Wheelwright

A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker. This occupational name eventually became the English surname Wheelwright.

These tradesmen made wheels for carts and wagons by first constructing the hub (called the nave), the spokes and the rim/felloe segments (pronounced fellies) and assembling them all into a unit working from the center of the wheel outwards. Most wheels were made from wood, but other materials have been used, such as bone and horn, for decorative or other purposes. Some earlier construction for wheels such as those used in early chariots were bound by rawhide that would be applied wet and would shrink whilst drying, compressing and binding the woodwork together. After many centuries wheels evolved to be straked with iron, a method of nailing iron plates onto the felloes to protect against wear on the ground and to help bind the wheel together.

Wheelwright (disambiguation)

A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels.

Wheelwright may also refer to:

Places

Other uses

See also

Wheelwright (surname)

Wheelwright is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: