Kevin Woolfolk and his Hamster Workout Wheel
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Photo provided courtesy of Kevin Woolfolk
