I. INTRODUCTION

In human history, the wheel is considered one of the most important inventions, because it found use in a wide range of applications such as transportation vehicles, construction equipment, and internal parts of machinery. Like most inventions, the wheel was a development of earlier devices such as rollers, dating to the Bronze age over 5000 years ago, used to move heavy objects. Wheeled vehicles were recorded in Sumeria in 3500 BC, Assyria in 3000 BC, and central Europe toward 1000 BC. Four-wheeled wagons using a swiveling front axle for steering were recorded in 1500 BC.

With the introduction of swifter horses from the Asiatic Steppes into Mesopotamia, the cart was adapted for military applications. The spoked wheel was introduced and then given its first tire, consisting of first a leather and then copper and iron binding to prevent damage to the wooden wheel frame.

The next most important event was probably in 1846 when Thompson was granted a patent for an elastomeric air tube, to be fixed onto a wheel to reduce the power to haul a carriage, make motion easier, and reduce noise. This concept was much refined in the 1880s when the first pneumatic tire was developed for use on tricycles.

The discovery of vulcanization by Charles Goodyear in 1839 and the industrialization of Europe and North America...