WHE 



WHE 



503 



lion to this part of the country. 

 The grain weighing sixty-two 

 pounds to the bushel, and yielding 

 at the mills in this quarter, forty- 

 five pounds of flour, in quality 

 equal, I think, to the best Balti- 

 more." — Massachusetts Agricultu- 

 ral Repository^ Vol. VI. pp. 32, 3. 



WHEEL, a simple machine, 

 consisting of a round piece of mat- 

 ter, revolving on an axis. It is one 

 of the principal mechanic powers. 



As the farmer has much occa- 

 sion for using wheel carriages, 

 something ought to be said of wheels 

 in a work of this kind. And per- 

 haps the following observations may 

 be advantageous to those who have 

 been most destitute of information. 



1 . The wheels of carriages must 

 be exactly round. For if the nave 

 were out of the centre, the wheel 

 in turning would be affected in the 

 same manner upon plain ground, 

 as other wheels are where the 

 ground is uneven ; and the diffi- 

 culty of the draught is in the same 

 manner increased. For this rea- 

 son, wooden wheels, which are de- 

 signed to go on the roads, should 

 always be shod with iron ; because 

 those which are not, by wearing 

 faster in some parts of the rim than 

 in others, soon lose their circular 

 form, and become harder to draw, 

 jolting up and down on the most 

 level way. 



2. The felloes or the rim, must 

 be at right angles with the naves, 

 or hubs, notwithstanding the incli- 

 nation of the spokes ; for other 

 wise the wheels will not move re- 

 gularly in the ruts, but form a 

 crooked track upon the ground, 

 just as it does when the axis is too 



small to fill the hole, or boxes, in 

 the nave. This is as really detri- 

 mental to the going of wheels as 

 their being out of round. The 

 spokes, in this case, will not be all 

 equally inclined to the nave, and 

 the wheel will have the less 

 strength, and will be more liable to 

 be broken in moving upon an un- 

 even place. 



3. The spokes must be so set in 

 the nave as to incline outwards. 

 This would be needless and wrong, 

 if wheels were always to be moved 

 on a perfect plane ; for they would 

 bear the load perpendicularly. But 

 as wheels must olten go upon un- 

 even places, and fall into holes and 

 ruts, and as the wheel that is low- 

 est bears a greater part of the load 

 than the other, and sometimes al- 

 most the whole of it ; it is necessary 

 that the wheel should become per- 

 pendicular at the moment of its 

 sinking in the part under the nave. 

 Dishing wheels are also less 

 liable to be overset than perpen- 

 dicular ones. But this might be 

 prevented by using a longer axle. 



4. The axletree must be at right 

 angles with the shaft, or tongue, of 

 a cart or waggon. Otherwise it 

 will not move straight forwards in 

 the track, or directly after the team, 

 but sideways. But the axle should 

 be so set in the naves, that the 

 wheels may be gathering forward, 

 as it is called, that is, that the fore 

 parts of the rims may be a little 

 nearer together than the hinder 

 parts. Oth( rwise the wheels will 

 not so easily keep in the ruts, as 

 will appear evidently to any one 

 that takes notice of their going. 

 And the axle is usually so inserted 



