English pleasure carriages : their origin, history, varieties, materials, construction, defects, improvements, and capabilities : with an analysis of the construction of common roads and railroads, and the public vehicles used on them : together with descriptions of new inventions : illustrated by numerous designs, for the use of carriage purchasers and constructors

Front matter

i

ENGLISH

PLEASURE CARRIAOkS^c.

Preface

The object of this work is general utility, rather than technical instruction in 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. The utmost care used in giving accurate measurements, with considerable labour to the writer, and more to the reader, would fail in enabling a mere copyist to construct a good carriage, and a builder with clear ideas would not need them. In architecture, there are certain rules laid down by which all proportions may be regulated ; but in carriages, so many considerations intervene, as to produce uncertainty, what actual strength may be required. Seasons, localities, weight, speed, and many other circumstances, conspire to defy precise calculation. The builder of a steam-engine knows to

a % iv PREFACE.

a fraction the amount of strain his work will have to bear ; but the carriage builder canonly take average proportions to meet varieties of circumstances, unless his vehicle be intended for a railroad.

The writer makes no pretension to set a complete work before the reader ; circumstances rather than original intention have caused the book to be produced, just as Mr. Babbage in the pursuit of a specific object acquired a mass of general knowledge, which he afterwards gave to the world, for the benefit of those who might not have the opportunity of collecting it as he had done. The writer, when a boy, was " brought up," in the usual phrase, to the "art and mystery of coachmaking," and acquired the common amount of routine skill in imitating certain prescribed forms ; but as to the principles of the art, — as to the mode of originating the forms, he was left in utter ignorance. In fact, those to whose instruction he was confided were as ignorant as himself. Had the patterns of the factory been destroyed by accident, the business must have stopped, unless external talent had been brought in to renew them. Impatience of mere routine excited in the writer the desire of becoming familiar with other branches of the art, and he acquired something of skill in many varieties of work. Circumstances afterwards brought him into connexion with an eminent engineer.

PEEFACE. V

and a new world seemed to open upon him, gorgeously decked in all the wonders of machinery. The minds of most boys are essentially inclined to the material ; they prefer the real to the imaginative, — utility in art, to taste or splendour in art, — and feel far more interest in Robinson Crusoe's canoe than in a Lord Mayor's barge. Thus, after becoming familiar with the properties even of simple machines, the inferior mechanical construction of carriages became an object of contempt to the writer ; and taste for beauty of form not having been awakened in him, he ceased to feel any interest in them. His daily occupation became a drudgery to him, to which almost any other employment seemed preferable ; and the simple reason was, that he had no scope for improvement, no exercise for advancing intelligence. The motive of the writer in recording this is, that the same mischievous system still prevails, though opportunities for self-improvement are more numerous than before. Ere he had well attained mature years, the writer was obliged by ill health to seek a more genial climate than his own, and he passed se.veral years alternately sojouring and travelling in various countries, where perceptions of the beautiful in Nature and in Art gradually began to stir and awaken his dormant faculties. Being thrown much on his own resources in mechanical difficulties, his invention was frevi PREFACE.

quently tasked in various ways ; and tlie excitement of overcoming obstacles served to stimulate his perseverance, and quicken his observation as to mechanical capabilities.

When the writer returned to England with renewed health, he entered into partnership with his father, in the firm of Hobson and Company, of Long Acre. For a considerable time he applied himself to the mercantile department of the business ; after which, peculiar circumstances gave him leisure to pursue systematically a series of mechanical improvements, as well as to study the principles of the art of vehicular locomotion. He sought for books to aid him ; but the knowledge to be gleaned from them was so imperfect, and so extensively scattered — so devoid of all system, and so very unsatisfactory, that he chose rather to seek the practical schools of the workmen, and the verification of experimental research, and thereon to build his own theories. Having accumulated the results for his own satisfaction, it struck him that information acquired with so much trouble must be valuable to a large class of readers, both the constructors and purchasers of carriages. Farther reflection convinced him that a succinct detail of the progress of wheel carriages in England from the earliest period down to the present time would be a desirable addition, and the result has

PREFACE. VU

been the publication of the work now offered to the reader.

Whatsoever may he the imperfections, the writer cannot doubt that, in the absence of any existing available work on the subject, the information herein collected will be esteemed valuable by the large and increasing class of those who keep carriages, whether for their own use or for the purpose of hiring out to the public. Whoever is about to build a house endeavours to procure drawings and models beforehand, to make sure that his fancy may not lead him astray ; and carriages being articles of considerable expense, it must surely be desirable to acquire such knowledge as a book can give on the subject, previous to making a purchase. To constructors, this work must be useful, even to those who might feel inclined to contest any of the positions the writer has laid down ; for it will give them the opportunity to verify anything which they find not borne out in practice. It may perhaps induce some one of greater skill than the writer to put forth another work. He would be glad to hail such a work as might be worthy of being entitled The Science of Vehicular Locomotion. In the mean time, constructors residing at a distance from the metropolis, and those of foreign lands, will probably avail themselves of the opportunity of knowing the existing state of the art of carriage construe-

Vill PREFACE.

tion in the English metropolis, where it is generally supposed to have attained its nearest approach to perfection. If there be any constructors so illiberal as to suppose this injurious to their interests, they will do well to reflect that ere foreigners can rival English constructors, they must train their workmen in every branch, direct and indirect, to posses greater skill than English workmen. The circulation of English models on the Continent would tend perhaps to improve the Continental manufacture ; but they would to a greater extent tend to increase the already extensive taste for English carriages.

As this work may occasionally fall into the hands of readers who feel no direct interest in pleasure carriages either as purchasers or constructors, some may perchance be inclined to question its utility, except as it relates to the mechanism of vehicular locomotion. They may perchance condemn pleasure carriages altogether, as luxuries unjustly engrossed by wealthy people. This would be as unjust as the sweeping condemnations so frequently passed on the public vehicles in the streets. Pleasure carriages are instruments of elegant human enjoyment ; and to say that none ought to enjoy them because all cannot enjoy them, would be to possess a spirit akin to that of the " dog in the manger." If those who possess pleasure carriages were to enjoy them at the expense of those who do not

PREFACE. ix

possess tliem, the evil would be a monstrous one: but such is not the fact. Partial instances might be adduced ; but they are only exceptions to the rule, — as, for example, the case of a swindler. But, after all, those who do not use pleasure carriages — as the mass of the community — though they do not benefit directly, still benefit indirectly by them. They are objects of beauty constantly exposed to public view, as much so as architectural erections — ^perhaps more so, being locomotive, — and far more so, though in a humbler way, than paintings or statues. It is an undeniable fact, that the daily habit of beholding beautiful objects has an imperceptible effect in refining the national taste. Pleasing colours and pleasing forms tend to soften rugged natures ; and whatever may be the disputes as to the evil or good resulting to a nation from the existence of a permanent leisure class, it is quite certain that if no part of the community be at leisure to study the arts of elegance, the public will be far less refined, far more devoid of taste, than if they have a standard — a type, as it were, to imitate, when any individual may acquire the means to imitate, without understanding the principles of that which he imitates.

In most branches of art, men of vulgar minds are to be found who deem that art is on the decline because works of art are progressively diminishing in price ; forgetting

X PBEFACE.

that an increasing demand more than compensates for a decreasing price. Amongst carriage constructors men of this class may be found, who prophesy the decline of carriage building in England, because they cannot maintain a lazy monopoly. They obstinately shut their eyes to the fact that the streets of London are now occasionally blocked up with pleasure carriages, as they frequently are with carts. The simple fact is, that ordinary still is now common, and carriage builders have become a more numerous body. It is a more difficult thing than formerly to stand out from the crowd, and it can only be accomplished by combined talent and energy. The arts of elegance, or luxury, as they are sometimes called, will be pursued with more earnestness than ever as people advance in wealth ; and if there be a fear, it is, lest the arts of wisdom be neglected for the pursuit of external enjoyments, as is so much the case in the wealthy cities of the United States.

Introduction

Locomotion. Animals.- Raft. -Canoe.-Sledge.— Palanquin.

