Everything about Carriage totally explained
A
carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn. It is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light, smart and fast or heavy, large and comfortable. Carriages normally have
suspension using
leaf springs, elliptical springs (in the 19th century) or leather strapping. A public passenger vehicle wouldn't usually be called a carriage – terms for these include
stagecoach,
charabanc and
omnibus.
The word
carriage (abbreviated
carr or
cge) 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; First century BCE
Romans used sprung wagons for overland journeys. With the decline of the these civilizations these techniques almost disappeared.
In the
Middle Ages all travellers who were not walking rode, save the elderly and the infirm. A trip in an unsprung cart over unpaved roads wasn't lightly undertaken. Closed carriages began to be more widely used by the upper classes in the 16th century. In 1601 a short-lived law was passed in England banning the use of carriages by men, it being considered effeminate. Better sprung vehicles were developed in the 17th century. New lighter and more fashionably varied conveyances, with fanciful new names, began to compete with one another from the mid-18th century.
Coachbuilders cooperated with
carvers,
gilders,
painters,
lacquerworkers,
glazers and
upholsterers to produce not just the family's state coach for weddings and funerals but light, smart fast comfortable vehicles for pleasure riding and display.
In British and French coaches, the coachman drove from a raised coachbox at the front. In Spain the driver continued to ride one of the horses, as also in the 1939 state visit procession in Canada.
From the 1860s, few rich Europeans continued to use their posting coaches for long-distance travel: a first-class railway carriage was the faster modern alternative. Then, in the 1890s, just as automobiles came into use, "coaching" became an upper-class sport in Britain and America, where gentlemen would take the reins of the kinds of large vehicles of types generally driven by a professional coachman.
Carriage construction
Body
Carriages may be enclosed or open, depending on the type. The top cover four the body of a carriage, called the
head or
hood, is often 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 closed carriage, especially a diligence, was called an
imperial. A closed carriage may have side windows called
quarter lights (British) as well as windows in the doors. 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.
A carriage driver sits on a
box or
perch, usually elevated and small. When at the front it's known as a
dickey box, a term also used for a seat at the back for servants. A
footman might use a small platform at the rear called a
footboard or a seat called a
rumble behind the body. Some carriages have a moveable seat called a
jump seat. Some seats had an attached backrest called a
lazyback.
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 from several leather straps called
braces or
thoroughbraces, attached to or serving as springs.
Undergear
Beneath the carriage body is the
undergear or
undercarriage (or simply
carriage), consisting of the running gear and chassis. The wheels and axles, in distinction from the body, are the
running gear. Most carriages have either one or two pairs of wheels. On a four-wheeled vehicle, the forward part of the running gear, or
forecarriage, may be arranged so as to permit the two front wheels to turn independently of the rear wheels. The wheels revolve upon bearings or a spindle at the ends of a fixed bar or beam called an
axle or
axletree. In some carriages a
crank axle, bent twice at a right angle near the ends, allows 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 catch or block called a
trigger may be used to hold a wheel on a declivity.
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 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.
Types of horse-drawn carriages
An almost bewildering variety 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. The types of carriage included the following:
The names of many of these have now been relegated to obscurity but some have been adopted to describe automotive
car body styles:
coupé, victoria, Brougham, landau and
landaulet,
cabriolet, (giving us our
cab),
phaeton, and
limousine – all these once denoted particular types of carriages.
Carriage miscellany
A man whose business was to drive a carriage was a
coachman. A servant in livery called a
footman or
piquer formerly served in attendance upon a rider or was required to run before his master's carriage to clear the way. An attendant on horseback called an
outrider often rode ahead of or next to a carriage. A
carriage starter directed the flow of vehicles taking on passengers at the curbside. A
hackneyman hired out horses and carriages. When hawking wares, a
hawker was often assisted by a carriage.
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
buffalo robe, made from the hide of an
American bison dressed with the hair on, was sometimes used as a carriage robe; it was commonly trimmed to rectangular shape and lined on the skin side with fabric. A
carriage boot, fur-trimmed for winter wear, was made usually of fabric with a fur or felt lining. A
knee boot protected the knees from rain or splatter.
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 with black
points and legs, 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.
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 kind of dynamometer called a
peirameter indicates the power necessary to haul a carriage over a road or track.
Competitive driving
In most European and English-speaking countries, driving is a competitive equestrian sport. Many
horse shows host 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. Terminology varies; the simple, lightweight two- or four-wheeled show vehicle common in many nations is called a "cart" in the USA, but a "carriage" in Australia.
Internationally, there's intense competition in the all-around test of driving:
Combined driving, also known as
Horse Driving Trials is an equestrian discipline regulated by the
FEI (
Federation Equestre Internationale, International Equestrian Federation) with national organizations representing each member country. World Championships take place on alternate years, including Single Horse Championships, Horse Pairs Championships and Four-in-Hand Championships as well as the Four-in-Hand competition at the
World Equestrian Games, held every four years.
For
pony drivers, the World Combined Pony Championships are held every two years and include singles, pairs and four-in-hand.
Carriage collections
Australia
Cobb + Co Museum - National Carriage Collection,
Queensland Museum, Toowoomba, Queensland. On-line catalog has photos and text
Austria
Museen Laa - Carriage Museum - Info - © Museen Laa Projekt-Team, Laa an der Thaya
Museum of Carriages and Department of Court Uniforms, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
England
Mossman Collection, Luton, Bedfordshire
Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, London. The Monarchy Today > Ceremony and symbol > Transport > Carriages
Swingletree Carriage Collection. John Parker Swingletree Carriage Driving, Swingletree, Wingfield, Nr. Diss, Norfolk
France
Palace of Versailles
Museum of Carriages and Sleighs in the former Royal Stables (Marstallmuseum), Nymphenburg Palace, Munich
Portugal
National Coach Museum (Museu dos Coches), Lisbon
Austin Carriage Museum, Weirsdale, Florida. Formerly Florida Carriage Museum & Resort. Photos and text: click on The Carriage Museum, then on Classification of Carriages
The Carriage Collection of the Owls Head Transportation Museum, Owls Head, Maine. Celebrating Transportation History for 30 Years
The Carriage Museum Washington, Kentucky
Carriage Museum of America, Lexington, Kentucky
Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan
The Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages, Stony Brook, New York
Pioneer Village, Farmington, Utah. Carriage Hall
Thrasher Carriage Museum :: Make The Journey :: Frostburg, MarylandFurther Information
Get more info on 'Carriage'.
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