Horse-drawn carriage

“ Steam Waggons will require very broad wheels, and there is no danger of doing injury to the road by them, for they will not get along if the wheels are too narrow, but narrow-wheeled waggons drawn by horses may do an injury to any extent, for extra horses may be put on, and they will injure the road with their feet at the same time that they draw a Carriage after them, which also injures the road. ”

“ By the evidence laid before this committee it was satisfactorily established, not only that carriages propelled by steam were not more injurious than carriages drawn by horses, but that they were considerably less so. To adapt horse coaches to move with the speed necessary for travelling, and for despatches, the tires of the wheels should be of very limited breadth ”

“ Springfield Mechanics Devise a New Mode of Travel.
Ingenious Wagon Now Being Made in This City for Which the Makers Claim Great Things.
A new motor carriage, which, if the preliminary tests prove successful as is expected, will revolutionize the mode of travel on highways, and do away with the horse as a means of transportation, is being made in this city. It is quite probable that within a short time one may be able to see an ordinary carriage in almost every respect, running along the streets or climbing country hills without visible means of propulsion. ”

“ Until the Pullman sleepers were introduced into Britain, the sight of a car resting on eight wheels was unprecedented, as no one thought of doubting the entire security from danger of a carriage with only four points of support. Indeed, the conservative Briton saw no more real necessity for a railway carriage having eight wheels than for a horse to have more than four legs. ”

“ At the height of the season, when travel was heavy and roads dry, the Standard Concord Coach was employed. At other times, a vehicle commonly termed a “mud wagon” was put to use. During this era of horse-drawn vehicles, the trains of pack mules were, of course, replaced by great freight wagons. Today, in driving over the old wagon roads, one is led to wonder how passenger vehicles succeeded in passing the great freight outfits. ”

“ The tires being truly cylindrical and not dished, the wheels act upon the road in the manner of rollers, and, instead of wearing it, rather tend to consolidate and render it smooth and firm. Thus a steam-carriage, compared with a horse carriage, in as far as relates to the wheels only, is much less injurious to the road, if, indeed, it can be said to be injurious at all. ”

“ These cars naturally jolt very much. There is nothing to take hold of, and it requires some care to avoid being thrown out. The draught consists of three horses abreast; over the centre one a wooden arch is fixed, on which hang two or three bells, which continually made a most disagreeable noise. In addition to this, imagine the rattling of the carriage, and the shouting of the driver, who is always in great activity urging on the poor animals, and it may be easily understood that, as is often the case, the carriage arrives at the station without the travellers. ”

“ It is a great point, as regards the appearance of a carriage, that the horses should be suited to it. The most elegant little carriage in the world would look ridiculous if drawn by a pair of heavy cart-horses; and when a very heavy-looking carriage is drawn by ponies, or very light blood-horses, the unpleasant impression produced by the incongruity is increased by a feeling of pain at seeing such noble creatures as horses subjected to labour unsuited for them. ”

“ Between the hind springs is a rumble for two footmen; there is no driving seat, as the carriage is intended to be drawn only by horses ridden postilion. The panels are painted in purple lake considerably brighter than is usual in order to secure greater effect ”

“ 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. ”

“ The pole was small but lapp’d with fine wire; the perch had a plate underneath, two cords went on each side from the back carriage to the fore carriage, fastened to springs: the harness was of thin leather189 covered with silk; the seat, for the man to sit on, was of leather straps and covered with velvet; the axles of the wheel were brass, and had tins of oil to drop slowly for an hour. The breechens for the horses were whale-bone; the bars were small wood, straightened with steel-springs, as were most parts of the carriage, but all so light that a man could carry the whole with the harness. ”

“ Every second the distance between the carriages diminishes. Occasionally more fashionable equipages mingle in the oft-interrupted procession. The carriages no longer dash along. Finally, about five or six hours before dark, the individual horses and carriages condense into a compact line, which, arresting itself and arrested by new vehicles from every side street, obviously belies the truth of the old proverb: "It is better to ride in a poor carriage than to go on foot." ”

“ About twenty years ago a carriage was invented in the form of a gondola; it is long, and will hold sixteen persons sitting face to face; the door is behind, and this plan ought to be generally adopted, as the only means of escaping a great danger when the horses run away. What adds to the singularity of these carriages is, that they have eight wheels; thus dividing equally the weight, they are less liable to be overturned, or cut up the roads; they are, besides, very low and easy. ”

“ The quick-travelling Carriages on the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, when drawn by the last improved Engines, are extremely easy in their motion.
Is it your opinion, that a road would suffer less injury, from the fore and hind wheels of a Steam Carriage following each other, in the same tracks on the road, than if they run on different tracks?—That depends upon what kind of action the wheels exert on the road ”

“ But the sense of the mischief which must have ensued, if I had not succeeded in getting into the machine at the proper place, and stopping it at the right moment was so strong, as to deter me from trying any more experiments on this carriage in such a dangerous place. Such should never be attempted except on a large common, at a distance from a high road. It may not however be amiss to suggest, that upon a large extent of iron rail-way, in an open country, carriages properly constructed, might make profitable voyages from time to time with sails instead of horses ”