—Litter. — Rollers. — Solid Wheels.— Cart.— Primitive Car.— Portuguese Car.— Chilese Car. —Framed Wheel. — Axle. — Pampas Carts. — Turning Carriage. — Ancient €oach Springs. — Strapped Seats. — Swinging Braces. — Buenos Ayres Travelling Carriage.— Wooden Springs, used in Canada. — Johnson's Waggon.— Steel Springs ^^g^l

Chapter I

Early History of Wheel Carriages. Scriptural Chariots.— Caretta,

Carruca, Arcera, Lectica, Carpentum, Decemjugis.— Grecian Chariots.— Car from Persepolis— Wine Waggon and Car from Pompeii. —Saxon MS.-Essedum.— King John's Litter.— Queen Katherine's Litter.— Chariot of Lady Emergard.— Chariot of Meliadus.—First Suspended Carriage, Hungarian.— Whirlicote.— Robert Westende.— Coach. — Kotcze.— Emperor Frederic Illrd's Close Carriage.— Elector of Cologne. — Margravine John Sigismund. — Henry the Fourth of France. — Emperor Ferdinand the Second. —Coaches of Perfumed Leather.— Glass Coaches. —Emperor Leopold's Wedding

Carriage. — Brouelte

XII

Chapter II

English Carriages. Walter Rippon.-First Coach.— Queen Mary

-Earl of Arundel.— William Boonen.— Queen Elizabeth's Coach.— Cost of a Coach.— M. de Rosny, Treasurer of France. — Scotch Patent for Public Carriages. — Strictures on Coaches by Taylor the Water Poet. — Colloquy between Coach and Sedan. — Dialogue between a Frenchman and a Londoner.— Public Travelling. Page 42

Chapter III

DeBnition of Wheel Carriages. Primary and Secondary.— Ani-

mal and Elemental Power.— Elasticity and Gravity.— Examples .— Mechanical Powers.— Lever.— Wheel and Axis.— Pulley.— Inclined Plane. — Wedge. - Screw. — Funicular Action. — Hydrostatical Action. — Automatical Action. — Ponderatical Action. — Geometrical Forms in Carriages. ...

Chapter IV

Materials of Wheel Carriages. Animal :— Hides.— Skins.—

Hair.— Wool.- Silk.— Glue.— Whalebone.- Ivory.— Pearl-shell.— Vegetable :— Timber. - Ash.— Beech.— Elm.— Oak.— Mahogany.— Cedar.— Deal.— Pine.— Fustic— Lancewood.— Birch.— Chesnut.— Sycamore. — Plane Tree. —Cotton.— Flax— Hemp.— Tow.— Straw. — Caoutchouc— Copal. — Linseed Oil. — Turpentine.— Mineral :— —Iron. — Steel. — Copper. — Brass.— White Brass— Gun-metal.— Silver— Gold.— Lead.-Tin.— Glass.— Metallic Oxides. . . 68

CONTENTS.

xiii

Chapter V

Analysis of Carriage Construction. Dennet. — Stanhope. — Tilbury. — Cabriolet. — Curricle. — Underspring Phaeton. — Coach — Parts of Coach. — Carriage Body. — Equipage for Town and Country.

Chapter VI

Wheels. Definition. —Solid Wheel.— Plank Wheel.— Framed

Wheel. — Barrow Wheel. — Nave. — Spokes. — Felloes. — Cylindrical Wheel. — Conical Wheel. — Pyramidal Wheel. — Nave Hoops. — Strake Tires. — Hoop Tires. — Mode of Construction. — Disadvantages. — Machine-made Wheels. — Solid Felloes. — Hancock's Wheels.

— Tubular-spoked Iron Wheels. — Losh's Wrought-iron Wheels.

— Jones's Pyramidal Iron Wheels. — Weight of Wheels. — Elasticity 93

Chapter VII

Axles. Wooden. — Conical, — Iron. — Cylindrical. — Common

Bar. — Faggoted. — Sizes. — Lubrication. — Soap. — Black-lead. — Grease. — Oil. — Common Axles with Linch-pins, — Screw Nuts.— Mail Axles. — Defects.— Collinge's Patent Axle. — Process of Oiling; — Defects. — Mason's Improved CoUinge Axle. — Various Projects for Axles. — Essential Particulars necessary to the perfection of Axles. 106

Chapter VIII

Springs.— -Various Substances used for them. — Leather. — Whalebone. — Wood. —Metal. —Spring Steel.— Construction.— Defects.— Elasticity. — Varieties of Springs. — Simple and Combined Forms.

xiv

CONTENTS.

