A wheel is a circular frame turning on an axle. When the wheel spins, the object on the wheels moves more easily along the ground.
Man's use of the wheel changed a whole way of life. Even though the wheel is often cited as man's original invention... it wasn't invented until after boats, baskets, flutes or woven cloth, It is thought likely that wheels for carts and chariots were derived about 6,000 years ago.
Several civilisations, including the Incas and the Aztecs did pretty well without wheels.
Freely-spinning potter's wheels with a wheel and axle mechanism, were developed in Mesopotamia (Iraq) by 4200–4000. The oldest surviving example, which was found in Ur, dates to approximately 3100 BC.
The earliest evidence of a wheeled vehicle is a pictograph of a cart from the Tigris-Euphrates valley (modern day Iraq). It dates from 3500 BC; the device rolled West soon after that.
The oldest discovered wheel was found in Slovenia's Ljubljana Marshes in 2002 and it's approximately 5,150 years old. The wooden wheel belonged to a prehistoric two-wheel cart – a pushcart.
It's not the idea of the wheel that was clever but the idea of an axle. Men had probably been moving heavy objects by rolling them on logs for generations before anyone thought of slicing the log and attaching it by a means that let it roll along with the object being moved.
The wheels of the first wagons were made either from a single piece of wood or from three carved planks clamped together by transverse struts; sometimes they turned on the axle, sometimes with it.
During the third millennium BC wagons acquired a regal status in addition to their practical uses. Royal tombs reveal that both wagon and oxen were valued enough to be required in the next world.
Spoked wheels appeared in the third millennium BC, when they were in use on chariots in Asia Minor. On these early vehicles the wheels either turned on an axle, or were rigidly fastened to an axle that revolved in a housing on the vehicle body. By 2000 BC heavy wheeled transport was in use in a region stretching from northern Europe to western Persia and Mesopotamia.
The Inca and Maya had wheels on children's toys around 1500 BC, but they did not use wheels for transport. It is the only known instance of the wheel having been invented independently of the Sumerian version.
The earliest tires were bands of leather. Later a tire in the form of an iron ring was introduced that was heated in a forge fire. The expanded tire was placed over the wheel. Then on cooling it shrank and drew the members tightly together. A skilled worker, known as a wheelwright, carried out this work.
The traditional construction of the wheel in medieval Europe was to make the hub or 'knave' of elm, to resist splitting, the spokes of oak, for strength, and the felloes (sections of the rim) of ash, for toughness. An iron tire was shrunk on to give strength and resistance to wear.
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| Pixabay |
Man's use of the wheel changed a whole way of life. Even though the wheel is often cited as man's original invention... it wasn't invented until after boats, baskets, flutes or woven cloth, It is thought likely that wheels for carts and chariots were derived about 6,000 years ago.
Several civilisations, including the Incas and the Aztecs did pretty well without wheels.
Freely-spinning potter's wheels with a wheel and axle mechanism, were developed in Mesopotamia (Iraq) by 4200–4000. The oldest surviving example, which was found in Ur, dates to approximately 3100 BC.
The earliest evidence of a wheeled vehicle is a pictograph of a cart from the Tigris-Euphrates valley (modern day Iraq). It dates from 3500 BC; the device rolled West soon after that.
The oldest discovered wheel was found in Slovenia's Ljubljana Marshes in 2002 and it's approximately 5,150 years old. The wooden wheel belonged to a prehistoric two-wheel cart – a pushcart.
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| Ljubljana Marshes Wheel By Daniel Thornton |
It's not the idea of the wheel that was clever but the idea of an axle. Men had probably been moving heavy objects by rolling them on logs for generations before anyone thought of slicing the log and attaching it by a means that let it roll along with the object being moved.
The wheels of the first wagons were made either from a single piece of wood or from three carved planks clamped together by transverse struts; sometimes they turned on the axle, sometimes with it.
 |
| An early wooden wheel. By John O'Neill, |
During the third millennium BC wagons acquired a regal status in addition to their practical uses. Royal tombs reveal that both wagon and oxen were valued enough to be required in the next world.
