Grantville Gazette-Volume XI

by Eric Flint

  The need for a blacksmith to "iron" the wagon continued until the mid-19th century and the rise of companies dedicated to building carriages and wagons. By the 1850's, some of the larger U.S. wagon companies were building 300 to 400 wagons a year with a staff of 25 to 40 employees. They were aided in this by steam- and water-powered machine shops, foundries that cast and forged major metal parts, specialty companies that built only wheels or axles, and sawmills that provided wood pre-sawn to basic sizes. It is here, at the point when industrialization blooms, that wagons from a single maker become nearly identical.

  Carriages

  Like the wagon, a carriage consists of a frame that supports the axles, a body, four wheels, and some means of attaching the preferred draft animal(s). A carriage may have a pair of shafts for a single animal or a tongue for two or more. The frame may be simple, ornate, or even steel. The body may consist of anything from a few planks fastened to the frame to an open construction of light poles or a solidly built box. Most carriages feature some type of covering or enclosure to protect the passengers.

  From their earliest appearance until the late 16th century, carriages can be considered a minor sub-set of wagons. Even so, there is evidence that a few wagons were built only for the purpose of transporting people and thus can be identified as carriages.

  The idea of a carriage as something different from a wagon with some type of seating thrown in definitely existed, even in Roman times. These early carriages differed from wagons in their attempts to soften the passengers' ride by providing a crude suspension system. The idea of a suspension system is one of the Roman technologies assumed to have been lost and later rediscovered. The evidence one way or another is vague. By the end of the Middle Ages, some carriages certainly had some form of suspension system.

  Some of the cruder carriages, known as "traveling carts," were simple wagons with tarpaulins, matting, or leather covers to protect their passengers from the weather. Traveling carts mostly lacked any form of suspension system and were generally rather plain. They remained in use throughout Europe well into the 19th century.

  Bad roads within and between towns, inadequate suspension systems, and social factors limited the use of carriages until the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the 17th century saw a number of improvements and some social changes. Roads within cities generally were paved and kept clear of mud and debris in most. Major roads between towns saw improvements that meant that a carriage had a better chance of reaching its destination without breaking an axle or wheel. Also, while carriages had previously been restricted to royalty, they began spreading to the lesser nobility and the wealthy non-nobles. Carriages were so expensive that they were a show of status and wealth. In addition, carriage driving became fashionable. Previously riding in a carriage instead of traveling on horseback was considered "weak" and socially not acceptable save for the old or sick. By the end of the 17th century, the numbers and types of carriages began a cycle of increase that would not cease until the beginning of the twentieth century.

  The development of suspension systems that actually worked combined with an overall improvement in roads were major drivers of the four hundred year long "Age of the Carriage." Improved suspension systems meant that people could use carriages without being jolted, sickened, and bruised—or at least not as much as before. Improved roads meant that journeys of more than a handful of miles could be undertaken with less fear of broken wheels and shaken and stirred passengers.

  By the 17th century, carriages often consisted of a rectangular body that featured some form of solid roof. Curtains of leather, parchment, or even glass offered protection from dust and rain but left the interior stuffy. The idea of built-in seats was still in its infancy. Often the passengers sat on bolsters and cushions that were placed over the trunks holding their possessions. Unfortunately, few of the humbler sorts of carriages survive so our knowledge of them comes mostly from art works and written descriptions.

  The Carruca Nutans or swinging carriage was common in the 17th century and demonstrates one early suspension system. This type of suspension was first developed by the Romans. The term "swinging" carriage comes from the carriage body being suspended by chains that ran from posts at the corners of the frame to the corresponding corner of the carriage body. While the chains may have reduced the jolting, they introduced an uncontrollable swinging that soon had the passengers seasick. By the 17th century people were experimenting with using ropes or leather straps in place of the chains. The success of these substitutions was mixed and only major design changes produced suspension systems that did a better job of smoothing the ride. Despite its drawbacks the Carruca Nutans suspension remained in use throughout the Carriage Age.

