When was the wheel invented?

The earliest known wheels date to around 3500 BC in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). The oldest physical wheel that has survived is the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel from Slovenia, radiocarbon-dated to roughly 3200 BC.

Who invented the wheel?

There is no single named inventor. The wheel is credited collectively to the Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia. Pictograms from the Sumerian city of Ur show wheeled sledges and carts already in use around 3500–3000 BC.

Did the Mesopotamians invent the wheel?

Yes—current archaeological consensus places the earliest evidence of the wheel in Sumer (southern Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq) around 3500 BC, used initially as a potter's wheel and only later applied to vehicles.

What was the wheel originally used for?

For making pottery, not for transportation. A horizontal turntable allowed potters to throw symmetrical bowls and jars. Only a few hundred years later did people realise that putting wheels on an axle could carry loads, giving us bullock carts, war chariots and four-wheeled wagons.

When was the spoked wheel invented?

Around 2000 BC. The spoked wheel was a significant upgrade over the solid disc: it was much lighter, which is what eventually made fast-moving chariots possible.

History Of The Wheel: How Was The Wheel Invented?

Table of Contents (click to expand)

Dearth Of Natural Inspiration
The Invention Of The First Wheel
The First Patent Of The Wheel
Our Progress Continues With Wheels

The wheel was invented in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3500 BC, when a Sumerian craftsman cut a disc from a tree trunk, drilled a hole in its centre and fitted it with an axle. It started life as a potter's wheel; it took another few centuries before someone bolted two of them to an axle and made the first cart. The oldest surviving wooden wheel, found in the Ljubljana Marshes in Slovenia, has been radiocarbon-dated to roughly 3200 BC.

The invention of the wheel is often considered a hallmark of human innovation, and it has proved to be one of humanity’s greatest blessings.

According to the archaeological record, the first wheels appear in Mesopotamia (the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in modern-day Iraq) around 3500 BC. A Sumerian craftsman cut a disc from a tree trunk and made a hole in the centre, creating the wheel — arguably the greatest invention in human history. Crucially, the wheel was not originally invented to move things across the ground: it was a potter's wheel, used to spin clay into symmetrical pots. Only a few centuries later did someone realise that the same disc, mounted on an axle, could carry loads.

The Wheel As A Vehicle

After a brief stint of using the wheel for pottery, someone used two wheels to form a cart. He made this from the trunk of a tree, which was joined by an axle that was fastened to a platform of wood. This was the first crude cart in the world. In this cart, both the wheels and axle moved. The next improvement in using the wheel was fastening the axle to the vehicle and letting the wheels spin freely. The first wheeled vehicles were bullock carts, war chariots, and four-wheeled carts of the gods. Gradually, the spoke wheel was invented around 2000 BC, which considerably reduced the wheel’s weight.

Catherine Wheel – Wheel Of Death

Much of the credit for progress in the modern age goes to the wheel, but the wheel has also become a source of death for many! Actually, in the Middle Ages, ‘breaking on the wheel’ was a form of capital punishment.

A culprit would be stretched across the face of a wheel and bludgeoned to death by an iron-rimmed wheel pounded over him with a hammer. In one such variation, Saint Catherine of Alexandria was wrapped around the rim of a spiked wheel in the early fourth century and rolled across the ground. As per the legends, the wheel ‘divinely’ broke, and Saint Catherine was able to escape. The breaking wheel since then has been called a Catherine wheel.

Breaking Wheel — Catherine wheel execution. (Photo Credit: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons)

Wheels For Perpetual Machines

For centuries, scientists, mathematicians, tinkerers, and even philosophers have tried to master perpetual motion—a device that, once set in motion, would continue in motion perennially, producing more energy than it consumes. One of the easiest attempts to design this machine was using a wheel.

A watermill wheel is an example of such a machine that uses weight changes to incessantly rotate. However, no matter the design philosophy, all such perpetual motion machines violate the first and second laws of thermodynamics, which state that energy cannot be created or destroyed and that some portion of energy is lost in converting heat to work. Many patents for a wheel-based perpetual motion machine have been discarded by the US Patent Office because inventors could not produce proper working models.

Perpetual motion wheels — Perpetual motion design using wooden wheels (design is inspired by a drawing of Leonardo da Vinci). (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The First Patent Of The Wheel

Although the wheel is an ancient invention, it is interesting to learn how patents related to wheels were procured. According to the records at the US patent office, James Macomb of Princeton was the first man to secure a patent involving a wheel for the design of a horizontal hollow water wheel for hydropower. Although the patent office acknowledges that a patent was issued to him, the original record of the patent was destroyed in the unfortunate 1836 US patent office fire.

Our Progress Continues With Wheels

With the passage of time, numerous improvements have been made to the design of wheels. Today, the rims and spokes of the wheels are typically made of iron. Rubber tires and tubes are then put around them. Due to these improvements, the wheel has become lighter, more efficient, and long-lasting. It is not an exaggeration to say that, with the help of the wheel, the world is progressing as fast as ever!

Last Updated By: Ashish Tiwari

References (click to expand)