By Tamara Shiloh

In the world of pet care innovation, some of the most impactful inventions come from the simplest observations. Such is the case with Kevin Woolfolk, an inventor whose curiosity about his pet hamster led to a revolutionary improvement in small animal exercise equipment that continues to benefit pets and their owners today.

There isn’t much written about Woolfolk’s life, but his story begins in 1969 when he was exercising on his stationary bike one evening in Normal, Illinois. As he diligently recorded the mileage of his workout, he noticed his hamster, Burt, running energetically on his wheel. This simple observation sparked a question that would lead to a significant innovation: just how far was Burt traveling during his nightly runs?

Unlike many inventors who start with complex technical problems, his inspiration came from genuine curiosity about his pet’s activity levels. He wondered about the distance Burt was covering as he ran on the traditional hamster wheel, which at the time provided exercise but no way to measure the animal’s activity.

Driven by this curiosity, Woolfolk created a prototype that could measure his hamster’s exercise routine. His solution was simple: he constructed a mouse wheel equipped with a small magnetic counter purchased from a local store. This addition transformed the basic exercise wheel into a device capable of tracking the distance traveled by the animal.

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After placing the prototype in Burt’s cage, Woolfolk left his hamster to complete his nightly exercise routine. The results were astounding — upon waking up, he discovered that Burt had run an impressive 23,300 feet, equivalent to roughly 4.5 miles. This revelation not only satisfied his curiosity but also demonstrated the significant exercise needs of small pets like hamsters.

Motivated by this eye-opening figure, he decided to put his creative juices to work. About a year after drafting the idea, he filed and was granted a patent for a “squirrel cage having a cyclometer … and method for monitoring the activity of an animal.” The patent detailed the mechanics of effectively tracking the animal’s activity via wheel rotation.

Recognizing the potential value of his invention for other pet owners and researchers, he patented his improved hamster exercise wheel, making him the known inventor of this type of measuring device. His patent (US 5,649,503) describes “a squirrel cage” with “a cyclometer having a sensor mounted on the support and a trigger mounted on the cylinder such that when the cylinder rotates, the trigger passes near the sensor.”

This innovation represented more than just a gadget for curious pet owners. The ability to measure small animal exercise provided valuable data for veterinarians, researchers, and pet enthusiasts who wanted to better understand and monitor their pets’ health and activity levels.

Woolfolk’s invention has had lasting impact on the pet industry. His idea was eventually picked up by pet companies and commercialized, making the measuring hamster wheel available to consumers worldwide. Today, variations of his design can be found in pet stores and are used by hamster owners who want to track their pets’ exercise routines.

Tamara Shloh

Posts by Tamara Shloh