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27-592: As early as 1883, Mitchell, Lewis & Company were manufacturing two-wheel and four-wheel wagons in Racine, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Wheel Works was established in the 1890s by the wagon maker Mitchell & Lewis Company, Ltd., to manufacture bicycles and the company developed a motorcycle in 1900. The firm began manufacturing automobiles in 1903 as the Mitchell Motor Car Company. The company's first models were

54-459: A chain driven and water-cooled four-stroke 4 hp and two-stroke 7hp runabout , with tiller steering and a two-speed planetary transmission . The cars were designed by John W. Bates, a Chicago engineer. 1904 brought air-cooling and the addition of a four-cylinder model. By 1907 four-cylinders only were produced, improved with shaft drive on all models and all engines water-cooled. Mitchell participated in many automobile contests to show

81-536: A car of his own called the Friend in Pontiac, Michigan. A General Electric executive named D.C. Durland was appointed as the new president. In 1916 the four-cylinder Mitchell was dropped, and a V-8 was built that year, but from 1917 only six-cylinder cars were produced. The Mitchell introduced in 1920 had a sloping radiator configuration and was given the epithet of "drunken Mitchell.” This styling mistake hurt sales. In 1922

108-404: A metal channel. Due to age or dry climate, a wheel would shrink and the metal hoop tyre would become loose. Routinely, the hoop would be removed, 'shrunk', heated and refitted to make the wheel tight again. Tools to shrink the hoops were called "tire upsetters" or "tire shrinkers". During the industrial age, iron strakes were replaced by a solid iron tyre custom made by a blacksmith after

135-475: A million-mile test was done by 109 Mitchell “White Streaks” which resulted in good publicity. With the effects of styling mistakes, competition from mass producers of automobiles and the post-war depression , output had plummeted to less than 2,500 in both 1920 and 1921. Mitchell Motors Company, Inc. filed for bankruptcy in June 1923. Sales of unfinished automobiles and raw materials continued into 1924. In February 1924

162-399: A runabout at $ 950 (equivalent to $ 29,994 in 2023) to a limousine at $ 2,250 (equivalent to $ 71,038 in 2023) and Mitchell would remain in this mid-price market. French engineer Rene Petard was imported to design a new series of T-head engines which were introduced for the 1913 model year. These were called "The American built French car" in advertisements. Financial issues in 1913 caused

189-568: A term usually used for someone who makes and repairs wheels for horse-drawn vehicles, although 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 such vehicles for farming , competitions and presentations of historical events such as reenactments and living history . A modern wooden wheel generally consists of three main parts,

216-508: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This equine-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Wheelwright A wheelwright is a craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels . The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word " wright " (which comes from the Old English word " wryhta ", meaning a worker or shaper of wood) as in shipwright and arkwright . This occupational name became

243-401: Is a protective strip that goes outside the felloes. Tyres were make of iron or steel, usually as a hoop and fitted hot around the rim. As it cooled and shrank it tightened the joints of the spokes-to-felloes and spokes-to-nave, strengthening the wheel and making it more rigid. Metal tyres are very noisy on hard road surfaces, so many carriages wheels were made with solid rubber tyres fitted into

270-403: Is substituted for Oak and Ash as it is easier to bend for mass production and is quite springy for light wheels that require a bit of flexibility. The Elm is used for its interwoven grain, this prevents the nave from splitting with the force of the spokes being driven in tight. The Oak is used because it doesn't bend, compress or flex and transfers any load pressures directly from the felloes to

297-457: The hub . One end of each spoke is set into the nave in a process called tennoning . In older wheels, the nave had a 6-inch sleeve that fit over the axle to keep the wheel from wobbling; it required frequent greasing. More modern carriage wheels use bearings . Spokes are wooden sticks that fit into the nave at one end, and into the felloe at the other end. A felloe is one of several curved pieces of wood that when pieced together make

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324-483: The nave or hub at the centre of the wheel, the spokes radiating out from the centre and the felloes or rims around the outside. Generally the wheel would be bound by a steel or iron tyre depending on its historical period and purpose. The main timbers used in a traditional wooden wheel are Elm for the nave, Oak for the spokes and Ash for the felloes although this can vary in some areas depending on availability of timber, climate and style of production. Sometimes Hickory

351-457: The English surname Wright . It also appears in surnames like Cartwright and Wainwright . It corresponds with skilful metal workers being called Smith. These tradesmen made wheels for carts (cartwheels), wagons (wains), traps and coaches and the belt drives of steam powered machinery . They also made the wheels, and often the frames, for spinning wheels . First constructing the hub (called

