The wheel is an invention that touches us every day—
One that we take for granted,
One that we burden and abuse,
And one that keeps on giving even under heavy loads.
The wheel was invented somewhere between 3000 and 4000 BC. It has since made it into just about every item that shakes, rattles or rolls. The first wheels were thought to be made of stone; although durable, this made for a hard, bumpy ride. Wheels to follow where crafted from wood, then rubber and now rubber with a barrier of air to cushion our pampered derrieres.
The first wheels where used primarily for carts to haul early man’s goods, but as the cart became more complex, so did the use of the wheel; for example,
gears and pulleys
and
steering wheels.
It is hard to imagine a world without wheels.
Thank you, Cave Man Carl, for your contribution to society.
One of the latest crazes in the transportation world is the Segway. You may have seen this nifty device around shopping malls, campuses or souped-up models driven by urban police forces. The first Segway was named Ginger, for Ginger Rodgers, and was the brain child of inventor Dean Kamen. Kamen’s HT (human transport) was conceived in 1995 and hit the shelves for the public in 2002. The standard HT can support 250 lbs, move at 12.5 miles per hour and has a range of 17 miles between charges, of its NiCad or NiMH rechargeable battery. Kamen thought that this device might be a great way to conserve fossil fuels and congestion in urban areas, which I agree with, however, with an average cost of $5,000.00 I don’t think people will be rushing to buy them. As with all new innovations time and competition will eventually make this a more reasonably priced mode of transportation; until then we will just have to live with the traffic.
