For about two decades thereafter, steering wheels were incredibly simple: wooden circles directly connected to the wheel axis. They served no other task and could be extremely hard to turn, especially at low speeds or when stationary. Though power steering patents were circulating as early as the steering wheel itself, it was quite a long time before these systems were used. In the 1920s, an engineer named Francis W. Davis wanted to make truck driving a little easier and invented the first power steering system to be fitted into a vehicle, which was inspired by earlier work on power steering systems used in ships. 