Transportation technology is human-built systems that move people our artifacts over and under the surface of the land, through our atmosphere, over and under water, and through space. It is one of the four main types of technology systems, including energy, production, & communication, that greatly impact all our lives.

Transportation systems consist of vehicles which serve to enclose and protect operators and cargo as well as the vehicular navigation and control components, pathways which provide feasible travel routes, and support structures which are the buildings used to service and maintain the entire transport systems. Common examples include personal transportation systems like cars, trucks, gas stations, and residential garages; public systems like interstate and state highways, buses, trains, and commercial airports and airplanes; private systems such as private jets and commercial delivery services like FedEx; government systems such as Navy ships or the U.S. Postal Service, and systems which combine more than one and can be thought of as “intermodal”.

As residents of the “Hub City”, we are surrounded by complex transportation systems which run through and around Rochelle, and our city has been shaped by historical events and development these transportation systems created. Understanding transportation technology systems as well as their positive and negative impacts enables us to gain a better perspective of our own lives as well as for the collective good. After all, we all use and rely on our transportation systems!

In the previous transportation article, we discussed early land and water transportation technology history leading up to the invention of the wheel. And since one of the greatest benefits of the wheel is for transportation, this article will examine that technology. There are only a handful of technological advancements which rise to the level of significance of the wheel. It sits right up there with fire, the printing press, sailing ships, the plow, and a few very significant others. If you take time to notice how many wheels are all around you, you’ll be on your way to realizing how important they are.

The earliest use of “wheels”, traced back to the later part of the Neolithic Age, was actually the use of round logs to move heavy stones such as those used at Stonehenge and for the great pyramids. The heavy object was pulled by teams of humans as it rolled over the top of a series of similar-diameter logs laid under, used for rolling support and movement, and then carried from the back up to the ‘front of the line’ to be used over and over as the cargo rolled along. Humans must have learned by observation that there was something special about the round, rolling circular shape.

Similarly, animals were used to move heavy loads by pulling sledges which had long rails that reduced the friction with the ground or snow or ice below. Humans discovered that wooden planks formed into rudimentary circular shapes and laid under the sledge rails made it easier to slide and “roll” over rougher terrain.

But the most useful form of this invention happens when a wheel is combined with an axle. Pottery wheels qualify as the first bona fide use of this technology. Used to form aesthetically-pleasing symmetrical pottery from soft clay, humans first used them in Mesopotamia about 5,000 years ago. The use of a fixed axle is what causes the radius of the revolving wheel to remain constant, and that fixed radius is what provides the “mojo” in the system because nearly all the energy put into turning the wheel in one direction is transformed into energy in an infinite number of other directions. And, if that wasn’t exciting enough, when the axle is allowed to move (instead of remaining in a fixed position), it can move in a linear direction while the wheel rotates. So simple, yet so astonishing!

It took several hundred years for the wheels and axles used for pottery to be used for transportation. As the log-and-sledge system was used over time, the combination of the rails riding on top of the round logs was transformed into more of a wheel-and-axle design. Wheels cut from solid chunks of tree trunks were attached to carts using round pieces of wood for axles. Depending on the cylindricity of the tree trunk, the wheels performed better or worse, and over time humans learned that more perfect circles performed better as wheels. The wood used was not very durable, and it was heavy compared to its size.

Slowly over time wheels were fashioned to be lighter by removing portions of the wood inside the wheel, and stone and metals were used to create wheels that had better characteristics than those made from just wood. Metal used around the circumference of the wheel made it more durable, and metals used to smooth bearing surfaces substantially reduced the friction created between the wheel and its axle and improved the performance dramatically.

The development of wheeled vehicles advanced hand in hand with the development of roadways. We’ll discuss that technology in the next transportation article, so stay tuned to learn more about pathways.

Kurt Wolter has studied and taught technology - including production, transportation, energy, and communication - for over 30 years. He enjoys trying to better understand technology and its past, present, and future while also attempting journalism. He can be reached at technohistory100@gmail.com.