A Brief History of the Wheel

It is not known whether the first individual to contemplate the design of a wheel had vehicles or potter’s throwing tables in mind, but archaeologists have established that the first wooden wheel was created, for whatever purpose, more than 5,000 years ago. However it was some time afterwards that a stroke of genius led to the replacement of the solid disk wheel by one featuring spokes. This particular development made the transport of goods over longer distances possible for the first time. Therefore, if the invention of the wheel was man’s first revolution, then the development of the wheel with spokes could be seen as the second. And as a result mobility became possible, although still as a privilege for the wealthy.

Some time around 3,200 years ago the wheel was further improved when treads, made of iron, were fitted to wheels for the first time. But after this leap forward wheel development fundamentally stagnated for some three millennia, with the exception of minor developments such as steel wheel bearings, or the application of the wheel to new functions, such as the impeller, the spinning wheel, and cogs within clocks.

By the time the 19th and 20th centuries arrived and new impetus for the wheel’s further evolution had arrived, the very meaning of the word wheel had, in the minds of many people, been displaced by the tyre. The tyre was new and exciting – breakthroughs in tyre technology were considered ‘revolutionary’ and the names of their inventors became household words. Even today people still remember these tyre pioneers – for example, was the ingenious creator of the pneumatic tyre Robert William Thompson or John Boyd Dunlop? And when discussing the radial ply tyre there are still some who passionately argue that its development predates Michelin’s involvement. But thanks to this emphasis on the tyre and its pioneers, an unfortunate situation has arisen – although the development of the wheel and the tyre has become fundamentally intertwined, the Michelins, Bridgestones and Goodyears of this world have diminished the wheel’s role to a historical footnote. Ferrari rides on Bridgestone – there is a tyre but not a wheel war.

The numerous small stages in wheel development have been forgotten: the replacement of wood spokes with lighter steel spokes, the replacement of the flange wheel (known also as the Stepney wheel), not long after its introduction, by a removable wheel (which led to the birth of the spare wheel), the centre hub (Rudge hub), dual wheels, steel sheet disk wheels and as early as the 1920’s the very first light alloy wheel (the Bugatti wheel) – so many innovations, yet the world’s attention remains fixed upon the tyre.

The time of ‘revolution’ in terms of wheel development has long past. Designs evolve slowly and steel and aluminium have become established as the predominant materials from which wheels are fabricated, with very few designers or manufacturers deviating from this norm. Although the wheel is still evolving, with designs adapting to new techniques such as flow forming, hollow construction units and thinner sheet metals, and although the wheel is considered an aesthetic feature now more than ever, none of today’s wheel designers or manufacturers will ever change the world as completely as those creative thinkers in Mesopotamia and Egypt thousands of years ago. But although the tyre has left the wheel behind in the race towards embracing the latest technology, it would be a pity if 5,000 years of technological development were overlooked, considered nothing more than a historical curiosity.