Wheel - Great invention of mankind

The wheel industry has undergone a long development process and is closely associated with human civilization.

The process of formation and development of the wheel

The history of the development of the wheel

An early wheel made of solid wood.

The wheel was invented in the 4th century BC in the region of Lower Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), where the ancient Sumerians fitted rotating shafts into solid wooden "discs", forming rollers.

However, there are also records that the Elamites actually invented the wheel because in their sculptures the wheel was depicted as a "disk" of stone or wood.

In order to move large objects and go far, people need to have as many "discs" . Heavy and continuous use helps people to improve so that the use of logs is more and more efficient.

Thanks to the development of bronze and iron, people could chisel and chisel wood to make the wheel rounder, thinner, and easier to roll. From there, use the horizontal bar placed below to prevent the wheel from sliding out.

People also began to know how to use two wheels with two horizontal bars, one placed at the front and one at the back of the vehicle, forming a 4-wheel vehicle.

Wheel images through the ages.

This innovation has led to major advances in two key areas. One was transportation, when wheels began to be used on carts and chariots.

More importantly, it contributed to the mechanization of agriculture and related crafts, such as the application of centrifugal force to create windmills.

It wasn't until 2000 BC that these "discs" began to be hollowed out to create a lighter wheel.

Then, spokes were invented, helping the wheel to use only less material but still ensure the function.

An Ur wheel from Mesopotamia, 4th century BC, consisting of a wooden disc that rotates on an axis. Photo: Aisa

Researchers believe that the ancient Egyptians were the ancestors of the spokes wheels fitted to chariots in 2000 BC.

The next development step was to replace the spokes with iron. This design is found in Celtic chariots of 1000 BC. The spokes wheel remained the same until 1802 when GF Bauer first introduced tension spokes.

After that, people began to use solid rubber as tires to reduce shock, and then improved to inflatable tires thanks to the work of John Dunlop in 1888.

There are no wheels in nature

A scarab pushing a circular excrement block is the most reminiscent of a wheel in nature.

Throughout history, most human inventions have been partially inspired by the natural world. For example, the idea for the fork and fork came from split sticks; flying bird plane.

But the wheel is considered a truly groundbreaking invention because it is not based on a structure available in nature at all.

According to Michael LaBarbera, a professor of biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago, only flagellate and scarab beetles are creatures that use a rolling mechanism as a means of movement.

The wheel was invented quite late

Boats were invented earlier than the wheel.

The movement patterns of wheels are very simple, and even today, they are extremely important to human life.

This leads us to think that the wheel must have been invented very early, specifically when people were just beginning to learn to stand upright.

However, some complex inventions predated the wheel by thousands of years, such as sewing needles, textiles, ropes, baskets, boats, and even flutes.

The first wheel is not used for movement

There is much evidence that the wheel was first created to serve potters in Mesopotamia around 3500 BC.

It was not until many centuries later that the wheel was used as a carriage to carry goods.

The wheel was almost replaced by a camel

Camels once replaced the wheel as a means of transportation in the Middle East.

Camels replaced the wheel as a standard means of transport in the Middle East and North Africa from the 2nd to 6th centuries AD.

In Richard Bulliet's book "Camels and Wheels" published in 1975, he argued that wheels and roads were once considered "out of fashion" and gradually disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire. .

Despite abandoning the wheel for transportation purposes, Middle Eastern societies continued to use the wheel for tasks such as irrigation, milling, and pottery making.

The first wheel in North America used as a toy?

In the 1940s, archaeologists unearthed wheeled toys in pre-Colombian deposits in Vera Cruz, Mexico.

The strange thing is that historically, the natives of North America did not use wheels for transportation until the arrival of European settlers.

Ford cars used to use wooden wheels

An early Ford Model T model using wooden wheels. (Photo: Ford).

Ford's "famous" Model T has been using wood wheels and solid rubber for a long time since the early years of the 20th century.

It was not until 1926 and 1927, wheel spokes with new Dunlop pneumatic tires of "ousting" are "seniors" wooden wheels, to replace on these vehicles.

While previous models were either extremely expensive or did not work reliably, the Model T is considered the first "cheap" car to become popular, offering a means of transport. back to the majority of America's middle class, and also raised the bar for wheel technology to a new level.