Carriages & Coaches: Their History & Their EvolutionStraus, Ralph
History
Carriages & Coaches: Their History & Their Evolution
Straus, Ralph
Carriages and carts
a one-horse, low-hung carriage suspended on four elliptic springs.
On the Continent this carriage became known as a _milord_, once most
aristocratic, but by 1850 little better than a hack. It was somewhat
similar in appearance to the _victoria_.
The phaeton was still made, but was being superseded by the briska.
The main seat of the carriages, as in the old perch-high phaetons, was
still over the front axle, but the body was now hung low on elliptic
springs. Such a perchless carriage was called by Adams “the very
simplest form of wheeled vehicle in ordinary use. It is literally a
long box, with an arm-chair in front, and a bench behind.” And that is
a remarkably good description. Here, too, as with the chariots, there
were also various hybrids.
Landaulets were very popular in London, and were made in great
quantities by the firm with which Obadiah Elliott himself was
connected. A patent roof and Ackermann’s movable axles are shown in the
accompanying illustration of this carriage.
[Illustration: _Stanhope_]
[Illustration: _Tilbury_]
[Illustration: _Cabriolet_]
We come now to the two-wheeled carriages. Of these the most fashionable
was still the curricle, though Bridges Adams considered the shape of
the body “certainly unsightly.” It is interesting to notice in this
connection that the mode of attaching the two horses to the curricle
was “precisely that of the classic car, only more elegant.” It was in
a curricle that Charles Dickens rode about so soon as he was able to
afford the luxury of a private carriage. The _cabriolet_, somewhat
similar to it in form, was simply the old one-horse chaise brought
up to date. The body resembled a nautilus shell, thus differing from
the popular two-wheeled carriage called a _tilbury_. This had been
built first by a carriage-maker of the same name. It was constructed
without a boot (or hind seat) and was a very light carriage, with,
however, rather too much ironwork and too many springs—seven in
all—about it. Italy and Portugal seem to have taken to this particular
gig and numerous consignments were sent south by water. Another
vehicle, not very different, was the _stanhope_, also built by Tilbury
to the order of the Hon. Fitzroy Stanhope, a brother of Lord Petersham.
This was much like the old rib chair, but hung from four springs. The
only difference, so far as the shape of their bodies goes, between
the tilbury and the stanhope is to be found in the fact that in the
stanhope it is rather larger and more capacious. The _dennet_, invented
by a Mr. Bennett of Finsbury, had a body resembling that of a phaeton.
It had three springs, and Bridges Adams, without being certain upon the
point, thinks that it took its name from these three springs, which
were named after the three Misses Dennet, “whose elegant stage-dancing
was so much in vogue about the time the vehicle was first used.” The
lightest of all these carriages, however, was the common gig, such as
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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