The wheel is one of the most important inventions that we use every day. The wheel was invented in the Chalcolithic period around 3500 BCE. It is the foundation of modern transportation and machinery.
While the wheel is promising, it could be more practical. The hole at the wheel’s center makes it look like a doughnut. The wheel couldn’t attach a stable platform with an axle. It is a cylinder that rolls on its edge. It was the Bronze Age at the time that the wheel and axle were created. The wheel and axle were not invented yet. Metal alloys were used to cast metal, create canals and sailboats, as well as complex musical instruments like harps.
It’s not an easy idea to add an axle
The wheel must be able to rotate freely around its axle in order for the system’s operate. To ensure maximum continuity in motion, the axle must be fitted directly to the wheel’s center. To reduce friction, the alignment must be perpendicular to the axle. To reduce the axle’s surface area and still be able to support the load, it should not exceed 0.5mm.
The only friction that must be overcome is between the inner wheel & the axle. The system will have less friction if the inner wheel and outer surfaces of the axle are smoother.
The size of the axle was also a key factor in the structure’s success. An axle that is too thick would cause too much friction. A narrower one, however, would be less friction and would still be strong enough to support a load. This problem was solved by early wagons being small and narrow. They could therefore have thin, short axles.
These parameters must be met in order for the structure to function. This may explain why such a simple idea took so long to gain momentum.
Archaeologists believe that another factor that limited the development of the wheel and axle was the necessity to cut wood very precisely. This would have required metal tools, which may explain why the wheel or axle was not invented until cast copper chisels were available and gouges were common.
It was impossible to develop the wheel and axle in stages due to the complexity of all the factors involved. It was necessary to be developed all at once. Many archaeologists believe the wheel and axle were invented in one location and then spread to other places.
We don’t know where or when the wheel came from
Although it is not known where the wheel and axle came from, its widespread use in Eurasia and the Middle East was rapid. Poland has some of the earliest images showing wheeled carts, which suggests that the region saw its first use.
Asko Parpola is an Indologist at Helsinki University in Finland. He suggests that the wheel was created by the Tripolye people of modern-day Ukraine. This is due to the fact that the word “wheel” is derived from their language.
Evidence suggests that the wheel was first used in Mesopotamia’s potter’s wheels 300 years ago before being adapted for the chariot.
However, the wheelbarrow is thought to have appeared first in ancient Greece, between 600 and 400 BCE. China followed suit later, and eventually, the wheelbarrow and axle made their way to medieval Europe. The wheelbarrow, although expensive at the time, would be repaid in a matter of days. It greatly increased the work that one worker could do.
Vera Cruz, Mexico, archaeologists discovered ceramic toys in the shape of small animals. Children could push the animals along with their wheels. The wheel was not used for transport in the region until the arrival of European settlers. This could have been due to the terrain rather than a lack of know-how.
The camel was the preferred mode of transport in the Middle East and North Africa, where there are a lot of desserts. This was true up to 600 A.D. It could be that camels were more resistant to getting stuck in the sand than thin wooden wheels. In his 1975 book The Camel and the Wheel, Richard Bulliet cites several other reasons. Middle Eastern societies used wheels to practice irrigation, milling, and pottery.
It’s not surprising that the basic design of an object as strong as the wheel or axle has not changed in over 6000 years.
What were the first uses of the wheel in the past
We mentioned earlier that wheels were not originally used for transport. Early wheels were made of a wooden disc and a hole for the axle. This played a crucial role in early societies. They were used in pottery, irrigation, and milling. It took hundreds of years for the wheel to reach the first chariots.
Nature does not have wheels
What is the most recent time you have seen a wheel in nature? Nature inspired many of the most important inventions that have changed lives. Many technologies, from the fork to velcro and the plane, involve biomimicry, except for the wheel. It is a hundred percent homo sapien invention.
Some argue that the idea behind the wheel is present in nature. Dung Beetles are an example. Dung beetles lay eggs in dung, which serves as food for the larvae. The larvae then transport the dung by rolling it into a ball. Michael LaBarbera, a University of Chicago professor of biology and anatomy, suggests that there are other potential inspirations. These include tumbleweeds and wheeled organisms.