TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the chapter. A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example und^r or 36^{th}. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. _A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON_ COACH-BUILDING HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE CONTAINING FULL INFORMATION OF THE VARIOUS TRADES AND PROCESSES INVOLVED, WITH HINTS ON THE PROPER KEEPING OF CARRIAGES, &c. _WITH FIFTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS_ BY JAMES W. BURGESS [Illustration: Capio Lumen] LONDON CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND CO. 7, STATIONERS’ HALL COURT, LUDGATE HILL 1881 [_All rights reserved_] LONDON: PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD. PREFACE. It is singular that such an important industry as coach-building should have received such slight attention from writers either at home or abroad; yet such is the case, the last book dealing in any way exhaustively with the trade having been published some fifty years ago. The manufacturers themselves have doubtless very copious notes, which, if printed, would make several large volumes; but they do not publish the result of their experience to the world, and consequently the general public, and more particularly apprentices and others whose occupations or amusements may be in any way connected with the trade, have no means of gaining an insight into this branch of industrial art. It is hoped that this book will supply, to some extent at least, this deficiency. Its object is general utility rather than technical instructions on minor details. The principles on which carriages ought to be constructed, rather than the arbitrary proportions of parts, are what the author has sought to make clear. From an antiquarian point of view the history of carriages is very interesting. In the first chapter the gradual development of vehicles and their parts from the first rude forms of raft and sledge, down to the shapes with which we are now familiar, has been carefully dealt with, and all matters of interest in connection therewith have been added.