The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word FERRIS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
F
E
R
R
I
S
More clues leading to the result FERRIS
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Inventor of the wheel" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case inventor of the wheel = ferris.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.