Straight Spring. — Elliptic Spring. — Regular Curved Spring. — Spiral Spring. — Examples. — Combinations of Springs. — Breakage of Springs, — Essential Qualities of a perfect Spring. . . . Page 117

Chapter IX

Iron-work. Cranes. — Perch Plates. — Loops. — Stays. — Plates.

— Hoops. — Clips. — Bolts. — Steps. — Treads. — Joints. — Shackles.

— Jacks. — Qualities of Iron. — Plated Work. — Beading. — Lamps.

— Dress Lamps. — Wax Candles. — Oil Lamps for travelling. — Argand Lamps. — Cochrane's Patent Lamps. — Principles of Combustion. . . . . . . . . . .132

Chapter X

Construction of a Carriage. Length.— Height of Wheels. — Dishing of Wheels. — Axle Arms. — Springs. — Lock of Front Wheels. — Splintre Bar. — Timber. — Constmction of a Body. — Painting." —

Iron-work. — Trimming Carriage Frame-work and Iron-work. —

Leathern Braces. — Hanging the Body. — Dress Carriage. — Seat and Hammer-cloth.— Hind Standard. — Open and Close Carriages. 141

Chapter XI

Invention. Derivation of Carriages mostly Foreign. — Original

Inventions and Improvements. — English Artists. — Patent Rights. — Continental Artists. — Processes of Improvement. — Theory and Practice. — Genius and Invention. — WoUaston. — Brindley. — Watt.

— Babbage. — Analysis of the Qualities developing Invention. — Difficulties of Inventors. — Expense of Patents. — Jealousy of Rivals. — Combination of Carriage Forms and Proportions. — Taste in Design. — Drawing. — Variety of Qualities necessary to conduct a Carriage Manufactory. 156

CONTENTS.

XV

Chapter XII

Carriage Artisans. Handicraft Work.— Steam Labour but little

used.— Skilled Workmen.— Modes of getting Work executed.— Piece Masters. — Carriage Builders' Tradesmen. — Materials. — Various Workmen:— Body Makers.— Carriage Makers.— Carvers.— Smiths.— Trimmers Painters. — Brace and Harness Makers. — Sawyers. — Labourers. — Designers. — Draughtsmen.— Herald Painters. —Axle-tree Makers.— Spring Makers. — Wheelwrights.— Lamp Makers. —Blind Makers. —Joiners. — Trunk Makers. — Turners. — Lace Makers. — Curriers. — Japanners. — Ivory Workers. — Platers. —Chasers. — Embroiderers.— Trades' Unions.— Jealousy of Caste. . . Page 172

Chapter XIII

Steam Locomotion. Canals.— Railroads.— Engines.— Boilers :

High and Low Pressure. — Tubular Boilers. — Durability of Steam Engines. — Difficulties of Steam Vehicles on Common Roads. — Mr. Hancock's Carriages. — Speculators in Steam Carriages. — Defects of Steam as applied to Pleasure Carriages.— Steam compared with Horses. —Steam adapted to Rail-roads, but not to Common Roads. — Probable Increase of Pleasure Carriages by means of Railroads. . .190

Chapter XIV

Taste. Definition of Taste.— True and False Taste.— Originality

and Imitation.— Form, Colour, and Proportion.— Defective Proportions of Carriages.— Natural Forms.— Ornaments contrived to cover defects.— Colours.— Heraldic Bearings.— Disposition of Ornaments. — ^Trimming xvi

CONTENTS.

Chapter XV

Varieties of Carriages. Distinguishing Characteristics. — Coach

with Under-springs — without Under-springs. — Landau Driving

Coach — Town Chariot. — Post Chaise. — Landaulet. — Britzschka Chariot. — Elliptic Spring Chariot. — Barouche. — Barouchet. — Britzschka. — Elliptic Spring Britzschka. — Droitzschka. — Driving Phaeton. — Elliptic Spring Phaeton. — Pony Phaeton. — Britzschka Phaeton. — Ancient Phaeton. — Cabriolet Phaeton. — Elliptic Spring Cabriolet Phaeton. — Curricle. — Cabriolet. — Tilbury. — Stanhope. — Open framed Stanhope. — Dennet. — Gig. — One-horse Chaise, or Whiskey Page 220

Chapter XVI

Purchasing and Jobbing Carriages. Carriages made to order. —

Ready-made Carriages. — Judgment. — Preservation of Carriages. — Sun. — Frost. — Rain. — Dust. — Mud. — Atmospheric Air. — Moisture. — Dryness. — Metal-work. — Rust. — Leather. — Cloth. — Silk. — Lace. — Paint and Varnish. — Coach-houses. . . . 246

CHAPTER XVIL

New Inventions. Imperfections of English Carriages. — Unequal

Wheels. — Unequal Motion, unequal Wear, unequal Durability.

