Carriage
Generally horse-drawn means of transport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1900. They were generally owned by the rich, but second-hand private carriages became common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping or, on those made in recent centuries, steel springs. There are numerous names for different types. Two-wheeled carriages are usually owner-driven.
Coaches are a special category within carriages. They are carriages with four corner posts and a fixed roof. Two-wheeled war chariots and transport vehicles such as four-wheeled wagons and two-wheeled carts were forerunners of carriages.[1][2]
In the 21st century, horse-drawn carriages are occasionally used for public parades by royalty and for traditional formal ceremonies. Simplified modern versions are made for tourist transport in warm countries and for those cities where tourists expect open horse-drawn carriages to be provided. Simple metal sporting versions are still made for the sport known as competitive driving.
Overview
The word carriage (abbreviated carr or cge) is from Old Northern French cariage, to carry in a vehicle.[3] The word car, then meaning a kind of two-wheeled cart for goods, also came from Old Northern French about the beginning of the 14th century[3] (probably derived from the Late Latin carro, a car[4]); it is also used for railway carriages and in the US around the end of the 19th century, early cars (automobiles) were briefly called horseless carriages.
History
From antiquity, wheeled vehicles such as wagons and chariots were used across Eurasia, with archaeological evidence for four-wheeled wagons in Bronze Age Europe and for chariots in China by the late second millennium BCE. These early vehicles established the basic principles of wheel and undercarriage construction that later carriage design would build upon.
By the late medieval period, technical improvements such as the pivoting front axle and suspension on chains made four-wheeled vehicles more maneuverable and more comfortable. Carriages became associated with royalty and aristocrats, often elaborately decorated and drawn by teams of two to four horses.
The development of the coach in the 15th and 16th centuries introduced a lighter, faster form of carriage, most famously associated with the Hungarian town of Kocs. By the late 16th century the coach had spread across Europe and became a standard vehicle for aristocratic and long-distance travel.
From the 17th to the 19th centuries, carriage design incorporated major innovations including steel springs, glazing, and improved steering systems such as the fifth wheel and the principles later formalized as Ackermann steering. These changes made coaches more comfortable, safer, and better suited to long-distance travel.
Carriage use declined rapidly in the 19th century with the spread of railways and later motor vehicles, which displaced horse-drawn transport on both urban and long-distance routes. Carriages remain in limited use for ceremonial purposes, tourism, and by communities that maintain traditional horse-drawn transport.
Construction
Body
Carriages may be enclosed or open, depending on the type.[5] The top cover for the body of a carriage is called the head or hood, and is sometimes flexible and designed to be folded back when desired. Such a folding top is called a bellows top or calash. A hoopstick forms a light framing member for this kind of hood. The top, roof or second-story compartment of a coach was called an imperial. A closed carriage may have side windows called quarter lights (British) as well as windows in the doors, hence a "glass coach". On the forepart of an open carriage, a screen of wood or leather called a dashboard intercepts water, mud or snow thrown up by the heels of the horses. The dashboard or carriage top sometimes has a projecting sidepiece called a wing (British). A foot iron or footplate may serve as a carriage step.
The drivers seat for a coachman was in front of the carriage body, while footmen stood on a footboard or sat on a seat behind the body. If either seat was raised on an iron frame and not built as part of the carriage body, it was given the name of dickey-seat. Originally, the dickey was in the rear, but by the early 1900s the front seat was being called a dickey. A boot was a place for luggage or other storage, and was sometimes built under a driver's or footman's seat, unlike the raised dickey seats. The earliest boots were projections wherein passengers put their feet, hence the name boot. When a boot was constructed under the driver's seat, it was called a box seat. The modern terms for the seat upon which the driver sits are box and box seat, even when the carriage style is owner-driven[a] rather than coachman-driven.[6]: 337 [7]: 32, 33, 105 [8]: 184
Passenger seating in carriages include the following terminology and arrangements:[6]: 382–383
- A crosswise or transverse seat-board is aligned from the left to right sides of the vehicle; passengers face forward or backwards.
- A longitudinal seat runs lengthwise, front to back.
- The phaeton method arranges crosswise seats for all passengers to face forward. An example is the Surrey.
- The vis-à-vis method of seating has crosswise seats arranged for passengers in the forward seat to face those in the rear seat (face-to-face). Examples includes all coaches, the Landau, and the Vis-à-vis.
- A dos-à-dos seating arrangement has crosswise seats for passengers to sit back-to-back. An example is the Dogcart.
