Hooping Wheels
Measuring & Cutting the iron
Cart wheels were measured for their tyres,
using a wheel measure rolled round the edge. Then a strip of tyre iron
was cut, a fraction of an inch short of the right length to go round
it. The amount of this "nip" depended directly on the size of the wheel.
This wheel is being re-tyred after a new section of felloe (wooden rim)
has been put in place by the wheelwright.
Move your mouse over the wheel to point out
the measuring tool and the place where the wheel has been mended.
Heating & rolling
The
smith heated the iron, rolled it through a machine with three rollers
to produce a circle and welded it shut. Then he heated it again to expand
it, so it would slip easily onto the wheel. This time it was heated
outdoors on a turf or peat fire because it was often too big for the
forge to heat it evenly.
Cart tyres - all that is
left after a wooden cart wheel rots away. These are over 4 feet in diameter.
Fitting
The
smith and his assistants put the wooden wheel face down on a big circular
metal "hooping plate". The plate was about 6 feet across and it was
often sited near a stream; until recently [2002] there was one in a
yard near the road at Newton Reigny, Penrith. The men brought the hot
tyre quickly from the fire to the hooping plate, carrying it with pincers.
Cooling
Then they cooled the hot tyre with a
big bucket of water - quickly to prevent the whole wheel catching fire!
As the metal cooled it shrank tightly into place on the wheel. Too much
"nip" could wreck a light construction like this gig wheel, so it was
a tense time.If the job had been done well, the wheel could go on to
give decades more work.
