It would seem that such a simple achievement is the invention of the wheel, and yet it is great. The first oldest wheels were found in Mesopotamia, Hungary, Central Asia and in the steppes of the Don and Dnieper.
The story of the wheel: the beginning
It is very curious that the wheel was not invented when people were still wandering. With a nomadic way of life, they wore their entire belongings on themselves. The wheel was invented when they already settled in a certain place. Settled people began to farm: sow fields, raise livestock, build small, and then large settlements and cities.
The trade in grain, stone, timber, etc. began to develop. And these are enormous distances that must be overcome with a large and heavy load. This is where this simple idea came about.
How in ancient times did this idea come to mind? The history of the wheel is quite curious.
People, constantly working with cut down and felled logs, found that they can be rolled, pushing a little.
The idea of creating leverage
And at that time, the Cro-Magnons also invented the lever. From that moment began the history of the invention of the wheel.
How did it happen? By clicking on the stick under the log, it began to roll. After pressing it again, it rolled even further. Then they began to use even more such levers, thanks to which it was already possible to move several logs simultaneously.
Then a great idea came - to put another log diagonally on the rolling logs, and it rolled along with them.
Thus, another thought came that the logs transported themselves could already be in the form of "transport" if the logs were still laid across from above. In ancient Egypt, stone statues moved in such an unbelievable way. The history of the origin of the wheel continued to replenish with curious facts.
Further improvement of cargo movement technology
That method with levers was not very convenient: the logs closest to the levers were periodically released from under the load, and they constantly had to be carried forward with the help of the hands and placed next to the upper logs still underneath. There was a need to fix them.
The result is something like a wagon. She was rude and ugly. But the load laid on top of it moved. It only remained to press the levers hard. Other cargoes were transported on such a more perfect wagon: sacks of grains, stones, etc.
This structure could only roll on a flat surface. Any obstacle in the form of a stone on the way could easily destroy this structure. And then the idea came to fix the logs together (10 pieces), attach two more pairs of smoothly trimmed logs at the bottom, and between these also the third one is smooth, of a larger diameter and free.
So there was a wagon, or rather a skating rink. He moved very well, and he did not have to push him with levers; for this, the effort of his hands was enough. That was the prototype of the wheel.
The history of the wheel is quite long. Prior to the invention of the present wheel, many intermediate problems were solved.
Improving transport for the transport of goods
First, both pairs of logs were removed from the wagon, leaving only two rollers. Then they were fixed to the wagon with brackets made of copper, but so that they rotated. There was an important drawback: different thicknesses at different edges of the log led to the carriage turning to the side.
Then attention was drawn to the fact that the cart under which the skating rink was thinner in the center than along the edges moves more evenly. Such a cart and brings to the side less. Then the inventor of the rink left only two rollers on the sides of a whole log, and between them a thin pole. And then, separating these rollers from the pole, he got a wheel.
The history of the wheel as a ready-made technical facility for moving and dragging goods began almost from that 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 animals began to use carts for carts. This moment was a turning point and a decisive one in the history of the development and improvement of transport. The history of the wheel is replenished with various interesting transformations. Carts are also undergoing significant changes.
Cart Design Improvement
In ancient times, there were two types of products: a potter's wheel and a cartwheel. The first is the ancestor of pulleys, gears of the watch mechanism , water wheels, etc.
The very first carts were simple sleighs mounted on wheels. The latter, in turn, were held together by axles. The wheels and the axle itself made up a single whole. However, when the cart turned with such wheels, the outside rode much longer than the inside. In this regard, the wheel always slipped or skidded.
Later, constructions appeared that moved more freely, since the axis was attached to the crew. This made it possible to drive faster and turn easier.
The very first were peasant carts, royal hearse, sacred carts of gods and military chariots.
The first carts were both 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 axis was invented, which allowed the crew to turn in any direction.
Already in the second millennium BC. e. spokes were invented in Southwest Asia.
Ancient wheel images
The first ancient cave image (3000 BC) of a sleigh with wheels was found in the city of Urok in the Sumerian 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 was associated with the Sun as follows: the Sun is elevated and round, the wheel is also round, it also allows a person to move quickly. All this is advantage and dominance.
There are rumors that the first ancient wheel did not appear in Mesopotamia, but in Turkey in the east, and possibly in northern Iran. Then they appeared in the northern regions.
Types of Ancient Wheels
Already in the 3rd millennium BC the wheels were wrapped in leather, and in the 2nd millennium nails stuck into the wheels sticking out with a point outwards. This was done in order to increase their adhesion to the surface of the earth. Moreover, they could be solid, but not from a solid trunk, but composed and knocked together in three parts.
By that time, horses had been tamed, and carts appeared, which began to be divided into
military chariots (fast) and carriages for the king. There were carts specially for the farm (with an ox).
The history of the wheel, at first glance such a simple object, shows that every nation made some useful changes to its design, so that it improved quickly.
And so the wagon came to the East, to China (the era of the kingdom of Yin). Already in 2000 BC. e. the wheel was with spokes and a 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 a couple of centuries later (during the Trojan War) the wheels were almost entirely metal.
Homeric heroes fought on such. About such chariots the biblical prophet Naum wrote admirably. They badly broke the road, so in 50 BC e. the very first law was created and adopted, which limited the load on each wheel to 250 kg.
For 3000 years, the ancient wheel has changed the life of almost all of Europe. But to Africa (territory south of the Sahara), Asia (Southeast) and Australia did not reach.
The true history of the wheel is not fully understood. There is such a hypothesis of creating a wheel. People sculpted pots (albeit kosobokye) even earlier - 6000 years BC. e. But with the advent of the potter’s wheel, the look of the dishes has improved a lot. And
the potter ’s wheel is the wheel, only laid to one side. So who borrowed the idea? Maybe the potter’s charioteer?