Wheel
part · 3500 BC · Stone Age
A disc that turns on an axle; one of the oldest inventions for moving loads.
What it is made of
- Axle — has part. A wheel turns on an axle.
Principles and materials it uses
- Wood — is made of. The first wheels were solid wooden discs.
Where it is used
- Drais’s running machine — is part of. Two wheels in line.
- Kick scooter — is part of. Two wheels — as on a bicycle, but without a drive.
- Steam locomotive — is part of. The steam engine turns the driving wheels.
- Windlass — is used in. A windlass is a wheel and axle used as a simple machine.
- Cart — is part of. A cart rolls on wheels.
- Skateboard — is part of. Four wheels.
- Roller skates — is part of. Little wheels.
- Wheelchair — is part of. Wheels.
- Wheelbarrow — is part of. A wheel.
- Siege tower — is part of. On wheels.
- Shopping trolley — is part of. Wheels.
- Wheeled suitcase — is part of. Little wheels.
- Lunokhod — is part of. Wheels.
- Stagecoach — is part of. On four wheels.
- Planimeter — is part of. A measuring wheel computes the area.
- Folding bicycle — is part of. Small-diameter wheels.
- Sidecar motorcycle — is part of. A third wheel.
- Motor scooter — is part of. Small-diameter wheels.
- Motorcycle — is part of. A motorcycle has two wheels, like a bicycle.
- Pulley — is part of. A pulley is a wheel with a groove for a rope.
- Michaux velocipede — is part of. The Michaux velocipede had two wooden wheels, with pedals on the front one.
What it is a kind of
- Bicycle wheel — includes. A kind of wheel.
- Spoked wheel — includes. A kind of wheel.
- Flanged wheel — includes. A kind of wheel.
- Alloy wheel — includes. A wheel.
- Gear — includes. A gear is a wheel with teeth around its rim: the teeth mesh and pass rotation along.
- Flywheel — includes. A flywheel is a heavy wheel: once spun up, it keeps turning by inertia.
- Water wheel — includes. A water wheel is a wheel with paddles turned by flowing water.
- Ferris wheel — includes. A Ferris wheel is a huge spoked wheel with cabins hung from its rim.
Things built in a similar way
- Potter’s wheel — works like. A potter’s wheel is a spinning disc; it is sometimes seen as a forerunner of the transport wheel.