Abstract:
Rim manufacturing technology is an important part of wheel manufacturing, and plays a vital role in vehicle production. In this study, through a combination of the Pre-Qin period classics and literature records, traditional vehicle making techniques, and investigations regarding unearthed vehicle remains, the wheel rim making techniques used in the Pre-Qin Chariot are discussed in detail. Saw cutting rim sheet production technology and “kneading” technology of wheel rim are the two main types of traditional spoked wheel rim making techniques. Influenced by the structural characteristics of wheel rims and metal processing tools, in Pre-Qin period, the rim making technique used in the spoked chariot was mainly comprised of the kneading technique. Currently, the physical evidence of kneaded wooden rims is excavated from the Middle and late Warring States Period in Huaian, Jiangsu Province. The principle of the Pre-Qin wheel rims’ bending process involves changing the physical properties of wood via high temperature external force and using corresponding auxiliary tools to achieve the circle of the rim. The wheel rim arrangement for pre-Qin chariots is commonly used in two rim arrangements; however, three or four rim arrangements may exist.