“ Some of the experimental Carriages bad three, some six wheels; all will have four wheels—Some have the Engines in a separate Carriage, and draw the load; some carry the load and Engines on one Carriage. Taking the above circumstances into consideration, which would be most injurious to a road—a Stage Coach, drawn by four horses, weight of Coach three tons, horses two tons, breadth of tire two inches and a half; or Steam Coach, wheels four inches tire, weight four tons ”

“ Women only appear in this carriage, the men riding behind it.
“Nothing,” remarks M. Jusserand, “gives a better idea of the encumbering, awkward luxury which formed the splendour of civil life during this century than the structure of these heavy machines. The best had four wheels; three or four horses drew them, harnessed in a row, the postilion being mounted on one, armed with a short-handled whip of many thongs; solid beams rested on the axles, and above this framework rose an archway rounded like a tunnel; as a whole, ungraceful enough. ”

“ If, however, you wish to take a clear survey, you will find that they resemble a species of cabriolet, but the two immense wheels are placed behind the body of the carriage, which rests upon springs between the wheels and the horses, and for the most part is supported by them. A postillion, who is always a negro in large projecting riding boots, is mounted upon the horse, which is considerably in advance of the carriage itself. ”

“ They carry a tin plate between their shoulders with a number on it; never drive with blinkers, and rarely use a whip, but having a rein in each hand, urge on their little horses at great speed over the uneven pavement without once coming down, so far as we observed.
There are other carriages like our English cabs drawn by one or two horses, but the droshky is in most general use. ”

“ Finally, suspended under the carriage, in a sort of coarse rope network with large meshes, which swings backwards and forwards at every movement of the vehicle, is a shapeless and incomprehensible mass, which cries, laughs, sings, screams, shouts, and bellows, all by turns and none for long together, and the nature of which it is impossible to distinguish, dimly seen as it is through the clouds of dust raised by the horses' feet. ”

“ Besides, a pony-carriage that is intended only to carry a light weight, and to run over smooth turf or a good road, need not be built so strongly as a travelling carriage, which is to convey luggage as well as passengers, and which will be exposed to all the rough treatment it is likely to meet with at inns, as well as the shaking it will probably undergo from the different kinds of roads to be driven over. ”

“ In the next place, and parallel with the motor truck, there will develop the hired or privately owned motor carriage. This, for all except the longest journeys, will add a fine sense of personal independence to all the small conveniences of first-class railway travel. It will be capable of a day's journey of three hundred miles or more, long before the developments to be presently foreshadowed arrive. One will change nothing—unless it is the driver—from stage to stage. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Portugal the old classic bullock-cart on this principle is still to be seen, and it has been reasonably guessed that such carts tell the story how wheel-carriages came to be invented. Rollers were early used, on which a block of stone or other heavy weight was trundled. Suppose such a roller made of a smoothed tree-trunk to be improved by cutting the middle part smaller, so that it became an axle and pair of broad wheels in one piece, then by making this axle work underneath the rudest framework, the simplest imaginable wheel-carriage is made. ”

“ To follow further the rapid development of the railroad in America would require many volumes. As the canal building fever had seized the fancy of the American public in preceding years, so a similar enthusiasm was instantly kindled in the new railroad, and railroad travel became immediately the most popular diversion. In a relatively few years a web of track carried the smoking locomotive and its rumbling train of cars throughout the country. Crude, and lacking almost every convenience of the passenger coach of the present day, the early railway carriage served fully its new-born function. ”

“ I am confident that Carriages to be impelled by Steam machinery turning the wheels cannot be made to answer any good purpose, either for conveyance of travellers or goods, so long as they materially injure the roads, because if the wheels slip materially on the road, or if they cut sensible ruts in the road, they will not advance the Carriage efficiently. ”

“ I have no doubt, save four out of five, if not nine out of ten stones that are crushed at present, and reduce the road expences in the same proportion; but while the fancy of having carriage-wheels out of upright with crooked axles is continued, wide wheels would be a serious objection; the inside and outside of the wheel being of different diameters, and going different speeds, must cause an increase of load to the horses, because their rubbing on the road and tendency to twist move the stones out of their bed in the road, and, instead of bedding them firmly, has the contrary effect ”

“ The pole of the car is seen passing behind the horses, projecting from the centre of the carriage, which is in a cylindrical shape, elevated rather above the line of the animals’ heads. The wheel of the car is extremely light and tastefully put together.”
Here, too, it is to be noticed that the driver is shown with his arms over the backs of the animals. In another chariot, which most probably was Persian, the body seems to be made of a “light wood, as of interlaced canes. ”

“ If the breadth of the tire of the wheels of Steam Carriages could be extended to six inches, might they not in many states of the roads be rather beneficial than injurious?—Where the road is properly made of good materials and well consolidated, the mere pressure of a Carriage would not have any effect. ”