A Wheely Good Introduction Every single day in the U.S.A. 210 million people use wheel related travel to get to their destinations (reference.com). The first wheel ever created had different uses most people might not have even thought about before, as well as being created way differently than the present day wheel, and also has really affected people’s lives today. The Mesopotamian wheel (the first wheel created) had many uses and affected many of the things most people see everyday. The Uses of the First Wheel The wheel back in the day was used for many different tasks. “The earliest wheels are believed to have been used for pottery making” (Stella Novus). Surprisingly, the first wheel was used for pottery but most people think it was used for transportation. Nor was it till about 3200 BC that they started to use chariots, “a two wheeled horse-drawn vehicle…” (dictionary.com). “Humans realized that heavy objects could be moved easier if something round…was placed under it and the object rolled over it,” (Mary Bellis). The wheel was …show more content…
According to Ankita Bhugra “The first wheel was made from clay, rock, and mud which slowly developed to the making of wheels by joining together wooden planks.” This shows that their wheels were made by making clay, rock, and mud circles and then later attaching them to make a wheels which is far less advanced compared to how the current wheel is made today. Just imagine a world where wheels are circles of clay, rock, and mud all on the cars that you're supposed to take to work. According to Brad Bowling wheels today are “...made from an alloy of aluminum or magnesium. Alloys are mixtures of metal and other elements.” This shows the wheel is made of a mix of aluminum or magnesium. In the end the wheel seen today looked a lot different a couple thousand years
Ferris, his wife and the Mayor were the first ones to ride the wheel. People visiting the fairs were kind of scared to go but at the end everyone went on. The wheel was 264 feet above the MIdway and had a circumference of 825 feet. The wheel weighed 2.6 million pounds, the ale itself weighing more than forty-six tons. The wheel thirty-six closed cars which could hold more than forty passengers each time. The ride lasted twenty minutes and fifty cents at the time. Even people who couldn't afford to go on the ride watched it carefully as it went around. The Ferris Wheel was powered by two house 1,000-horsepower steam engines and it was light with more than 3000 light bulbs. The wheel was safe and it was center of attention at the fair that year. Until the fair lasted the wheel had more than a million passengers and it won the hearts of many people. This ferris wheel was the first example in technology that was “being harnessed purely as a pleasure machine, and it captured the imagination of a nation”(Adams-Volpe, 2002). During the Fair Ferris received a profit of approximately $750,000( approximately twenty million dollars today). Ferris got a lot of attention and fame for his design of the Ferris
The first attempts at making a track were using steel, which was too heavy, and rubber, which was too flexible and brittle at cold temperatures. Eventually, manufacturers found the key ingredients. Kevlar tracks with imbedded nylon strands to reinforce and improve strength. Kevlar track is now the standard in today's snow machines. Another key ingredient to the track is the paddles.
The first civilization to rise was the Mesopotamia, located in present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and Egypt, along the Nile River. It’s split in two ecological zones. In the south Babylonia (irrigation is vital) and north Assyria (agriculture is possible with rainfall and wells). By 4000 B.C.E., people had settled in large numbers in the river-watered lowlands of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists have shown that large-scale irrigation appeared only long after urban civilization had already developed, meaning major waterworks were a consequence of urbanism (population). Mesopotamia cities were made of people called the Summerians in the land of Sumer located on the south of Babylonia. The Summerian city was one of
The roots of the machine go back to at least the fifth century B.C. in China. In its most primitive form, it consisted of a pivoted beam with a sling at one end and ropes at the other. A stone would be placed in the sling and a team of men would haul the ropes, swinging the beam up into the air”1.
The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt are a factor of the evolution of civilizations in present-day. Though, it wouldn’t occur if both of these ancient civilizations didn’t develop into successful ones. There are three similar components that led Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia to become prosperous. These are the locations, their way of life, and their beliefs. All of these elements will be explored more thoroughly throughout this essay.
