From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Article from 'The Autocar' magazine detailing the history and design of early wheels.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 4\4\ 04-page05 | |
| Date | 8th April 1911 | |
| THE AUTOCAR, April 8th, 1911. 595 that there was a deity whose most prominent symbol was the wheel. Most of the figures of this god of the wheel are found upon French soil. The oldest represent Saturn holding up an eight-spoked wheel in the left hand; many show a six-spoked wheel. These date back to Teutonic times. Later the Gaulish Wheel-God became Romanised, and the figures take the form of a Roman holding a ten-spoked wheel. Altars have been found with an eight-spoked wheel carved on them. The Gauls of antiquity wore small wheels as amulets, some of which are to be seen in the British Museum, and are of bronze and about the size of a penny. Other wheel amulets were of gold, silver, lead, and even terra-cotta. From the number that have been found in rivers and at fords it has been inferred that they were offerings to pacify the River-God and procure a safe crossing. Most of these have four spokes and a heavy rim. The form of punishment known as breaking on the wheel is a survival of sacrificing to the Sun-God or Wheel-God just as hanging is a survival of sacrificing to the Wind-God, and the institution of this horrible custom in France in modern times connected with their greater familiarity with the Wheel-God. In 1534 this was the treatment reserved for highway robbers: The condemned was first placed on a sort of St.{Capt. P. R. Strong} Andrew’s Cross with his limbs hanging between the four pieces of wood. The executioner then broke his arms, fore-arms, thighs, legs, and chest. The victim was then attached to the rim of a small coach-wheel suspended in the air by a thick post, the broken arms and legs were tied together behind his back and the wheel rotated. Chariot Wheels. We will now consider some of the early wheels a little more closely. The use of these for chariots led to a very advanced development even at a very early date. The invention of chariots is ascribed by some to Erichthonius, son of Hephæstus and King of Athens, who flourished about 1480 B.C.; by others to the priest Trochilus and his son, Triptolemus. Homer described Telemachus as travelling from Pylos to Sparta in a chariot provided for him by Nestor: The rage of thirst and hunger now suppress'd, The monarch turns him to his royal guest; And for the promis'd journey bids prepare, The smooth-hair'd horses, and the rapid car. Probably, however, chariots had long before this been in use among the Egyptians. In Holy Writ we find two references to Egyptian chariots in use about 1715-1705 B.C. Chariots were, with very few exceptions, two-wheeled vehicles. Design of Early Wheels. Egyptian Wheels.—The Egyptian chariots, as shown by their sculptures, were easily carried by one man, and were, therefore, quite light. It is worth noticing, too, that the wheels were placed as far back as possible. In this position part of the load is borne by the horses. Since the chariot was so light this design would scarcely have been chosen to save them; the object must have been to lessen the load on the wheels and to reduce the shock transmitted to the rider. A wheel found in the tomb of the Egyptian Tuiyu (1533 B.C.) is now in the Cairo Museum. Round the rim is placed a leather tyre, so that the mighty dead should be protected against the shocks of the road when travelling during his second time on earth. The Egyptian war chariots generally have six spokes, a few have eight, and others twelve; their private cars had only four. The spokes were usually round. The felloes were strengthened at the points with bronze or brass bands, and the rim was a metal hoop. An Egyptian wheel has been found having a wooden tyre in six butt-ended segments, and a felloe in six segments lapped at their ends. The rim segments have four slots near the felloe, and bands of raw hide are passed through these slots to bind the rim and felloe segments together. The spokes are round and tapering near the nave, and square and tapering near the rim. They are provided with dowels at each end and a slot near the nave end, probably for a metal band. The diameter of this wheel is 2ft. 11in. In Egyptian wheels the axle-trees do not rotate, and the wheels are kept on by small F-shaped pins. One of the Egyptian paintings in the British Museum shows a wheel with a nave in one piece and sockets for the six round spokes. At the end of each spoke is a T-piece, which forms a socket both for the spokes and for the segments of the tyre. There is also an Egyptian wheel in the British Museum. This is of wood, disc-shaped, flat on both sides, and probably off a cart or truck used about 1530 B.C. It is still in excellent preservation, and is about 2½ft. in diameter, about 7in. thick, with a cylindrical hole at the centre about 7in. diameter. It appears to have been cut from a solid tree trunk. Assyrian Wheels.—The Assyrian sculptures show three forms of wheel: (1.) Four-spoked, with heavy rims and tyres for heavy carriages. Some of the hand-carts shown in the sculptures have four very heavy spokes, which look like boards. (2.) Eight-spoked, with three concentric circles in the rim, the outermost being the tyre proper, and spokes fitting into sockets at the nave. These were for chariots. (3.) Wheels with nail tyres, as on the chariot of an Assyrian king, Assurbanipal (about 668-626 B.C.). Judging from the height of the horses and size of the men, these wheels must be from 5ft. to 6ft. in diameter. They have tapering spokes, heavy-studded tyre, and four gaiters to keep the tyre on the rim. Occasionally we come across Assyrian wheels with twelve spokes, as on a warrior’s chariot shown, with captives in front. This wheel is not more than 3ft. 6in. to 4ft. diameter. On the hunting chariot of the Assyrian king, Assurnasirpal, the wheels are much smaller than the last, probably not more than 2ft. in diameter. The tyre parts in these wheels are very massive. The six spokes are comparatively slender. This suggests that they were either made of metal or that they presented their edges towards the outside. The tyres are generally built up of four, five, or six segments, the joints being at the spokes or between them. Persian Wheels.—The Persian relievos also show an advanced development, one of them showing a wheel with twelve ornamental spokes fitting into a rim carrying a stobbed tyre. These stobs were doubtless intended to keep the metal tyre on the wooden felloe, but their number suggests strongly that, even in those very early times, they appreciated the need for some non-skid device. Among the discoveries in North Germany are some iron tyres, all that remains of the chariot buried with some dead warrior. These tyres are about 40in. in diameter, and are covered with radial spikes on the inside. On the outside are still left the overlapping scale-like heads of nails, just like the Assyrian and Persian tyres. Cyrus, King of Persia about 560 B.C., made several improvements in chariots and chariot-wheels. We are told that he noticed how easily the wheels broke and built them stronger. He lengthened the axle to give chariots more rigidity, and at each axle end of the war-chariots he fixed a horizontal scythe, and underneath the chariot other scythes with their points turned towards earth. Grecian Wheels.—The Greeks preferred wheels with four spokes. Some Greek vases (400-300 B.C.) show racing chariots with wheels having four flat spokes. One terracotta relief shows Paris abducting Helen. The wheel shown in this scene is very crude compared with the approximately contemporaneous Assyrian and Persian examples. (To be continued.) | ||