what were the first cars wheels made of; why were they so skinny (like on steam cars). where they just iron or wood? perhaps they were solid rubber.
The very earliest cars were little more than carts with engines. They were made by coach builders and the wheels were wooden, originally with iron tyres - which literally 'tied' the wooden spokes together - hence the name. Many early cars were also built with wire wheels, which resembled bicycle wheels. Wooden wheels often had solid rubber tyres - these were quite thin. Although pneumatic tyres were invented as early as 1888 by John Dunlop they were used for bicycles, and few early cars with bicycle-like wire wheels. Michelin experimented unsuccessfully with pneumatic tyres on an automobile in 1895, but it wasn't until 1911 that reliable tyres with inner tubes were developed. Wooden wheels with solid rubber tyres were still used on trucks and buses into the 1920s, and many cars had wooden wheels until around 1926, when welded steel and wire wheels came into vogue.
Ancient amazing innovations are unique inspiring of where were as soon as had been and can give additional appreciation for what's and where we might be going. Some much history is handiest on a page of a guide and trains steam are 3 dimensions - huge, laoud, interesting to peer. We have a coach museum about 35 miles away with maintained working steam engines. I guess i revel in riding on practically anything that moves. I'm still waiting for my anti-gravity automobile of the future that standard Mechanics magazine promised after I was a child.