378-745: The Mitchell factory was sold to Nash Motors and the Ajax automobile would be produced there. Wainwright (occupation) A wainwright or cartwright is a trades person skilled in the making and repairing of wagons and carts . The word wainwright is the combination of the archaic words " wain " (a large wagon for farm use) and "wright" (a worker or maker), originating from the Old English wægnwyrhta . A master wainwright employs several craftsmen, including wheelwrights , blacksmiths and painters . A carriagemaker specializes in making carriages . This job-, occupation-, or vocation-related article

405-553: The fours and five-bearing crankshafts on the six-cylinders. Mitchell built virtually all of the components for their cars, and the company enjoyed a reputation as a quality builder of medium-priced cars. Mitchell annual production was growing steadily from 82 cars in 1904 to 1,377 in 1907, 2,946 in 1909, 5,614 in 1910 and to just over 6,000 in 1912. This made them the leading car maker in Wisconsin. A small production of trucks and buses were run from 1905 to 1908. Pricing in 1912 ran from

432-479: The nave), the spokes and the rim segments called felloes, (pronounced fell low), 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

459-540: The nave. The Ash is used for its flexibility and springy nature, this acts as a form of suspension and protects against shock damage. In the second half of the 20th century, wheelwright training faded away due to a lack of demand for new wooden wheels. The skills were kept alive by small businesses, museums, societies and trusts such as The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (USA) and The Countryside Agency (UK). The Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights in London (UK) maintains

486-421: The overall appearance of the wheel barely changed but subtle changes to the design such as dishing and staggered spokes helped keep up with the demands of a changing world. These small changes in design made a massive improvement to the strength of the wheel whilst reducing its weight; vehicles then became more efficient to build and use. Early wooden wheels were solid, made from slabs of trees. They were heavy but

513-402: The power and reliability of their new four-cylinder cars. William T. Lewis retired in 1910 and William M. Lewis took over. The wagon business and automobile company were combined into Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company. The 1910 line of Mitchell's included two four-cylinder models and a new six-cylinder model was introduced. The Mitchell engines were cast in pairs with three-bearing crankshafts on

540-478: The retirement of William Mitchell Lewis from the company and with Rene Petard, he started a new company to produce a car called the Lewis. A banker, Joseph Winterbottom, Jr. became president of Mitchell-Lewis. The firm was reorganized as Mitchell Motors Company, Inc. in 1916 and Mitchell sales manager Otis Friend took over the presidency. Sales in 1917 reached a record 10,938. Otis Friend left in 1918 and subsequently built

567-413: The rim of a wheel. They are fitted onto the outer ends of the spokes. Sometimes spelled "felly". The number of felloes required to make a circle varied by region, era and size of wheel—with a minimum of two half-circles of bent wood, to multiple felloes per wheel with at least two spokes per felloe. The rim is the outer edge of a wheel, although some refer to the tyre as rim. The tyre or tire

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594-412: The simple construction did not requiring much skill. Wheels with spokes were lighter. They could be constructed with smaller trees and built larger in diameter because they were not limited by the size of trees in the region. However, spoked wheels required precise spacing and careful calculations to construct a perfect circle. It is thought that the special craft of wheelwright started with the invention of

621-455: The spoke. Rural areas without access to a wheelwright continued to make solid wheels. Due to the skill and experience required for making wheels, in Europe the wheelwright was formed into an identifiable trade. The basic parts of a wooden wheel are nave (or hub), spokes, felloes (felly) and tyre (tire). The nave is the central block of the wheel. In a wooden-spoked wheel, the nave acts as

648-593: The village wheelwright obsolete. With the onset of two world wars , the trade soon went into decline and was very rare by the 1960s and almost extinct by the year 2000. However, owing to the efforts of organisations like the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights, wheelwrights still continue to operate in the UK. In modern times, wheelwrights continue to make and repair a wide variety of wheels, including those made from wood and banded by iron tyres. The word wheelwright remains

675-519: The wheels with nails, or tyre bolts. The metal tyres were drilled before being placed on the wheel. Tyre-bolts were less likely than tyre-nails to fall off because they were bolted through the felloes. Both countersunk and flush finished to 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. Companies such as Henry Ford 's developed manufacturing processes that soon made

702-409: The wheelwright had measured each wheel to ensure proper fit. Iron tyres were always made slightly smaller than the wheel in circumference. They were expanded by heating in a fire, and while hot they were hammered, and pulled by a levered hook, onto the rim of the wheel. The hot tyre was then cooled by placing it into water. This shrank it onto the wood, and closed the wooden joints. Tyres were fastened to

729-405: 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. Straking was considered to be a less skilled practice and could be done with less knowledge and equipment, this made the wheels easier to service without the need for a blacksmith. Over millennia

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