  Although detailed descriptions or examples are mostly missing, it is known that major changes appeared sometime in the first half of the 17th century. The Carruca Nutans style of suspension was reshaped into a system that had the carriage body resting on top of leather straps. These straps ran from front to back between the Carruca Nutans' posts and under the carriage body. The straps were often fastened to the posts via a pivoting elbow system made from iron. This "thoroughbrace" suspension system continued to evolve and modern examples can be seen in the Concord stages built for Wells Fargo and other stage lines.

  Other early suspension systems also tried wooden and iron springs. These seemed to have worked fairly well on paved roads, but much less well on a road with deep ruts. The springs broke easily and frequently. Spring suspensions spread widely only after quantities of good steel became available.

  The most common springs used during the later half of the Age of the Carriage were elliptical steel springs. Leaf spring suspensions were developed for heavier carriages. Coiled spring suspension systems probably existed prior to the 19th century but do not appear to have been common. By the early twentieth century, many carriages were using the Shuler Roller Bearing Spring suspension, which used a central roller bearing with two support arms in place of an end elliptical spring. It is in the use of steel for springs that Grantville can have the largest effect on carriage design.

  From the earliest pre-historic carriage maker until the industrialization of the 19th century, wheelwrights made carriages one at a time, so each carriage was different. Some wheelwrights copied successful innovations but there were no standards. The urban myth of the Roman War Chariot Standard notwithstanding, the widths of carriage bodies and their wheel spans varied considerably.

  Early carriages and wagons were built by wheelwrights because the most difficult part of the carriage was the wheel. Except for the earliest examples, carriages always rode on spoked wheels. The dished wheel enabled lighter and more graceful wheels to withstand the loads and abuse of heavy use. Dished wheels first appear on carriages although sturdier versions soon showed up on wagons.

  By the 1600s carriages were no longer built by a lone wheelwright with a couple of apprentices. The use of iron required the services of a blacksmith, seats required leather workers, windows needed glaziers, and so on. Coach or Carriage Makers' Guilds developed across Europe to deal with these changes.

  There is evidence that certain cities had laws governing the maximum widths and lengths of carriages, how they could be decorated, and who could own one. The sources are not clear on whether these laws had a practical basis or were social in nature. What is clear is that laws governing rules of the road had existed from at least the early Middle Ages. These early laws dictated the width of roads as well as the rules for avoiding and passing other vehicles.

  The development of carriages drove the development of a number of horse breeds for pulling them. The Oldenburg was one such breed in Germany, as was the Frederiksborg in Denmark. England bred the Hackney with its ultra-high action and elegance. Each region had one or two horse breeds developed exclusively for pulling carriages. Carriage horses needed size but they also needed to look elegant. Carriage horse breeds are lighter than draft horses and several breeds were developed with extreme leg ac
tion.

  Carriages range so widely in size that it is hard to give sizes save for a few specific ones. Industrialization gave rise to certain set types and styles that fall within rough size standards. A small carriage, meant for one or two people might be only 3 feet wide by 4 feet long. A state carriage could be as much as 7 or 8 feet wide and over 20 feet long. Carriages were not just transportation, they were also a statement of rank, power, and wealth.

  There are thousands of types of carriages. Whole books have been written on them and I will make no attempt to replicate that information here. Two carriage types do deserve a closer look because of information available in Grantville.

  The stagecoach found across the U.S. evolved from the early European mail coaches. Mail coaches developed early in different parts Europe to carry mail, passengers, and small packages. The advantage of the mail coach was speed, as it was intended to roll down the road at a fast trot or hand gallop, depending upon the state of the roads. Given the state of early suspension systems, the first mail coaches must have given their passengers a bone-shaking ride. The Concord stages of Wells Fargo fame rode much more smoothly on their thoroughbrace suspensions. Despite this major improvement in suspension, the ride was not smooth. From my personal experience of riding in an old Concord being pulled at a trot along a well-packed, level, and rut-free dirt road, I don't think most twenty-first century people would like to ride in a Concord stagecoach for long distances.