Spoked wheels appeared in the third millennium BC, when they were in use on chariots in Asia Minor. On these early vehicles the wheels either turned on an axle, or were rigidly fastened to an axle that revolved in a housing on the vehicle body. By 2000 BC heavy wheeled transport was in use in a region stretching from northern Europe to western Persia and Mesopotamia.
 |
| A depiction of an onager-drawn cart on the Sumerian "battle standard of Ur" |
The Inca and Maya had wheels on children's toys around 1500 BC, but they did not use wheels for transport. It is the only known instance of the wheel having been invented independently of the Sumerian version.
The earliest tires were bands of leather. Later a tire in the form of an iron ring was introduced that was heated in a forge fire. The expanded tire was placed over the wheel. Then on cooling it shrank and drew the members tightly together. A skilled worker, known as a wheelwright, carried out this work.
The traditional construction of the wheel in medieval Europe was to make the hub or 'knave' of elm, to resist splitting, the spokes of oak, for strength, and the felloes (sections of the rim) of ash, for toughness. An iron tire was shrunk on to give strength and resistance to wear.
The word 'truck' comes from the Greek word for wheel: 'trochos.' It first appeared in English around 1611 meaning small wheel or roller, specifically the sort mounted under cannons aboard warships.
A few hundred years ago the generally preferred method for cooking a large piece of meat evenly was to put it on a spit and rotate it until it was fully cooked. The spit was powered by the turnspit, a dog that was bred just to run for hours on a tiny wheel that turned the spit for cooking the meat.
The spoked wheel was in continued use without major modification until the 1870s, when wire-spoked wheels were invented. The wire spokes are under tension, not compression, making it possible for the wheel to be both stiff and light.
The first practical pneumatic tire was made in 1888 in Belfast by Scots-born John Boyd Dunlop. He fitted his son's tricycle wheels with inflated rubber hoses instead of solid rubber tires in order to make it more comfortable to ride on the city's bumpy roads. Dunlop's development of the pneumatic tire handily coincided with the late 19th century bicycle craze.
Louis Perlman of New York was granted a patent in 1906 for "demountable tire-carrying" rims. Before Perlman's invention wheels and tires were a single unit and if the tire had a puncture, you had to replace both the tire and the wheel, even if the wheel was just fine. His demountable tires worked pretty much like the ones on your car right now. The inner rim of the tire held the tire against a groove machined into the wheel. The friction of shallow notches kept the tire from rotating on the wheel.
The Chrysler company was created by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925. Among the innovations in its early years was a wheel with a ridged rim, designed to keep a deflated tire from flying off the wheel. This wheel was eventually adopted by the auto industry worldwide.
A hamster will run as far as 5.6 miles in a night on wheel.
The phrase "touch and go", meaning a very narrow escape, is derived from driving where the wheel of one vehicle touches that of another passing without causing harm.
Sources Daily Express, The Independent, HistoryWorld, Wired
A few hundred years ago the generally preferred method for cooking a large piece of meat evenly was to put it on a spit and rotate it until it was fully cooked. The spit was powered by the turnspit, a dog that was bred just to run for hours on a tiny wheel that turned the spit for cooking the meat.
The spoked wheel was in continued use without major modification until the 1870s, when wire-spoked wheels were invented. The wire spokes are under tension, not compression, making it possible for the wheel to be both stiff and light.
The first practical pneumatic tire was made in 1888 in Belfast by Scots-born John Boyd Dunlop. He fitted his son's tricycle wheels with inflated rubber hoses instead of solid rubber tires in order to make it more comfortable to ride on the city's bumpy roads. Dunlop's development of the pneumatic tire handily coincided with the late 19th century bicycle craze.
 |
| Dunlop's first pneumatic bicycle tyre National Museum of Scotland. By Geni |
Louis Perlman of New York was granted a patent in 1906 for "demountable tire-carrying" rims. Before Perlman's invention wheels and tires were a single unit and if the tire had a puncture, you had to replace both the tire and the wheel, even if the wheel was just fine. His demountable tires worked pretty much like the ones on your car right now. The inner rim of the tire held the tire against a groove machined into the wheel. The friction of shallow notches kept the tire from rotating on the wheel.
The Chrysler company was created by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925. Among the innovations in its early years was a wheel with a ridged rim, designed to keep a deflated tire from flying off the wheel. This wheel was eventually adopted by the auto industry worldwide.
A hamster will run as far as 5.6 miles in a night on wheel.
The phrase "touch and go", meaning a very narrow escape, is derived from driving where the wheel of one vehicle touches that of another passing without causing harm.
Sources Daily Express, The Independent, HistoryWorld, Wired
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