— Elastic and Rigid Wheels. — Modes of making Spring Wheels. — Author's Invention of a Circular Spring Wheel. — Improved Oil Chamber. — Author's Invention of Equirotal Carriages. — Equirotal Phaeton. — Advantages of the Equal Wheels. — Equirotal Cabriolet Phaeton Equirotal Pony Phaeton. — The same with a low body.

— Equirotal Droitzschka, — Equirotal Chariot ; Advantages. —

CONTENTS.

xvu

Equirotal Carriages adapted for Posting with one Horse, being very light. — Equirotal Omnibus ; Advantages.— Author's Invention of an Adjusting Bow Spring, adapted equally for light and heavy loads in Carriages, and universally applicable.

Cabriolets and Omnibuses. Hansom's Cabriolet. — Association

Omnibuses. — Patent Cabriolet, with door behind and Bouluois' Elliptic Springs. — Defects of the Patent Cabriolet. — Imitations. — Go-carts. — Four-wheeled Cabriolet. — Deep-cranked Axles. — Author's Invention of a deep-cranked Axle.— Author's Invention of a Cabriolet open or close at pleasure, and driven from behind. — Author's Invention of a Coal and general Burden Waggon, adapted to narrow Streets and Wharves Page 255

Chapter XVIII

Existing Mail Coaches. Their Defects. — Author's Invention of

an Improved Mail Coach.— The Advantages of it. . . 282

Chapter XIX

Railroad Transit. Clashing Opinions. — Engineers and Carriage

Builders. — Railroads still only experimental. — Manchester and Liverpool Railroad. — Railroad Bubbles. — Steam versus Horses. — Irontyred Wheels an argument for Iron Bearings on Roads. — Defects in the Original Construction of the Manchester and Liverpool Railroad and Carriages. — Great Destructive Wear. — Causes. — Absence of Elasticity. — Springs. — Relative Speeds. — Diameter of Wheels. — Enormous Weight and Unscientific Construction of Railway Passenger Carriages. — Parallel Axles. — Flanges. — Coned Wheels. — Advantages. — Sledge-like Motion. — Improvement in the Position of Rails. — Author's Invention of a Railway Train to pass freely round a Curve. — Propositions for increased Speed on Railways premature. —

b

XVlll

CONTENTS.

Stephenson's Six-wheeled Engine.— Earl of Duiidonald*s Two-wheeled Engine. — Methods of constructing Railroads.-— Analysis of Common Roads.— Macadamised Roads.— Imitations. — Combination of

Wood and Iron for Railroads. — Durability of Wood Artificial

Means of increasing Durability. — Author's Inventions of a Railroad of Wood and Iron — Of a Mode of keeping the Wheels on the Rails without Flanges— And of a Mode of keeping the Bearings of the Axles abundantly oiled without waste.— Summary of the Defects of Railroads and Railroad Carriages, and the Remedies which are desirable. — Conclusion. Page 289

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Equirotal Droitzschka . . . Frontispiece.

Car of Portugal ...... Page 8

Ox Cart of the Pampas . . . . .11

Buenos Ayres Carri-coche . . . . 16

Car from the Ruins of Persepolis .... 24

Pompeii ..... 26

Town Chariot ...... 225

Britzschka ...... 229

Modera Phaeton ...... 233

Cabriolet ...... 240

Circular Spring Wheel ..... 264

Equirotal Phaeton ..... 265

Cab Phaeton ..... 267

Town Chariot . . . . . 270

Regulating Bow-spring . . . . 274

Equirotal Mail Coach ..... 288

Lateral Elevation of a portion of a very light Carriage- train

for a Railroad ..... 296

Hind Elevation of a Railway Carriage . . ^

Flexible Carriage-train drawn into a circle . . Mode of applying Horizontal Guide Wheels on Vertical Axes, to

dispense with the Flanges of the Running Wheels . 309

Improved Mode of oiling the bearing Brasses by an Oil-chamber

and revolving Dippers attached to the Axis . 310

ENGLISH PLEASURE CARRIAGES.