In the twentieth century, the introduction of the motor vehicle in the United States became not only noteworthy, but also vital in the development of modern American civilization. This technologically complex machine led citizens to vast future dependency on the invention. While mobility was suddenly not limited to alternative, more convoluted options such as railroad stations or bicycles, yet copiously amplified to aid convenience and expanded leisure opportunities. From auto-racing to redesigning infrastructure, motor vehicles allowed progression, digression, and essentially uttermost change to lifestyles of the American people.
Geography plays an important role in the development of a civilization. The impact of geography can either make or break a civilization. Early civilizations inhabited features such as river valleys, deserts, rainforests, plateaus and other geographical structures. One important geographically defining structure are river valleys . River valleys had a significant impact on one particular civilization, Mesopotamia.
According to Robert Smith, the history of the bicycle goes like this: in the late 18th century and early 19th century, a two-wheeled vehicle with a wooden frame and a saddle, known as the celeripede ("fast feet") was developed in France. The celeripede had a fixed cross-bar and no pedals, meaning that it could not be steered very well and it was moved by running along the ground while straddling the saddle. Needless to say, it never became popular.
Steam powered harvesters and tractors were introduced by the end of 19th century. It started to gradually replace horses. However in some regions they created new problems as well. Vehicles proved to be too heavy for soft soils and often stuck and even sunk. Experiments with various sizes of wheels didn't produce good results. Increasing size of wheels just made vehicles heavier and more difficult to operate.
The invention of the wheel resulted in many advances in transport, trade, and war, as well as improvements in multiple aspects of people's everyday lives. For example, many people in ancient Egypt would use the wheel on chariots or for pottery, which is one instance in which the wheel can be utilized for something other than transportation ("Wheel" Ancient). Despite this, the wheel's power and strength is limited, and its ability to transport large amounts of people or goods is very restricted, usually to that of a semi-truck or eighteen-wheeled truck. However, large cargo ships, cruise liners, and oil tankers are able to carry and easily ship vast amounts of their cargo to every corner of the world (Kentley). This uncomplicated and efficient way to ship to every continent has massively increased countries' capacities to import and export goods, as well as to grow their economies through these ways.
The most common style of drive train is that of the front wheel drive, abbreviated FWD. Front wheel drive was not, however, the first drive system. Front wheel drive first made its appearance in the automobile market in 1933 with the French Traction Avant, which literally means "pull from the front." At the time, the idea of having a car pulled by the front wheels was rather different, but this style of getting the power to the wheels worked rather well. What made the Traction Avant successful was that it was lighter and more fuel efficient than other car models made at the time. This increased efficiency was a result of not only eliminated weight, but also reduced power loss in moving the rotational energy to the back.
The machine got its Caterpillar name from photographer C. Clements in March 1905 as he observed its caterpillar-like motion. The Holt Brothers Paddle Wheel Improved Traction Engine, Their seventh track design, was the first true production model; it was built and sold in late 1906. The first gas-powered tractor was also built in late 1906, and the first one to sell was shipped in September 1908. The Caterpillar name was registered as a trademark in 1910. During WW1,1914-1918, Holt manufacturing manufactured gasoline powered tractors to haul supplies and ammunition for British and American
"Why Was the Wheel so Important to Mesopotamia?." Ask. N.p.. Web. 20 Nov 2013. .
In ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, much like modern human, had a passion for music. The Mesopotamians and Egyptians incorporated music into most festivities, celebrations, and even funerals. That being said, there was a vast number of different instruments that were used such as; idiophones, membranophones, aerophones, and chordophones. This showed that even in one of the world’s earliest civilization, music played an important role in people’s everyday lives. One of the most known instrument from this time is the Lyre (Figure 1).
It was later used on wagons for heavier loads of goods. It's interesting it had a industrial or manufacturing impact before it was used on today's vehicles. In ancient china common modes of transportation was wheelbarrows, horse carriages, ox carts, and rickshaw. China made a big deal about the status of the person and their family. For the most part regular people used wheelbarrows, and wealthy people used horse carriages.