Caisson (vehicle)

“ Caissons for heavy work on difficult or treacherous ground require great care, not only in their construction, but also in placing them in exact position, and in sinking them correctly to their proper depth. A tilted caisson is a most difficult subject to handle, and entails heavy expenditure to restore it to a true vertical position. By making careful borings, the engineer can ascertain very closely the depth to which the caisson will have to be lowered to obtain a good firm foundation. ”

“ At the present time probably not one per cent, of the owners of motor-cars have a suitable coach-house for this new class of vehicle. They are generally placed in sheds or outbuildings, more often damp than dry, or in coach-houses built for horse-drawn carriages. Few recognise that the motor-car is a far more delicate article than the horse-drawn carriage, most people having grown up in the common belief that anything to do with machinery is strong, and will bear knocking about. ”

“ The "Tribus" carried three passengers, and the entrance was at the rear, the driver's seat being removed further to the "off-side." The cabman was thus able to open or shut the door without descending from his seat. There were five windows to the vehicle, two being in front, one on each side, and one behind—beneath the driver's seat. Small safety wheels—such as can be seen at the present day attached to many omnibuses—were fixed to the front of the "Tribus" to prevent the vehicle pitching forward in the event of the horse falling, a shaft breaking, or a wheel coming off. ”

“ Finally, if instead of a caisson open at top, the caisson is covered in like a bell or gasholder, and the water is forced out by forcing air in, thereby allowing the workmen to enter and excavate in the dry, it is called a caisson worked by the pneumatic process. ”

“ To be able to travel cheaply and quickly was a pleasing novelty to Londoners, but many of them lived to regret having trusted themselves in a cab, for the drivers, proud of being able to pass hackney and private coaches, were fond of showing the superior speed, and while doing so frequently ran against street posts or collided with other vehicles; and when either of these things happened, or the horse fell, the "fare" was usually pitched forward into the road. This danger, coupled with the difficulty of climbing into a cab, prevented old men and women from patronising the new vehicle. ”

“ Being, however, simple in construction, taking up little space, and requiring no chamber or machinery for moving it, this form of caisson is generally used for closing the entrance to a graving dock, where it remains for several days in place during the execution of repairs to a vessel in the dock. A ship caisson only requires the admission of sufficient water to sink it when in position across the entrance to a graving dock ”

“ In the matter of the driver's cushion, it is well to be above your horse, even in a runabout. This gives better control, more power, and keeps the reins off the horse's back, so that they may come back directly from the pad-terrets to the hand. The cushion should always, in whatever vehicle, be of cloth, and tufted to avoid slipping. You will have enough to do without using your legs as props to hold you on your seat. So much depends upon the physical proportions of the coachman that it is impossible to give figures as to the proper size and slant of cushion. ”

“ There are many people living who have been knocked down by carriages, cabs, omnibuses and vans, and have suffered little or no injury because they happened, by chance or design, to roll under the vehicle and thus escaped all four wheels. But if knocked down by one of the electric cabs no such escape would have been possible, as the accumulator was only a few inches from the ground, and would have crushed to death any one who got beneath it.
ELECTRIC CAB.
Many of our public vehicles are very badly lighted, but no such complaint could be made against the electric cabs. ”

“ Here may be seen vessels of all sorts, from all parts of the world: steamships, junks, tugs, rowboats, and cascos, the last being the name given the native barge for carrying freight. The casco is covered by a roof of matting, made in sliding sections, with a cabin in the stern where the family of the owner lives.
While there is an excellent electric street railway system and plenty of automobiles to be had, the common method of getting about is to 'phone for, or to hail, a passing one-horse vehicle, of which there are three distinct types charging different fares for the same service ”

“ And the train groaned and jolted, roared and banged to a full stop.
Passengers telescoped themselves out of windows, some knocked all a-scramble by the sudden halt, others pale and frightened. Those heads that protruded from fortunate windows saw the engine driver clamber down from his high turret, a lighted cigarette in his hand. And they saw spur forward to meet him, the dusty vaquero, in his mouth a cigarette that was dead.
The vaquero flung himself from his pony. He and the engine driver drew together. A hand of each met, became entwined. ”

“ The event aroused the greatest interest, and the failure of the vehicle to realise the expectations formed of it by no means disheartened the horseless carriage enthusiasts. They declared that before long a reliable horseless carriage would certainly be invented. In 1790 there was a belief that their prophecy had been fulfilled, for invitations were sent out to members of the Society of Arts, engineers, and all interested in mechanics and vehicular tratlie to attend a certain place on a stated day to inspect a horseless carriage, which possessed the additional novelty of having one wheel only. ”

“ In 1836, hackney-coaches, “outrigger” cabriolets, and back-door cabs were still plying for hire, but the immediate and continued success of Chapman’s cab prompted the proprietors of those [Pg 223] decaying vehicles to start similar conveyances. Cabs painted and lettered in close imitation of the new patented vehicle were soon as plentiful as the real ones. Some proprietors, who prided themselves on being very smart, always had the word “not” painted in very small letters before the inscription, “Hansom’s Patent Safety,” believing that this would save them from being prosecuted. ”

“ At the time these cabs were new they may have represented advanced ideas in methods of transportation, in spite of their great weight and bulk, and their general clumsiness, but that was some years ago, when motor vehicle design was still in a relatively undeveloped state. Today conditions are changed, and the cabs have become a relic of an earlier period of automobile development, and appear freakish in comparison with the many examples of modern construction to be seen on the streets. The great objection to them, however, resides in the fact that they are dangerous. ”

