The history of the wheel, its creation and development

It would seem that such a simple achievement - the invention of the wheel, and yet it is great. The earliest ancient wheels were found in Mesopotamia, Hungary, Central Asia and the steppes of the Don and the Dnieper.

History of the wheel: the beginning

It is very interesting that the wheel was invented not when people were still wandering about. With a nomadic way of life, they carried all their belongings on themselves. The wheel was invented when they already settled in a certain place. Sedentary people started farming: sow fields, raise livestock, build small, and then large settlements and cities.

Trade in grain, stone, timber, etc. began to develop. And these are huge distances that need to be overcome with a large and heavy load. Here and there was this simple idea.

How did this idea come to mind in antiquity? The history of the wheel is quite curious.

People, constantly working with felled and felled logs, found that they can be rolled, pushing a little.

The idea of creating a lever

And at that time the Cro-Magnon people also invented the lever. From this moment the history of the invention of the wheel began.

How did it happen? Thanks to the pressure on the attached stick under the log, it began to roll. After a second press, it moved even further. Then began to use even more such levers, due to which it was already possible to move several logs at the same time.

Then came the wonderful idea - to put a log on the rolling logs obliquely, and it rolled along with them.

Thus, the next thought came that the logs transported could themselves be used as a "transport", if the logs are to be laid across the top. In ancient Egypt, stone statues moved in this way in an inconceivable amount. The history of the origin of the wheel continued to be filled with curious facts.

Further improvement of cargo transportation technique

That method with the levers was not very convenient: the neighbors to the levers of the log periodically released from the load, and they were constantly forced by hand to move forward and lay next to those still under the upper logs. There was a need to fix them.

As a result, it turned out something like the similarity of a cart. She was rude and not fair. But the cargo loaded on top of it moved. It remained only to strongly press the levers. On such a more perfect wagon, other cargo was also carried: bags of grains, stones, etc.

This structure could only roll on a level surface. Any obstacle in the form of a stone on the way could easily destroy this construction. And here there was an idea to fix logs among themselves (pieces 10), below to attach two more pairs of smoothly hewn logs, and between these another and the third - a smooth, larger diameter and free.

So there was a cart, or rather an ice rink. He moved very well, and he did not have to push his levers, for this there was enough effort on his hands. Such was the prototype of the wheel.

The history of the wheel is quite long. Before the invention of this wheel, many intermediate problems were solved.

Improvement of transport for cargo transportation

First, both pairs of logs were removed from the wagon, leaving only two skating rinks. Then they were fixed to the wagon with copper braces, but so that they rotated. There was an important drawback: a different thickness at different edges of the log led to the turning of the cart to the side.

Then it was drawn attention to the fact that the wagon under which the rink was thinner in the center than at the edges moved more evenly. Such a cart and brings it to the side less. Then the inventor of the rink left only two rollers on the sides of the whole log, and between them - a thin pole. And then, separating these rollers from the pole, got a wheel.

The history of the appearance of the wheel as a ready-made technical structure for the movement and dragging of cargo began almost from this moment.

The first wheel was very heavy. Even a wagon was found with solid wheels carved from the trunk of a large tree (the oldest Indian city of Mohenjo-Daro).

Soon the wagons began to use the animals in the harness. This moment was a turning point and decisive in the history of development and improvement of transport. The history of the wheel is supplemented by various interesting transformations. The carts are also undergoing significant changes.

Improved design of the cart

In ancient times there were products of two kinds: a potter's wheel and a wheel for a cart. The first is an ancestor of pulleys, gear wheels of a clock mechanism , water wheels,
The very first carts were simple sledges put on wheels. The latter, in turn, were secured by axes. Wheels and the axis itself were a single whole. However, when the cart turned with such wheels, the outside rode much longer than the inside. In this regard, the wheel has always slipped or slipped.

Later, there were designs moving freer, as the axle was attached to the crew. This allowed you to go faster and turn easier.

The first were the peasant carts, the catafalque royal, the sacred vehicle of the gods and war chariots.

The first carts were two-and four-wheeled. However, the latter were impractical. Why? The rear and front axles were attached to the body. Such a crew could not make sharp turns.

2000 years ago, the front movable axle was invented, which allowed the crew to turn in any direction.

Already in the second millennium BC. E. In South-West Asia they invented wheels with knitting needles.

Ancient Wheel Images

The first ancient rock engraving (3000 BC) of a sled with wheels was found in the town of Sumer province.

The image of the wheel in the East merged with the image of the Sun and power. In various mythologies of many states, images of the wheel began to be mentioned. The wheel with the Sun was associated as follows: The sun is sublime and round, the wheel is also round, yet it allows the person to move quickly. All this is an advantage and domination.

There are rumors that the first ancient wheel did not appear in Mesopotamia, but in Turkey in the east, and possibly in the north of Iran. Then they appeared in the northern regions.

Types of ancient wheels

Already in the 3rd millennium BC. The wheels were wrapped around the skin, and in the 2nd millennium, nails were hammered into the wheels, sticking out the point to the outside. This was done in order to increase their adhesion to the surface of the earth. And they could be continuous, but not from a single trunk, but composed and knocked together from three parts.

By that time horses were being tamed, and carts appeared that began to be divided into battle chariots (fast) and crews for the king. There were also carts especially for the farm (with ox).

The history of the wheel, at first glance, such a simple object, shows that each people made some useful changes in its design, so that it was improved quickly.

And the cart came to the East, to China (the era of the kingdom of Yin). Already in 2000 BC. E. The wheel was with spokes and rim.

Wheel in Europe

The further history of the wheel and its development is connected exclusively with the Celtic tribes. They began to "shoe" the wheel rim with metal (1500 BC), and only after a couple of centuries (during the Trojan War) the wheels were almost entirely metal.

On these and fought Homeric heroes. About such chariots admirers wrote the biblical prophet Naum. They severely broke the road, so in 50 BC. E. Was created and adopted the very first law, which limited the load on each wheel to 250 kg.

For 3000 years, the ancient wheel changed the life of almost the whole of Europe. But to Africa (the territory south of the Sahara), Asia (South-East) and Australia did not reach.

The true history of the wheel is not fully understood. There is also such a hypothesis of creating a wheel. Pots people molded (though crooked) even earlier - 6000 years BC. E. But with the advent of the potter's wheel and the appearance of the dishes has much improved. And the potter's circle - and there is a wheel, only put on one side. So who took the idea? Maybe, after all, the driver of the potter?