Editing Wheelwright (section)

== Industrial age ==
[[File:Maréchal Grossier (Wheelwrights).png|thumb|This plate published in a volume of [[Encyclopédie]] in 1769 shows both methods of shoeing a wheel. In the centre the labourers are using hammers and "devil's claws" to fit a hoop onto the felloe, and on the right they're hammering strakes into place.]]

During the industrial age, iron strakes were replaced by a solid [[iron]] tyre custom made by a [[blacksmith]] after the wheelwright had measured each wheel to ensure proper fit. Iron tyres were always made slightly smaller than the wheel in circumference. They were expanded by heating in a fire, and while hot they were hammered, and pulled by a levered hook, onto the rim of the wheel. The hot tyre was then cooled by placing it into water. This shrank it onto the wood, and closed the wooden joints. Tyres were fastened to the wheels with nails, or tyre bolts. The metal tyres were drilled before being placed on the wheel. Tyre-bolts were less likely than tyre-nails to fall off because they were bolted through the felloes. Both countersunk and flush finished to the wheel's outer surface.

During the second half of the 19th century, the use of pre-manufactured iron hubs and other factory-made wood, iron and rubber wheel parts became increasingly common. Companies such as [[Henry Ford]]'s developed manufacturing processes that soon made the village wheelwright obsolete. With the onset of two [[world war]]s, the trade soon went into decline and was very rare by the 1960s and almost extinct by the year 2000. However, owing to the efforts of organisations like the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights, wheelwrights still continue to operate in the UK.<ref name=Civsmith>{{cite book |author=David Einhorn |title=Civil War Blacksmithing |publisher=CreateSpace Publishers |year=2010 |isbn=978-1456364816 }}</ref>

In modern times, wheelwrights continue to make and repair a wide variety of wheels, including those made from wood and banded by iron tyres. The word ''wheelwright'' remains a term usually used for someone who makes and repairs wheels for horse-drawn vehicles, although it is sometimes used to refer to someone who repairs wheels, wheel alignment, rims, [[drum brake|drums]], [[disc brake|discs]] and wire [[spoke]]s on modern vehicles such as [[automobile]]s, [[bus]]es and [[truck]]s. Wheels for [[horse-drawn vehicles]] continue to be constructed and repaired for use by people who use such vehicles for [[farming]], competitions and presentations of historical events such as [[Historical reenactment|reenactment]]s and [[living history]].