INTRODUCTION.

Locomotion. — Animals.— Raft.— Cauoe.— Sledge.— Palanquin.— Litter.— Rollers.— Solid Wheels.— Cart.— Primitive Car.— Portuguese Car. — Chilese Car. — Framed Wheel. — Axle. — Pampa- Carts. — Turning Carriage. — Ancient Coach Springs. — Strapped Seats. — Swinging Braces. — Buenos Ayres Travelling Carriage. — Wooden Springs, used in Canada. — Johnson's Waggon. — Steel Springs.

The nature of man is progressive, and constantly prompts him to take advantage of all favourable circumstances in order to lessen his painful labour — to mitigate as much as possible, the " primeval curse " by the exercise of his great sustaining faculty, reason. Next to speech, and its kindred arts, reading and writing, the power of locomotion is the most important agent in human civilisation ; and, as a consequence, facihty of locomotion is highly desirable. If locomotion be painful to a human being, the minimum of it will be performed ; if it be easy, the maximum will be performed, inasmuch as the power of seeing new faces, places, scenery, and other objects, is desired by almost all human beings ; and this desire is only kept in abeyance by the consciousness or the fear that the pain caused by indulging it will be greater than the pleasure arising from its gratification.

The earliest and simplest means of locomotion were the

B

INTttODUOTION.

same in human beings as in the lower animals — the muscular action of the limbs. So long as the muscles continue elastic, the act of walking is a source of pleasure ; but when they become languid and relaxed, it is a source of pain. The frequent necessity of continuing locomotion after the muscles have become fatigued, must have set human invention at work at a very early period of the world to devise a remedy. The simplest remedy which presented itself, — the easiest transition from actual pain to comparative comfort, — was that of substituting for human muscles, the muscles of the lower animals ; in short, the act of subjugating such of the lower animals as were sufficiently powerful, to human control, and obliging them to carry a human burden. Thus commenced the art of riding. Horses, asses, mules, camels, dromedaries, elephants, and even cows,* have been used to ride on in various countries and localities, according as they were found or adapted. Some of these, as the four former, may be trained to such ease and grace of movement as to give pleasure to the rider ; consequently they are still used even where no positive necessity exists. The three latter, on the contrary, are painful to ride on, and ungraceful in their gait ; consequently they are only used in the absence of any better means of locomotion. The wild Arab only chooses the bone-shaking dromedary in preference to the horse, when the desert is too broad for the horse's powers of endurance.

But though the act of riding on the back of a dromedary be only a lesser evil than walking, and though the act of

" * Thechief of the Gallas galloped off on his cowr

Bruce's Abyssinia.

INTRODUCTION.

S riding on the back of a horse be a positive pleasure, still it is not a pleasure at all times, nor to all persons. The muscles of a horse become non-elastic on a long journey, and the act of riding a tired horse, if not more painful, is only one degree less painful than walking with tired legs. Besides this, horses vary, both in their tempers and physical qualifications, and it is as great a pain to ride some, as it is a pleasure to ride others. In short, as a means of simple locomotion, for the purpose of a long journey, a horse's back is, to the majority of human beings, a very imperfect mode of conveyance. It is only in the vigour of youth, when the animal spirits are predominant, or by the possessors of hardy frames and enduring constitutions like the Tartars, and some few individuals of other nations, that riding horses are preferred to other and easier modes of locomotion, when a choice can be attained. The old, the infirm, the feeble, the idle, the luxurious, the careful, the calm, the industrious, the sedate, and the economists of time and strength, though they may all in turn ride on horseback for the purposes of pleasure or exercise, will invariably prefer, as a means of simple locomotion, whatever method may offer the maximum of speed, with the minimum of bodily exertion, and consequently diminished wear of the animal economy.