“ If such a cushion is unsuited to a coach, it is even more unfit for a two-wheeled cart, because when the off-side wheel drops suddenly into a hole, or strikes the ground after passing over a considerable obstacle, the driver from his leaning position, his legs being straight and rigid, is liable to be shot out of his seat into the road, or deposited on the wing over the wheel, from which latter place a friend of mine informs me he was often so fortunate, when using the objectionable sort of cushion described, as to be able to scramble back into his place without "pulling up." ”

“ At the London Exhibition of 1862, the Messrs. Yarrow and Hilditch, of Barnsbury, near London, exhibited a steam carriage, designed and made by T. W. Cowan, of Greenwich. Eleven passengers, besides the driver and the fireman, were carried and the vehicle with full load weighed two tons and a half. The boiler, of steel, was a vertical multitubular two feet in diameter and three feet nine inches high. The frame of the carriage was of ash, lined with wrought-iron plates, and to the outside of the bottom sill were two iron foundation plates, to which the cylinders and other parts were attached. ”

“ A few minutes later the boy had the tarpaulin off the engine. There was a close examination of the motor, oil cups were newly filled, and a can of lubricator was tied to one of the stanchions. An empty gasoline tank was made fast in the passenger seat, and in a light basket attached to a second stanchion, the busy lad deposited his sweater, water bottle, luncheon, a hatchet, a box of matches, a small hank of seine cord, some screws, wire, and a screw-driver. Then he lashed to the middle-section lower struts a bundle of spruce strips suitable for repairing the frame of the car. ”

“ The Ford grunted and lugged down to a steady pull. Casey drove as he had driven his six horses up a steep grade in the old days, coaxing every ounce of power into action. Now he coaxed with spark and gas and somehow kept her in high, and stopped with nice judgment on a small island of harder clay within shouting distance cf the car ahead. He killed the engine then and stepped down, and went picking his way carefully out to them, his heavy shoes speedily collecting great pancakes of mud that clung like glue. ”

“ In Coaches drawn by horses, the power being without the machine to be moved, it becomes an object of the greatest importance to give as much effect as possible to the power, by diminishing the resistance, arising from the friction of the wheels upon the surface of the road. For this purpose, the proprietors of Coaches and Waggons have adopted every possible contrivance, so to reduce the tires of their wheels, that a very small portion of them may press on the road; in some Coaches they are made circular in their cross section, so that the entire weight of the Carriage presses on a mere point ”

“ If the motor-car in the guise of a private carriage has developed at an astonishing rate, its adaptation to the needs of the community, as a public service vehicle, has been even more rapid. The first cabs placed on the streets of London in 1903 were by no means a success, but the cabs constructed by the French house of Renault and first introduced in London in 1906 rapidly effected a revolutionary change in the means of individual transport. ”

“ The wagon has no doors, but the passengers scramble in the best way they can over the seat of the driver. The wagons are used universally for stage-coaches.”
A vehicle often mentioned by Judge Sewall and contemporary writers is a calash. It was a clumsy thing, an open seat set on a low and heavy pair of wheels. A curricle had two horses, a chaise one; both had what were called whip springs behind and [Pg 258] elbow springs in front. A whisky was a light body fixed in shafts which were connected with long horizontal springs by scroll irons. ”

“ From this we derive our present clarence cab on four wheels, which we may pronounce as the lightest of all four-wheeled close cabs, but it is certainly anything but satisfactory. It carries, it is true, a large quantity of luggage on the roof, besides six persons, and runs along faster than the cabs of most other cities, but it is abominably noisy, and very rough in motion, uneasy and uncomfortable. Whoever will produce an improved four-wheel cab will deserve the thanks of his countrymen. ”

“ Fleming on and since June 1, 1935, was engaged in bona fide operation as a common carrier by motor vehicle 'in driveaway service of new automotive vehicles, finished and unfinished, and new automotive vehicle chassis.' This driveaway or caravaning method of transportation is performed by individual driving of the vehicle under its own power, by driving one vehicle under its own power and towing a second vehicle attached to the first, or by driving under its own power a vehicle upon which another vehicle is partially or wholly mounted. ”

“ At any instant firm rock may cease, silt or sand or an underground stream may make its appearance and the helpless workmen find a ready grave. In work where there is even the slightest expectation of such a contingency the air-lock, with its artificial pressure to hold back the soft earth and moisture is brought into use. In another chapter we shall see how the caisson is operated. Suffice it to say now that the necessity of “working under the air,” brings no comfort to any one. It vastly hinders and complicates the work of construction, and adds greatly to the expense. ”

“ Journey the First, 1760 THE cabriolet spun down the well-kept road between Versailles and Paris; two big Danish dogs ran in front to clear the way. the coachman flourished a long whip that sometimes flicked the ankles or shoulders of pedestrians who were not deft enough in leaping aside.
The cabriolet was so modish and elegant that everyone turned to gaze after it. It would certainly create a new fashion; it was closed, and the upper portion was pale lemon, the lower portion and the great wheels black. ”

“ Here then is mention of a four-wheeled chaise with a perch curved in front after the German fashion. Other chaises for sale had only two wheels:—
“At the Greyhound in West Smithfield is to be sold a Two-Wheeled Chaize, with a pair of Horses well match’d: It has run over a Bank and a Ditch 5 Foot High; and likewise through a deep Pit within the Ring at Hide Park, in the presence of several persons of Quality; which are very satisfied it cannot be overturn’d with fair Driving. It is to be Lett for 7s. ”

“ For adapting it to the use of all drivers, of whatever length of leg, there is a cushion of no fixed dimensions; but it is found that one comfortable for a man of, say, 5 feet 10 inches, and average weight, with a correct seat and slightly bent knees and feet drawn together, will suit nearly all, the shorter man sitting a little forward and the taller one a little back upon the cushion. A box-cushion so thick in its front edge as to chafe the under side of the legs of a driver with a good seat and feet resting naturally against the sloping foot-board, will cause much discomfort. ”