Carriage


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.
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 is from Old Northern French cariage, to carry in a vehicle. 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 ; it is also used for railway carriages and in the US around the end of the 19th century, early cars were briefly called horseless carriages.

History

From antiquty, some of the earliest indications of horse-drawn vehicles were from clay models and excavated imprints of decayed vehicles similar to chariots and crude wagons. Four-wheeled wagons were used in Bronze Age Europe, and their form known from excavations suggests that the basic construction techniques of wheel and undercarriage were established then. The earliest archaeological evidence of chariots in China dates to the rule of King Wu Ding, circa 1250 BCE, and the Chinese use of chariots in warfare ran from the 8th to 5th centuries BCE.
Towards the end of the medieval period the pivoting front axle came about, making turning four-wheeled vehicles easier. Suspension is recorded in visual images and written accounts from the 14th century, and was in widespread use by the 15th century. Carriages were largely used by royalty, aristocrats, and were elaborately decorated. Such carriages were drawn by two to four horses depending on the carriage size and the status of the passenger. Carriages were primarily built using wood and iron.

Coach

One of the great innovations in carriage history was the invention of the suspended carriage or the chariot branlant. The "chariot branlant" of medieval illustrations was suspended by chains rather than leather straps as had been believed. Suspension, whether on chains or leather, might provide a smoother ride since the carriage body no longer rested on the axles, but could not prevent swinging in all directions. It is clear from illustrations that the medieval suspended carriage with a round tilt was a widespread European type, referred to by any number of names.
In 14th century England carriages, like the one illustrated in the Luttrell Psalter, would still have been a quite rare means of aristocratic transport, and they would have been very costly until the end of the century. They would have had four six-spoke six-foot high wheels that were linked by greased axles under the body of the coach, and did not necessarily have any suspension. The chassis was made from oak beam and the barrel shaped roof was covered in brightly painted leather or cloth. The interior would include seats, beds, cushions, tapestries and even rugs. They would be pulled by four to five horses.
Under King Mathias Corvinus, who enjoyed fast travel, the Hungarians developed fast road transport, and the town of Kocs between Budapest and Vienna became an important post-town, and gave its name to the new vehicle type. The earliest illustrations of the Hungarian "Kochi-wagon" do not indicate any suspension, a body with high sides of lightweight wickerwork, and typically drawn by three horses in harness. Later models were considerably lighter and famous for a single horse being able to draw many passengers.
The Hungarian coach spread across Europe, initially rather slowly, in part due to Ippolito d'Este of Ferrara, nephew of Mathias' queen Beatrix of Aragon, who as a very junior Archbishopric of Esztergom developed a taste for Hungarian riding and took his carriage and driver back to Italy. Then rather suddenly, in around 1550, the "coach" made its appearance throughout the major cities of Europe, and the new word entered the vocabulary of all their languages. However, the new "coach" seems to have been a fashionable concept as much as any particular type of vehicle, and there is no obvious technological change that accompanied the innovation, either in the use of suspension, or the adoption of springs. As its use spread throughout Europe in the late 16th century, the coach's body structure was ultimately changed, from a round-topped tilt to the "four-poster" carriages that became standard everywhere by c.1600.

Later development of the coach

The coach had doors in the side, with an iron step protected by leather that became the "boot" in which servants might ride. The driver sat on a seat at the front, and the most important occupant sat in the back facing forwards. The earliest coaches can be seen at Veste Coburg, Lisbon, and the Moscow Kremlin, and they become a commonplace in European art. It was not until the 17th century that further innovations with steel springs and glazing took place, and only in the 18th century, with better road surfaces, was there a major innovation with the introduction of the steel C-spring.
Many innovations were proposed, and some patented, for new types of suspension or other features. It was only from the 18th century that changes to steering systems were suggested, including the use of the 'fifth wheel' substituted for the pivoting fore-axle, and on which the carriage turned. Another proposal came from Erasmus Darwin, a young English doctor who was driving a carriage about 10,000 miles a year to visit patients all over England. Darwin found two essential problems or shortcomings of the commonly used light carriage or Hungarian carriage. First, the front wheels were turned by a pivoting front axle, which had been used for years, but these wheels were often quite small and hence the rider, carriage and horse felt the brunt of every bump on the road. Secondly, he recognized the danger of overturning.
A pivoting front axle changes a carriage's base from a rectangle to a triangle because the wheel on the inside of the turn is able to turn more sharply than the outside front wheel. Darwin suggested a fix for these insufficiencies by proposing a principle in which the two front wheels turn about a centre that lies on the extended line of the back axle. This idea was later patented in 1818 as Ackermann steering. Darwin argued that carriages would then be easier to pull and less likely to overturn.
Carriage use in North America came with the establishment of European settlers. Early colonial horse tracks quickly grew into roads especially as the colonists extended their territories southwest. Colonists began using carts as these roads and trading increased between the north and south. Eventually, carriages or coaches were sought to transport goods as well as people. As in Europe, chariots, coaches and carriages were a mark of status. The tobacco planters of the South were some of the first Americans to use the carriage as a form of human transportation. As the tobacco farming industry grew in the southern colonies so did the frequency of carriages, coaches and wagons. Upon the turn of the 18th century, wheeled vehicle use in the colonies was at an all-time high. Carriages, coaches and wagons were being taxed based on the number of wheels they had. These taxes were implemented in the South primarily as the South had superior numbers of horses and wheeled vehicles when compared to the North. Europe, however, still used carriage transportation far more often and on a much larger scale than anywhere else in the world.

