It would seem that such a simple achievement - the invention of the wheel, and yet it is great. The first ancient wheels were found in Mesopotamia, Hungary, Central Asia and in the steppes of the Don and Dnieper.
The history of the creation of the wheel: the beginning
It is very curious that the wheel was not invented when people were still wandering. With a nomadic lifestyle, they carried all their belongings on themselves. The wheel was invented when they were 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 huge distances that need to be overcome with a large and heavy load. This is where this simple idea came from.
How did this idea come to mind in ancient times? The history of the wheel is rather curious.
People, by constantly working with felled logs, have discovered that they can be rolled with a little push.
Leverage idea
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 this happen? Thanks to pressing on the stick placed under the log, itbegan to roll. After pressing it again, it rolled even further. Then they began to use even more of these levers, thanks to which it was already possible to move several logs at the same time.
Then a great idea came up - to put another log obliquely on top of the rolling logs, and it rolled along with them.
Thus, another thought came up that the logs being transported could already be used as "transport", if the logs were still placed across the top. In ancient Egypt, stone statues of unimaginable size were moved in this way. The history of the origin of the wheel continued to be replenished with curious facts.
Further improvement in the technique of moving goods
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 hands and placed next to the logs still under the upper logs. There was a need to fix them.
As a result, something like a kind of wagon turned out. She was rude and unprepossessing. But the load placed on top of it moved. It only remained to press the levers hard. Other goods were also carried on such a more advanced wagon: bags of grains, stones, etc.
This structure could only roll on flat ground. Any obstacle in the form of a stone on the way could easily destroy this structure. And then the idea came up to fasten the logs to each other (10 pieces), attach two more pairs of smoothly hewn logs at the bottom, and between theseand the third - smooth, larger diameter and free.
So there was a wagon, or rather a skating rink. He moved very well, and it was not necessary to push him with levers, for this the effort of the hands was enough. This was the prototype of the wheel.
The history of the development of the wheel is quite long. Before the invention of the real 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 fastened to the wagon with copper brackets, but in such a way that they rotated. There was an important drawback: different thicknesses at different ends of the log caused the wagon to turn to the side.
Then it was noticed that the wagon, under which the skating rink was thinner in the center than at 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, I got a wheel.
The history of the emergence of the wheel as a ready-made technical structure for the movement and dragging of 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 ancient Indian city of Mohenjo-Daro).
Soon, animals in harness were used for carts. This moment was a turning point and decisive in the history of the development and improvement of transport. Replenished with variousinteresting transformations of the history of the wheel. Carts are also undergoing significant changes.
Improvement of the design of the cart
In ancient times there were two types of products: a potter's wheel and a cartwheel. The first is the ancestor of pulleys, clock gears, water wheels, etc.
The very first carts were simple sledges put on wheels. The latter, in turn, were fastened with axles. The wheels and the axle itself formed a single whole. However, when the cart turned with such wheels, the outer traveled much longer than the inner. In this regard, the wheel always slipped or slipped.
Later, structures appeared that moved more freely, since the axle was attached to the carriage. This made it possible to drive faster and turn more easily.
The very first were peasant carts, royal hearses, sacred carts of the gods and war 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 axle was invented, which allowed the carriage to turn in any direction.
Already in the second millennium BC. e. spoked wheels invented in Southwest Asia.
Ancient images of the wheel
The first ancient rock carving (3000 BC) of a sleigh with wheels was found in the town of Urok in the Sumerian province.
The image of the wheel in the East has merged with the image of the Sun and power. ATvarious mythologies of many states began to mention the images of the wheel. The wheel was associated with the Sun as follows: the Sun is elevated and round, the wheel is also round, and 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 the north of Iran. Then they appeared in the northern regions.
Views of ancient wheels
Already in the 3rd millennium BC. the wheels were wrapped in leather, and in the 2nd millennium, nails were nailed into the wheels, sticking outward with the tip. 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 hammered together from three parts.
By that time, horses were tamed, and wagons appeared, which began to be divided into war chariots (fast) and carriages for the king. There were also carts specially for the household (with an ox).
The history of the wheel, at first glance such a simple object, shows that each nation made some useful changes to its design, thanks to which it improved quickly.
So the wagon came to the East, to China (the era of the kingdom of Yin). Already in 2000 BC. e. the wheel was spoked and rimmed.
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), but only a couple of centuries later (at the timeTrojan War) the wheels were almost entirely metal.
The Homeric heroes fought on such. The biblical prophet Nahum wrote admiringly about such chariots. 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 lives of almost all of Europe. But Africa (territories south of the Sahara), Asia (Southeast) and Australia did not reach.
The true history of the wheel is not fully understood. There is also such a hypothesis of the creation of the wheel. People sculpted pots (albeit lopsided) even earlier - 6000 BC. e. But with the advent of the potter's wheel, the look of the dishes has improved a lot. A potter's wheel - and there is a wheel, only laid on its side. So who got the idea? Maybe the potter's driver after all?
