From Rocks to Roll.

Chapter 3: 

 

As we talked about Wheels last time, the thought grew deeper, no matter how important invention the wheel was, alone it was useless. The wheel is more like the 'Jack of all trades and Master of None'. We have an existence of wheel since early stages of Stone Age, but the use of the wheel as a mode of transportation dates back to 4200-4000 BC.

 

One of the first applications of the wheel to appear was the Potter's wheel, used by prehistoric cultures to fabricate clay pots. The earliest type, known as "tournettes" or "slow wheels", were known in the Middle East by the 5th millennium BC. One of the earliest examples was discovered at Tepe Pardis, Iran, and dated to 5200–4700 BC. These were made of stone or clay and secured to the ground with a peg in the center but required significant effort to turn. True potter's wheels, which are freely-spinning and have a wheel and axle mechanism, were developed in Mesopotamia (Iraq) by 4200–4000 BC. The oldest surviving example, which was found in Ur (modern-day Iraq), dates to approximately 3100 BC.

 

Evidence of wheeled vehicles appeared by the late 4th millennium BC. Depictions of wheeled wagons found on clay tablet pictographs at the Eanna District of Uruk, in the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia, are dated between 3700–3500 BC. In the second half of the 4th millennium BC, evidence of wheeled vehicles appeared near-simultaneously in the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Eastern Europe (Cucuteni–Trypillian culture). Depictions of a wheeled vehicle appeared between 3500 and 3350 BC in the Bronocice clay pot excavated in a Funnelbeaker culture settlement in southern Poland. In nearby Olszanica, a 2.2 m wide door was constructed (2.2 wide doors were constructed) for wagon entry; this barn was 40 m long and had 3 doors. Surviving evidence of a wheel–axle combination, from Stare Gmajne near Ljubljana in Slovenia (Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel), is dated within two standard deviations to 3340–3030 BC, the axle to 3360–3045 BC. Two types of early Neolithic European wheel and axle are known; a circumalpine type of wagon construction (the wheel and axle rotate together, as in Ljubljana Marshes Wheel), and that of the Baden culture in Hungary (axle does not rotate). They both are dated to 3200–3000 BC. Historians believe that there was a diffusion of the wheeled vehicle from the Near East to Europe around the mid-4th millennium BC.

 

The mechanical advantage of a simple machine like the wheel and axle is computed as the ratio of the resistance to the effort. The larger the ratio the greater the multiplication of force (torque) created or distance achieved. By varying the radii of the axle and/or wheel, any amount of mechanical advantage may be gained. In this manner, the size of the wheel may be increased to a convenient extent. In this case, a system or combination of wheels (often toothed, that is, gears) are used. As a wheel and axle is a type of lever, a system of wheels and axles is like a compound lever.

 

Got a bit, sorry, a lot technical didn't I. Bear with me for another chapter, as we have now got the wheel rolling. And as they say, " Life.....it keeps rolling on."

Round and Round with the Wheel

Chapter 2:

 

As I was moving around through some old memories, a thought kept jumping in my mind...…."How did a Wheel come into Existence?"

A simple thought, yet the answer to which generates interest in every human who has encountered a wheel.

The wheel, as historian says, was invented roughly in 3500 BC. As Humans evolved in the Palaeolithic era, they discovered that heavy, round objects could more easily be moved by rolling them than bulky, irregular ones. The realisation was made that some heavy objects could be transported if a round object such as a fallen tree was placed underneath and the heavy object rolled over it. However, diagrams on ancient clay tables suggest the wheel did not materialise for thousands of years until a potter’s wheel was used in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) in 3500 BC.

The oldest wooden wheel discovered so far was found in Ljubljana, Slovenia and is believed to date back to about 3200 BC. It was about the same time that the wheel was first used for transportation on chariots. With a need for greater speed and manoeuvrability, the Egyptians created the spoked wheel around 2000 BC, while Celtic chariots a millennium later employed iron rims for greater strength. However, the wheel remained largely unimproved until the 19th Century when Robert William Thompson invented the pneumatic tyre, a rubber wheel using compressed air which paved the way for automobile and bicycle tyres.

The idea of the wheel may have been influenced by Nature, as many inventions are. The closest evidence to a wheel in nature is the home of a Dung Beetle. Dung Beetle lay their eggs in dung and transport it by rolling it into a ball. Another wheel found in nature is the tumbleweed.

By Pradnesh Shankar Naik.

 

Chapter 1: Breaking into old memories.

 

Machine has been an integral part of Man's evolution from the primal state of to a being that is now known as Homo Sapiens. Earlier in life, it was a plane bow and arrow, but as we evolved these machines started taking various forms like a hardworking tractor or mind-numbingly fast supercomputers.

 

But while life progress on Top Gear, we tend to forget the single-most greatest invention….'The Humble Wheel'.

 

The wheel single-handedly pushed the boundaries of man from Hunting and Gathering to the modern trade we now take for granted. The wheel is such a unique machine that it can connect with every person on this planet, almost every being born in today's time has encountered a wheel at least once.

 

My exact memory with a wheel, rather 4 of them, was with a beautiful vehicle called Premier Padmini. Manufactured in India from 1964 to 2000 by Premier Automobiles Limited under the License of FIAT Spa, it was a carburetted 1,089-cc four-cylinder petrol engine, rather than the 1,221-cc engine fitted to the GranLuce in Italy. With a 10.8:1 compression ratio, it created 47 bhp at 4,800 rpm with a maximum torque of 71 Nm at 3,000 rpm. The original transmission was a four-speed manual gearbox (without synchronized first gear), which drove the rear wheels via a live rear axle. Its shifter was mounted on the left of the steering column. Weighing 895 kg, its top speed was 130 km/h.

 

The beauty that I remember was an artic white, decorated tastefully by chrome garnishing around her waistline. My uncle had bought the one with the bench, rather sofa seats of the era. She was never a screamer like many of the golden oldies of the era. But it had a very tasteful whine from its rather reliable and easy to live with engine. Its note was throaty and it pull was linear, was rather surefooted for the era and with its lightweight and sturdy chassis, it can still give a run for their money to some of our current day entry-level vehicles.

 

It was one of the things which gave me immense pleasure whenever I was around her. I believe that was the starting point of my obsession with cars. While I sat today, sipping my favourite coffee, enjoying the calm breeze, that moment passed through my mind……..maybe it was that beautiful lady, trying to convince me to pen down my thoughts, my moments, my experiences with the various beauties and beast I have been able to encounter in the short span of my time on this planet earth……as a journal that maybe I can pass onto my children or to like-minded enthusiasts like me. Someone who gets excited by anything and everything related to cars……….