Decline

Carriages and coaches began to disappear as use of steam propulsion began to generate more and more interest and research. Steam power quickly won the battle against animal power as is evident by a newspaper article written in England in 1895 entitled "Horseflesh vs. Steam". The article highlights the death of the carriage as the main means of transportation.

Today

Carriages are still used for day-to-day transport in the United States by some groups such as the Amish, and they are used in urban centers around the world for tourists and sightseeing. The Royal Mews in London holds a large collection of coaches and carriages regularly used by the Royal Household, particularly during ceremonial events such as the carriage processions at the beginning of each day of Royal Ascot.

Construction

Body

Carriages may be enclosed or open, depending on the type. 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 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. 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 rather than coachman-driven.
Passenger seating in carriages include the following terminology and arrangements:
  • 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. 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, consisting of the running gear and chassis. 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 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 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.
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

The basic parts of a wheel are nave, spokes, felloes and tyre.
In a wooden-wheel, the nave is the central block. It acts as the hub. One end of each spoke is set into the nave with a mortise and tenon joint. In older wheels, the nave had a 6-inch sleeve that fit over the axle to keep the wheel from wobbling; it required frequent greasing. Modern wheels use metal bearings in the hub.
Spokes are the pieces that fit into the nave or hub at the center, radiate outwards, and join into the felloes at the outer edge.
In a wooden-wheel, a felloe is one of several curved pieces of wood that are pieced together in a circle to make the rim of a wheel. They are fitted onto the outer ends of the spokes. Sometimes spelled "felly". The number of felloes required to make a circle varied by region, era and size of wheel—with a minimum of two half-circles of bent wood, to multiple felloes per wheel with at least two spokes per felloe. Felloes are part of wood joinery and are only seen in wooden wheels, not modern metal carriage wheels.
The rim is the outer edge of a wheel, although some refer to the tyre as rim.
The tyre or tire is a protective strip that goes outside the felloes. Tyres were make of iron or steel, usually as a hoop and fitted hot around the rim. As it cooled and shrank it tightened the joints of the spokes-to-felloes and spokes-to-nave, strengthening the wheel and making it more rigid. Metal tyres are very noisy on hard road surfaces, so many carriages wheels were made with solid rubber tyres fitted into a metal channel.
Modern sport carriages such as the marathon carriage have hard rubber tires and all metal wheels. Some lightweight carriages, such as the sulky, have metal "bicycle spokes" and pneumatic tires.
Due to age or dry climate, a wooden wheel would shrink and metal hoop tyres would become loose. Routinely, the hoop would be removed by a wheelwright, 'shrunk', heated and refitted to make the wheel tight again. Tools to shrink the hoops were called "tire upsetters" or "tire shrinkers".

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. All the shiny metal fittings on a vehicle should be one color, such as brass or nickel, and should match the buckle color of any harness used with the vehicle. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Whip socket: Tubular holder for a whip usually mounted on the dashboard or to the right of the driver.
  • Whip: A long whip composed of a stiff stick, a long flexible thong, and a short lash. The length should be appropriate for the distance from the driver 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.
  • 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.
Upper-class people of wealth and social position, those wealthy enough to keep carriages, were referred to as carriage folk or carriage trade.
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 and living quarters built around a yard, court or street, is called a mews.
A kind of dynamometer called a peirameter indicates the power necessary to haul a carriage over a road or track.

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 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.

Carriage museums and collections

; Argentina
; Australia
; Austria
; Belgium
; Brazil
; Canada
; Denmark
; Egypt
; France
; Germany
; Italy
; Japan
; Netherlands
; Poland
; Portugal
; Spain
; Sweden
; Switzerland
; Turkey
; United Kingdom
; United States

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.