OCT. 22 ISSUE ANSWERS: Romeo was full of wainwrights and wheelwrights. Wainwrights build or repair wagons or buggies. This happened at the many carriage shops in Romeo such as the Peninsular Carriage Company, the Hill Cart Company, the Romeo Carriage Company or the Brabb and Smith Carriage Company. Wheels or tires had to be manufactured too. When someone’s wheel was damaged in Romeo, the person brought the problem to Clyde Craig. Other individuals in the village could handle the job too. The Clyde Craig Blacksmith Museum displays Craig’s wheelwright bench. A collection of the wheelwright’s tools is sitting on the bench. A spoke set gauge was used to set the angle of the spoke. The angle was turned outward so the wheel actually formed a cone. This provided spring to the wheel. Because the metal covered axel was pitched downward, the wheel was pushed outward. The wheel was also mounted towed in to prevent the wheel from falling off. There were a lot of angles to get the wheel right. There is a very powerful device to pry off the old steel tire from the wood fellies that form the round wheel. The fellies are cut from a block

OCT. 22 ISSUE ANSWERS: Romeo was full of wainwrights and wheelwrights. Wainwrights build or repair wagons or buggies. This happened at the many carriage shops in Romeo such as the Peninsular Carriage Company, the Hill Cart Company, the Romeo Carriage Company or the Brabb and Smith Carriage Company. Wheels or tires had to be manufactured too. When someone’s wheel was damaged in Romeo, the person brought the problem to Clyde Craig. Other individuals in the village could handle the job too. The Clyde Craig Blacksmith Museum displays Craig’s wheelwright bench. A collection of the wheelwright’s tools is sitting on the bench. A spoke set gauge was used to set the angle of the spoke. The angle was turned outward so the wheel actually formed a cone. This provided spring to the wheel. Because the metal covered axel was pitched downward, the wheel was pushed outward. The wheel was also mounted towed in to prevent the wheel from falling off. There were a lot of angles to get the wheel right. There is a very powerful device to pry off the old steel tire from the wood fellies that form the round wheel. The fellies are cut from a block of wood and are not bent into a round shape. There are maybe seven fellies that when connected form the round wheel. The spokes are mounted carefully into the hub and are attached into the fellies. A protective tire is mounted around the connected fellies. Rubber tires were used instead of steel on smaller carriages. A steel tire is smaller than the wooden wheel. That is why the steel tire must be heated very hot to make it expand, before the tire is dropped over the repaired wheel. It is then quickly doused with lots of water to shrink it around the wooden wheel. The wooded wheel would catch fire without the water. Clyde probably needed an assistant to do this process.
Constructing a wooden hub from start to finish was probably too much of a job for Clyde. About 1850 the Sarven metal hub was invented to make wheel construction much easier. Looking around the museum, the wheelwright part of the business might have been the hardest and most intricate. A visit to the museum would help to understand the art of the wheelwright.
—Richard Beringer
Craig Blacksmith Museum Curator