Historical Perspective of Grand Challenge - Invention of the wheel

The invention of the wheel is one of the most profound inventions known to mankind that has revolutionised the
world. The wheel has been around from the stone age times used as potter wheels. But the real dating for the wheel
is still unknown, it is assumed it was discovered by the ‘Sumerians’ based on the archaeological evidence of
scriptures. The wheel has seen a vast range of adaptations and modifications of various forms to come to where we
are now, as the wheel forms the essence of any mechanical moving part.

The journey of the wheel starts in the stone age where the wheel was supposed to be a long round log that would be
used to lift and move heavy stones. The wheel was a machine that would help reduce friction and gain mechanical
advantage to do the work with much lesser effort. The invention of the wheel has drastically changed the historical
civilizations. During the bronze age when advent of metal tools was one of the driving factors to increase in
development of stone, clay and precisely wooden wheels and axles. The grinding stones brought a revolution in
agriculture, with more crops being stored and kept for later use it brought about a change in food habits of the
civilization. The invention of the potter’s wheel also solved another problem of storing the excess crops by creation
of clay pots and utensils. The invention of flywheel led to further development of the wheel into its core components
as we know it today i.e. rim, hub and spokes which lead it to be used in transportation via two wheeled carts that
could be pulled by donkeys and horses. This opened massive avenues for transport, trade and also led to the
discovery and creation of new civilizations, man was no longer bound to be in a single place it now had the power to
explore and find places that were rich in natural resources. The two wheeled carts were also used as chariots during
warfare, this was one of the crucial variations of the wheel that would lead to establishment of trade routes,
expansion of civilisations and interbreeding of different cultures and civilisations.

This new variation of the wheel led to invention of various modes of transport and the wheel was also now used to
control the sail of the ship. These new inventions brought about an urgency to monitor time and plan routes which
lead to the invention of clocks and the compass being developed by using gears which is in fact another variation of
the wheel. Prior to the invention of the clock timekeeping was done using the sun dial which was also a form of
wheel. The usage of gears later expanded to the use of various machines to reduce manual effort. The discovery of
time kept scientists on the edge which led to some of them being interested in movements of the earth and sun and
the discovery of the intergalactic existence as we know it. The rotation and revolution of the sun was simulated using
a wheel with an axis of rotation, this gave birth to a new science of study altogether.

The wheel transported into various applications, one such application was the printing press that would facilitate
mass communications and bring about a social and economic impact in people’s lives. The press would be inked on
rolls of paper that is attached to a roller which gave rise to publishing houses and books being sold to the common
folk on a large scale. Books lead to persuasion without coercing and in huge numbers. From esoteric to earthy
agrarian use of wheels in agriculture was from windmills that would capture the natures wind energy and convert
into mechanical advantage for pumping of water from wells and for grinding of crops. Later the windmill would be
modified and reinvented to generate electricity from moving water that would rotate the turbine blades to generate
electricity.
The use of wheels in the energy industry would spark the next big industrial revolution, it paved avenues to generate
clean energy from wind and water harness natural movements to be converted into useful green energy free of
pollution. The water wheel brought about a plethora of advancements in transportation, pioneering it was the birth
of the steam locomotive which was based on the sun and planetary gear motion. The industrial revolution was at its
peak with rail network being laid to ease trade, it brought about a factory revolution which led to more wheel-based
inventions to sprout up one such invention was in the textile industry in the form of spindles, this had a long-lasting
social impact of changing jobs and lives of many women who were forced to do petty jobs in factories. The invention
of the spinning wheel brought a significant political, social and economic impact in people’s lives.

The inventions now made humans look for mechanical ways to solve problems that were not mechanical, there was
huge growth in public transports of various means which are one of the variations of the wheel. The new
advancement was with the invention of the rubber tyre which led to different variations of transportation. The
aviation was born with the invention of planes by the ‘Wright Brothers’ , the propeller would later be used in
helicopters, fighter planes and the new age passenger aeroplanes.

The spinning of wheels is everywhere from hard drives, CD drives to vinyl records, to a basic thing as a pizza cutter to
as complex as a wheel knob on a lab microscope. The wheels were also used as a way for entertainment with the
invention of the Ferris wheel. The story of the wheel is an endless variation on a simple theme, inventions make us
think differently about the same thing and get creative in solving complex problems. The Wheel has moved across
time to work more efficiently and transform civilisations and societies, it was one of the pinnacles of engineering
innovation which till date is going through various transformations.