<P> An early well - dated depiction of a wheeled vehicle (a wagon--four wheels, two axles) is on the Bronocice pot, a ca . 3635--3370 BCE ceramic vase, excavated in a Funnelbeaker culture settlement in southern Poland . </P> <P> The oldest known example of a wooden wheel and its axle was found in 2002 at the Ljubljana Marshes some 20 km south of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia . According to radiocarbon dating, it is between 5,100 and 5,350 years old . The wheel was made of ash and oak and had a radius of 70 cm and the axle was 120 cm long and made of oak . </P> <P> In Roman Egypt, Hero of Alexandria identified the wheel and axle as one of the simple machines used to lift weights . This is thought to have been in the form of the windlass which consists of a crank or pulley connected to a cylindrical barrel that provides mechanical advantage to wind up a rope and lift a load such as a bucket from the well . </P> <P> The simple machine called a wheel and axle refers to the assembly formed by two disks, or cylinders, of different diameters mounted so they rotate together around the same axis. The thin rod which needs to be turned is called the axle and the wider object fixed to the axle, on which we apply force is called the wheel . A tangential force applied to the periphery of the large disk can exert a larger force on a load attached to the axle, achieving mechanical advantage . When used as the wheel of a wheeled vehicle the smaller cylinder is the axle of the wheel, but when used in a windlass, winch, and other similar applications (see medieval mining lift to right) the smaller cylinder may be separate from the axle mounted in the bearings . It cannot be used separately . </P>

Ideal mechanical advantage of a wheel and axle