It’s funny how we use the phrase “reinventing the wheel” as if that’s a bad thing. It’s not like the wheel was completely perfect the first time it was invented. Neolithic wheels were basically logs that maybe had a hole in the middle. Throughout human history, all sorts of improvements have been made to wheel technology. They were made thinner, rounder, stronger. People learned how to make wheels out of metal, learned to use wheels in machinery like gears and pulleys. Spokes were invented, drastically reducing the material needed to make a sturdy wheel and making wheels lighter and stronger.
However, even all these inventions still weren’t enough. After use on various vehicles, from carts to carriages, wheels wore down over time. So people invented devices to protect the rim. The first of these devices were bands of leather or metal, made to fit tightly around the edge. But after the industrial revolution, there was a new invention, made of rubber and filled with air to withstand shocks and jolts. This was the advent of the tyre.
And tyres have kept on advancing in the past century and a half or so. They’ve been given treads, become stronger, and now have tyre sensors attached so that drivers can tell when they’re losing pressure. No more do tyres have to slowly deflate without anyone knowing – there is now the tyre pressure monitoring system, which allows drivers to gauge the pneumatic pressure and fix it up if it goes outside the range that it should be. The TPMS is just the latest technology in a long line of people reinventing the wheel over and over again, making transport easier, cheaper, and safer for everyone. With this invention, tyres will last longer, saving you fuel, money, and time, and keeping you up with the twenty-first century.