- The jaunting car method has two longitudinal seats placed back-to-back where the passengers face outward. An example is the Jaunting car outside car.
- The wagonette method has two longitudinal seats placed to the outer edge of the vehicle's body so passengers face each other; entry is usually from the rear of the vehicle. Examples include the Wagonette and the Governess cart.
The shafts of a carriage were called limbers in English dialect. Lancewood, a tough elastic wood of various trees, was often used especially for carriage shafts. A holdback, consisting of an iron catch on the shaft with a looped strap, enables a horse to back or hold back the vehicle. The end of the tongue of a carriage is suspended from the collars of the harness by a bar called the yoke. At the end of a trace, a loop called a cockeye attaches to the carriage.
In some carriage types, the body is suspended by several leather straps called thoroughbraces or braces which serve as springs.
Undercarriage
Beneath the carriage body is the undergear or undercarriage (or simply carriage), consisting of the running gear and chassis.[9] The wheels and axles, in distinction from the body, are the running gear. The wheels revolve upon bearings or a spindle at the ends of a bar or beam called an axle or axletree. Most carriages have either one or two axles. On a four-wheeled vehicle, the forward part of the running gear, or forecarriage, is arranged to permit the front axle to turn independently of the fixed rear axle. In some carriages a dropped axle, bent twice at a right angle near the ends, allows for a low body with large wheels. A guard called a dirtboard keeps dirt from the axle arm.
Several structural members form parts of the chassis supporting the carriage body. The fore axletree and the splinter bar above it (supporting the springs) are united by a piece of wood or metal called a futchel, which forms a socket for the pole that extends from the front axle. For strength and support, a rod called the backstay may extend from either end of the rear axle to the reach, the pole or rod joining the hind axle to the forward bolster above the front axle.
A skid called a drag, dragshoe, shoe or skidpan retards the motion of the wheels. A London patent of 1841 describes one such apparatus: "An iron-shod beam, slightly longer than the radius of the wheel, is hinged under the axle so that when it is released to strike the ground the forward momentum of the vehicle wedges it against the axle". The original feature of this modification was that instead of the usual practice of having to stop the carriage to retract the beam and so lose useful momentum the chain holding it in place is released (from the driver's position) so that it is allowed to rotate further in its backwards direction, releasing the axle. A system of "pendant-levers" and straps then allows the beam to return to its first position and be ready for further use.[10]
A catch or block called a trigger may be used to hold a wheel on an incline.
A horizontal wheel or segment of a wheel called a fifth wheel sometimes forms an extended support to prevent the carriage from tipping; it consists of two parts rotating on each other about the kingbolt or perchbolt above the fore axle and beneath the body. A block of wood called a headblock might be placed between the fifth wheel and the forward spring.
Wheels
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Historically, carriages had wooden wheels. Modern sport carriages such as the marathon carriage have metal wheels with solid rubber tires. Some lightweight carriages, such as horse show sulkies, have wire "bicycle spokes" and pneumatic tires.
The basic parts of a wooden wheel are nave, spokes, felloes, and tyre (tire). The nave is the central block and acts as the hub. Spokes are the pieces that fit into the nave, radiate outwards, and join into the felloes at the outer edge. The felloe is made of several curved segments of wood, pieced together to make the outer circle of the wheel; sometimes spelled "felly". The tyre or tire is a protective strip that goes outside the felloe. The rim is the outer edge of a wheel not counting the tyre, although some refer to the tyre itself as the rim.[11]: 231–233 [7]: 119, 197, 251
Fittings, furnishings and appointments
Originally, the word fittings referred to metal elements such as bolts and brackets, furnishings leaned more to leatherwork and upholstery or referred to metal buckles on harness, and appointments were things brought to a carriage but not part of it, however all of these words have blended together over time and are often used interchangeably to mean the smaller components or parts of a carriage or equipment.[7]: 7 All the shiny metal fittings on a vehicle should be one color, such as brass (yellow) or nickel (white), and should match the buckle color of any harness used with the vehicle.[7]: 130 Early bodies of horseless carriages were constructed by coachmakers using the same parts used in carriages and coaches, and some horse carriage terminology has survived in modern automobiles.
