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Who Invented the Wheel? And How Did They Do It?
The Wheel And The Axle
- The wheel and the axle didn't suddenly spring up, but were a gradual, phased invention, starting with rollers that reduced friction on the ground, and helped the Egyptians and Mesopotamians move heavy objects.
- The oldest discovered axle was found inside a potter’s wheel in a miniature, toy-like form in Mesopotamia. The fact that the center of the wheel is stationary as compared to the circumference is in fact the greatest mechanical insight ever known.
- Combining the wheel with an axle was genius, leading to the invention of the wagon and other transport vehicles.
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Inventions Come in Stages
Invention often comes in stages and phases, when existing technology is looked at and mixed with new creative insights, a process that sometimes takes thousands of years.
This makes it hard to pinpoint the exact time and place a certain object is invented.
The Wheel And The Axle
- The wheel and the axle didn't suddenly spring up, but were a gradual, phased invention, starting with rollers that reduced friction on the ground, and helped the Egyptians and Mesopotamians move heavy objects.
- The oldest discovered axle was found inside a potter’s wheel in a miniature, toy-like form in Mesopotamia. The fact that the center of the wheel is stationary as compared to the circumference is in fact the greatest mechanical insight ever known.
- Combining the wheel with an axle was genius, leading to the invention of the wagon and other transport vehicles.
The Invention of The Full‑Size Wheeled Vehicle
- The name given to the first full-size wheel, according to paleolinguits, was ‘Kweklos’ which meant ‘to turn’.
- The time of this invention is said to be about 5400 years ago, though the exact location of the invention varies from Russia to Slovenia.
- The inventor was a genius in the conception and craft, as he was able to solve engineering, design and woodworking problems to scale up a toy into a full-size wagon.
- It had a profound effect on the productivity of farmers, and it even helped populations move towards other places that were not close to the river and were thus unexploited.
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