Reference
- wheelCircular frame of hard material capable of turning on an axle. Wheels may be solid, partly solid, or spoked. The oldest known wheel was a wooden disk of planks held together by crosspieces. A pottery wheel or turntable was developed c. 3500 bc in Mesopotamia. The spoked wheel appeared c. 2000 bc on chariots in Asia Minor. Later developments included iron hubs that turned on greased axles. Perhaps the most important invention in human history, the wheel was essential to developing civilizations, and has remained essential to power generation, transportation, industrial manufacturing, and countless other applications.
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Perspectives
The Wheel
In this book, Richard W. Bulliet focuses on three major phases in the evolution of the wheel and their relationship to the needs and ambitions of human society. He begins in 4000 B.C.E. with the first wheels affixed to axles. He then follows with the innovation of wheels turning independently on their axles and concludes five thousand years later with the caster, a single rotating and pivoting wheel. Bulliet's most interesting finding is that a simple desire to move things from place to place did not drive the wheel's development. If that were the case, the wheel could have been invented at any time almost anywhere in the world. By dividing the history of this technology into three conceptual phases and focusing on the specific men, women, and societies that brought it about, Bulliet expands the social, economic, and political significance of a tool we only partially understand. He underscores the role of gender, combat, and competition in the design and manufacture of wheels, adding vivid imagery to illustrate each stage of their development.
A Brief History of Motion
From the bestselling author ofA History of the World in 6 Glasses, an eye-opening road trip through 5,500 years of humans on the go, revealing how transportation inevitably shapes civilization. Tom Standage's fleet-footed and surprising global histories have delighted readers and cemented his reputation as one of our leading interpreters of technologies past and present. Now, he returns with a provocative account of a sometimes-overlooked form of technology-personal transportation-and explores how it has shaped societies and cultures over millennia. Beginning around 3,500 BCE with the wheel--a device that didn't catch on until a couple thousand years after its invention--Standage zips through the eras of horsepower, trains, and bicycles, revealing how each successive mode of transit embedded itself in the world we live in, from the geography of our cities to our experience of time to our notions of gender. Then, delving into the history of the automobile's development, Standage explores the social resistance to cars and the upheaval that their widespread adoption required. Cars changed how the world was administered, laid out, and policed, how it looked, sounded, and smelled--and not always in the ways we might have preferred. Today--after the explosive growth of ride-sharing and years of breathless predictions about autonomous vehicles--the social transformations spurred by coronavirus and overshadowed by climate change create a unique opportunity to critically reexamine our relationship to the car. WithA Brief History of Motion, Standage overturns myths, considers roads not taken, and invites us to look at our past with fresh eyes so we can create the future we want to see.
The Complete History of Wheeled Transportation
While the wheel itself has changed little over time, it has immeasurably altered the nature of transportation. This insightful volume examines the various wheeled conveyances that have been instrumental in agriculture and commerceOCocarts and wagons, for instanceOCoas well as those that have facilitated human travelOCocoaches, bicycles, cars, and buses, among others. Also explored is the evolution of roads, as they have expanded to accommodate various modes of wheeled transportation.
Working with Wheels and Axles
A wheel and axle is a disk and cylinder joined together. These two objects are only a simple machine when used in tandem. A wheel and axle is a modified first-class lever. When force is applied to the axle, the force is multiplied and transferred to the wheel. This causes the wheel to cover more area. Readers will learn about the invention of the wheel and axle, where wheels and axles can be found, and how they make difficult jobs easier.
Chariots Make Their Way to Egypt
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Horse domestication and chariot building began about bout 4,000 BC. See a basic Egyptian chariot. Hurford locates a wood steam-bender to form the chariot pieces.
The Sumerians
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowIrrigation produced surplus and growth of towns. Sumerians invented the wheel for pottery. Clay led to bricks and writing in cuneiform. Learn of Gilgimesh.
Wheel
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowAs civilization developed, humans could not carry enough goods for trade. Invented over 5,000 years ago, the wheel introduced mass transportation, increased productivity, and encouraged idea exchanges. Chariots were the fastest form of ground transportation until steam trains.
Online Resources
- Innovative wheel tread design aimed to tramcar-track interaction improvement when passing curves of a small radiusTramways in cities often ride in track curves of a small radius, which is followed by an increased effect of the vehicle on the track. In the rail - wheel contact often occurs creep in longitudinal as well as in lateral direction, which causes increase of riding resistance, wear in rail – wheel contact and noise operation. Exactly with the aim to reduce these undesirable effects we designed a tram bogie with steered wheelsets and with the double wheel tread. This inventions are registered by authors under Utility Model Nr. u201609015 and Patent Application Nr. a201701589. Description of proposed process of passing vehicle through strongly curved track is given in this paper. A comparison of creep velocities in rail - wheel contact results obtained by computer multibody simulations for a tram vehicle riding through a S-curve are presented. Purposefulness of proposed invention is investigated by constructing vehicle ride resistance dependence to the track curve radius.
- On the roadThe invention of the wheel changed the way mankind worked. Putting four wheels on the pavement changed the way we vacation.
- Prehistoric innovations: Wheels and wheeled vehiclesTwo of the most significant innovations of the fourth millennium BC were the invention of the wheel and of wheeled vehicles, which led to other major innovations during the Late Copper Age. Discussed here are the major milestones and advances in research on wheeled vehicles, problems of dating, and the issues relating to the actual place of the invention of wheeled vehicles as well as the fruitful collaboration between various analytical disciplines and archaeology concerned with the study of wheels and early wheeled vehicles. I have collected the finds relating to wheels and wheeled vehicles. It would appear that the invention of the wheel and of wheeled conveyances occurred in different centres. Even though we are unable to date the creation of the very first vehicle to the year, it seems quite certain that wheeled vehicles appeared more or less simultaneously in several regions in the fourth millennium BC.
The Story of the Wheel
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowThe development of transport illustrated by models and diagrams from the British Museum, the London Museum, and the Science Museum.