Does anyone know what was used for wheel bearings in olden days? Conestoga wagons always have a grease bucket hanging on the side. Did they have wood axles? I’m thinking wood wheel turning on a wood axle = smoke.
Civil war artillery seems to have the same heavy type wheels as the wagons of the day. It’s possible they had iron axle and bronze bushing?
Did buggies and carriages and stage coaches all use the same system?
Thanks in advance!
Not wood, steel. The ends of the axle were lined with a steel skein, and the wheels had steel or iron linings inside.
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I didn’t notice the type of wood mentioned in **silenus’ **post but, a lot of the wagon wheels and hubs were made out of Black Locust wood. It was common in the Ohio valley area. I have a stand outside my house that is about a hundred years old. Damn hard and heavy wood that can be steamed and set into the metal rim of a wagon wheel. It does not shrink or crack like many other woods. My neighbor once joked that they were planted here in case somebody needed to build a wagon to get back East, (we are in Oregon).
It’s all ball bearings nowadays.
I don’t know but I happened to be reading the “Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman”. early in the book he talks about being in Monterey in January 1847 and comments " Not a single modern wagon or cart was to be had in Monterey, nothing but the old Mexican cart with wooden wheels, drawn by two or three pairs of oxen, yoked by the horns."