The first attempt at vehicular locomotion must necessarily have been imperfect. Human beings residing on the banks of large rivers would naturally observe the facility wherewith trees and other vegetable productions floated on the surface, moving with the downward current. After this, the construction of a rude raft would be an easy

B 2

INTRODUCTION.

transition. At the present day, there exist people who go out fishing on rafts constructed of bundles of dryrushes.* A long period probably elapsed ere the invention of the oar or paddle, for the purpose of moving up the stream, induced the river travellers to construct, first a raft, and then a canoe, which might be worth preserving as a property of constant utility. But this was a mode of locomotion confined to a limited space. "Vehicular conveyance by land was the most important desideratum.

The first and most simple form of it would naturally be a land-raft or sledge, which, if not heavily loaded, would move in favourable localities with considerable facility, as over dried grass, or green turf, or ice, or on the surface of hardened snow. In the northern countries both of Europe and America, the sledge is constantly used upon the snow at the present day ; for which purpose it is better adapted than wheel vehicles, the great length of the two bearers preventing them from sinking in the snow as wheels would do. In the island of Madeira, the heavy pipes of wine are drawn on sledges from the mountain vineyards to the sea-ports ; and part of the driver's business is, to walk by the side of them with a kind of mop, to keep the surface of the bare rock on which they run constantly wetted to diminish the friction. Another instance is the sledge used by the London brewers, and drawn by a single horse, to convey barrels of light weight. But it is evident that, except under peculiar circumstances, the fi-iction of sledges is so great as to cause a great loss of animal power ; and, therefore, better vehicles must have been objects of desire at a very early period. In mountainous * Lake fishermen in parts of South America.

INTRODUCTION.

countries, sledges could scarcely be used except down hills ; and accordingly, in mountainous countries, the next stage of improvement must have been first adopted.

This mode was to take the sledge altogether from the ground, on which it had been drawn by horses or oxen, and to suspend it from the backs of two or four of them, by means of pack-saddles and lashings. In Spain and Portugal, this rude vehicle is still to be found, under the form of the litera or litter ; which is, in fact, a sedan chair borne by two mules, one before and one behind, the poles being slung to their packsaddles. In England this sedan chair is, or rather was, borne by men. In the East, the form changes from a chair to the more luxurious one of a couch, and under the name of a palanquin it constitutes the principal vehicular conveyance of the rich, being borne by olive-complexioned men more capable of endurance than quadrupeds in an enervating climate.

But the litter and the palanquin were alike imperfect, inasmuch as they consumed a large amount of animal power for very little effect ; because the whole weight of the passenger and the vehicle also, had to be borne as well as moved along. Those who navigated large rivers in canoes, were obliged occasionally to lift them out of the water, and carry them over land wherever falls or shallows interrupted the channel. In such a case, the bearers would become sensible of the disproportion of labour existing between the act of paddling a canoe and that of carrying it, * and invention would be set to work to pro-

* On the navigable rivers in Canada, there are numerous spots marked in the maps " Fortuges^ These are carrying-places for the Indian canoes, the progress of which is impeded by falls or shallows.

INTRODUCTION.

duce a similar result with a land vehicle— to find a mode of sustaining it, as the water sustained the canoe. Inventors are not creators, — they are merely finders-out : they do not make new forms, — they merely take the types which exist in nature. He who cut down trees on the hill-side to build his house in the valley would naturally remark the facility wherewith the round trunks rolled to the bottom of the hill, and also the ease with which they could be moved over the level, when compared with flat logs or large blocks of stone. This was doubtless the origin of rollers or round logs of wood, which are placed under heavy trees or beams in order to move them over the surface of the earth. To set in motion trees thus placed, it is necessary to apply a lever. This would not be a tedious process of discovery, after the example of the paddle, which acts as a lever in the water. But turf or soft ground would prove a very inefficient fulcrum to rest the lever on, and the next process would naturally be that of cutting a hole through the roller in which to insert the lever. The convenience of several holes in the circumference of the roller would then become apparent, and thus would be formed an embryo wheel nave. It could not fail to be remarked also, that the larger the roller, the greater the facility for turning it, and consequently the greater the load that " could be borne upon it. But there are few trees whose stems are found of large size and of a cylindrical form ; without which latter condition, they would not roll in a straight line, but in the circumference of a circle of greater or lesser size : and besides, the weight of very large solid rollers would be a great disadvantage. Under these circum-