"We must not forget that the early railway carriages were basically mail-coaches on iron wheels, and the early motor-cars differed from the horse-drawn wagonette or coupe only in so far that there was no horse tied to it." —László Tarr in The History of the Carriage [1]: 295
- Upholstery: Seats might be upholstered using leather, broadcloth, or plush fabrics. Elegant carriages might have upholstery-lined walls and ceilings, and button-tucked velvet seats trimmed with gold braid.[12]: 6
- Carriage lamps: First used around 1700, oil-powered lamps were used throughout the 1800s, though abandoned in favor of candles in the late 1800s, as oil was messy. Lamps are mounted on lamp brackets and are removable for storage, daily wick trimming, or during daylight hours.[7]: 171–2
- Boot: Any of several box-like parts of a carriage used for storage of small items. A boot may be found under the coachman's seat, under the passenger's seat, or behind the body of the carriage between the rear wheels. This led to the use of the term boot in British English for the main storage compartment of an automobile.[7]: 32 [8]: 184
- Whip socket: Tubular holder for a whip usually mounted on the dashboard or to the right of the driver.[7]: 295
- Whip: A long whip composed of a stiff stick (called the stock), a long flexible thong, and a short lash. The length should be appropriate for the distance from the driver (who is also called a Whip) to the shoulder of the forwardmost horse. With a small pony and cart a whip of overall length of 7 or 8 feet might be appropriate, whereas driving a team of four horses might require an overall length of 17 feet. Driving whips are not "cracked" to make noise, but are a communication aid used by touching the lash on or near the shoulder of the horse.[7]: 294 [13]: 9
- Blankets: in cold weather, blankets for the driver and passengers and often horse blankets as well may be carried in a boot.
Carriage terminology
The carriage driver is called a whip. A person whose business was to drive a carriage was a coachman. A person dressed in livery is called a footman. An attendant on horseback called an outrider. A carriage starter directed the flow of vehicles taking on passengers at the curbside. A hackneyman hired out horses and carriages.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language and Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary define the term carriage trade as wealthy customers; in addition, Collins English Dictionary defines it as "(Commerce) trade from the wealthy part of society".[14] Cassell's Dictionary of Slang defines is as the American slang term of 1940s that refers to the affluent class of people with social position, those wealthy enough to keep carriages.[15] Merriam-Webster defines carriage folk as "people wealthy enough to keep carriages".[16][17]
Carriage passengers often used a lap robe as a blanket or similar covering for their legs, lap and feet.
A horse especially bred for carriage use by appearance and stylish action is called a carriage horse; one for use on a road is a road horse. One such breed is the Cleveland Bay, uniformly bay in color, of good conformation and strong constitution. Horses were broken in using a bodiless carriage frame called a break or brake.
A carriage dog or coach dog is bred for running beside a carriage.
A roofed structure that extends from the entrance of a building over an adjacent driveway and that shelters callers as they get in or out of their vehicles is known as a carriage porch or porte cochere. An outbuilding for a carriage is a coach house, which was often combined with accommodation for a groom or other servants.
A livery stable kept horses and usually carriages for hire. A range of stables, usually with carriage houses (remises) and living quarters built around a yard, court or street, is called a mews.
A tool called a peirameter was used to compare the powers necessary to haul carriages. Later an improved tool was invented, Macneill's road indicator.
Competitive driving
Driving is a competitive equestrian sport. Many horse shows have driving competitions for a particular style of driving, breed of horse, or type of vehicle. Show vehicles are usually carriages, carts, or buggies and, occasionally, sulkies or wagons. Modern high-technology carriages are made purely for competition, often called marathon carriages.
Internationally, there is intense competition in the all-round test of driving called combined driving or horse-driving trials, an equestrian discipline regulated by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) with national organizations representing each member country. World championships are conducted in alternate years, including single-horse, horse pairs and four-in-hand championships. The World Equestrian Games, held at four-year intervals, also includes a four-in-hand competition. For pony drivers, the World Combined Pony Championships are held every two years and include singles, pairs and four-in-hand events.
Types of horse-drawn carriages
Numerous varieties of horse-drawn carriages existed, Arthur Ingram's Horse Drawn Vehicles since 1760 in Colour lists 325 types with a short description of each. By the early 19th century one's choice of carriage was only in part based on practicality and performance; it was also a status statement and subject to changing fashions.
- Examples of carriages
Hansom cab and driver adding character to period filming
Bride descending from a decorated wedding carriage
President Theodore Roosevelt's brougham
See also
Notes
- "Owner-driven" refers to a carriage style where the driver sits within the main passenger compartment, whereas "coachman-driven" refers to those with a seat located outside of the main passenger compartment, usually in front.
