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A wheelwright (or wainwright) is a person who builds or repairs wheels. Making and balancing a wheel is skilled work.This occupational name eventually became the English surname Wheelwright.
Historically, these tradesmen made wheels for carts and wagons by first constructing the hub, the spokes and the rim/fellows segments 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. Around the middle of the 19th century iron strakes were replaced by a solid iron tire custom made by a blacksmith who first measured each wheel to ensure proper fit. Strakes were lengths of iron that were nailed to the outside of wheels to hold wooden wheels together. Strakes were replaced around the mid-1800s by more dependable iron tires that were fastened to the wooden wheel by both the tight fit of the tire/band as well as tire-bolts. Tire-bolts were less likely than tire-nails to break off because they were flush with the wheel's outer surface. During the second half of the 19th century the use of pre-manufactured iron hubs, and other factory-made wood, iron and rubber wheel parts became increasingly common.
In modern times, wheelwrights continue to make and repair a wide variety of wheels, including those made from wood and banded by iron tires. The word wheelwright remains a term usually used for someone who makes and repairs wheels for horse drawn vehicles, even though it is sometimes used to refer to someone who repairs wheels, wheel alignment, rims, drums, discs and wire spokes on modern vehicles such as automobiles, buses and trucks. Wheels for horse-drawn vehicles continue to be constructed and repaired for use by people who use horse-drawn vehicles for farming, Equine (horse) competitions, and presentations of historical events such as reenactments and living history.
The three books commonly accepted as authoritative on the subject of wheelwrighting are Wheelwrighting : A Modern Introduction by Bruce Morrison and Joyce Morrison, and Wheelmaking: Wooden Wheel Design and Construction, Don Peloubet (Editor), as well as a difficult to acquire book called The Secrets of Wheelwrighting: Tyres by M.C. Hendrikson.
See also
References
Morrison, Bruce; Joyce Morrison (2003). Wheelwrighting : A Modern Introduction, Cottonwood Press. pp.371 (Spiral-bound). ISBN 0973194707, http://www.astragalpress.com/wheelwrighting.htm.
Peloubet (Editor), Don (1996). Wooden Wheel Design and Construction, Carriage Museum of America. pp.248 (paper). ISBN 1879335735, ISBN-13: 978-1879335738, http://www.carriagemuseumlibrary.org/booksale.htm.
Sturt, George (1923). The Wheelwright's Shop, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-09195-0.
Hendrikson, M.C. (1996). The Secrets of Wheelwrighting: Tyres, M.C. and P. Hendrikson. Kariong, N.S.W.. ISBN 0-646-31201-4.
Wright, John; Robert Hurford (1997). Making a wheel, how to make a traditional light English pattern wheel, Natural England Countryside Agency. ISBN 1869964578, http://www.countryside.gov.uk/LAR/archive/publications/makingawheel.asp.