  A special form of public carriage was the trolley car. This is another area where up-time knowledge can have a great effect. Grantville (or Mannington) had a trolley system recently enough that some of the oldest up-time residents would have memories of it. Pictures showing the trolley do exist and, perhaps an old trolley car rests behind some barn or shed.

  Horse or mule drawn trolleys were once the public buses in all cities and most towns. They provided an efficient means of transportation and allowed people to live further from their workplaces. A major drawback for trolleys is the requirement for tracks. As with the earliest railroads, tracks could be iron or bartopped wooden rails. But are tracks necessary? Various places did use trolley cars (omnibuses) pulled by one or two horses without tracks. This track-less system might be set up down-time as quickly as the trolley cars could be manufactured and teams and drivers found for them.

  Appendix 1

  Harness and Hitch

  Harnesses come in two main versions: light and heavy draft. While "horse" is used in the following discussion, everything here also applies to mules.

  Light harness is generally only used with buggies and light carriages. Light harness consists of a chest band running across the horse's chest just below the bottom of his neck and a bellyband around the horse's body just behind the horse's shoulders. The chest band pulls the load. Light harness is not meant for pulling heavy loads. Light harness may or may not have breeching. You can see examples of light harness at any horse show that offers "fine harness" classes.

  Heavy draft harness is used for pulling heavy loads and starts with the horse collar. Fastened over the collar are the hames and it is to the hames that the traces (tugs) are fastened. Traces are a pair of leather straps that attach to the hames and to each end of the singletree. The rest of the heavy harness is there to keep the collar in place when the load is being pulled forward. The breeching (britching) is an assembly of leather straps that support the breech band. The breech strap goes around the rump of the horse. The purpose of the breech strap is to allow the horse to pull backwards on the vehicle's tongue to slow or brake its speed. Other parts of the heavy harness allow the horse to exert a sideways pull on the vehicle's tongue to turn it. Today most peoples' chance to see heavy harness consist of watching the Budweiser Clydesdales in parades or at horse shows.

  Hitches can consist of anything from two to sixty, or more, horses and mules. The most common hitches for farm work and freighting are two, four, and six horses. Those interested in other hitches will find discussions of them in The Draft Horse Primer by Maurice Telleen

  The two-horse hitch has one horse on either side of the tongue. The traces are attached to singletrees behind the horses and the singletrees are in turn attached to a doubletree, which is fastened to the wagon tongue. The base of each horse's collar is attached to a neck yoke. The neck yoke is attached the end of the wagon tongue. This arrangement allows for turning, braking and backing the wagon.

  A four-horse hitch adds two more horses directly ahead of the first pair. The third and fourth horses have their singletrees attached to a doubletree that is fixed by chain or hook to the end of the wagon tongue. A body pole or chain runs between the forward pair and is fastened to a neck yoke and through the neck yoke to the horses' collars. The use of a body pole aids in keeping the front pair aligned and allows them to help with braking. The front pair of horses are known as "leads" and the back pair as "wheelers." In multiple hitches the wheelers need to be the biggest and strongest horses in the hitch because most of the turning, braking, and backing power comes from them.

  A six-horse hitch adds two more horses. The fifth and sixth horses have their singletrees attached to a doubletree that is fixed by chain or hook to the end of the body pole or chain. A second body pole or chain runs between the forward pair and is fastened to their collars. Those six horse hitches that use a chain instead of a body pole give the leads more freedom to move at an angle to the rest of the hitch.

  The six horse hitch pairs are known as the wheelers, swings, and leads. The wheelers are the strongest horses and hitched closest to the wagon body. The pair in the middle are called "swings" and the pair in front take the name of "lead."

  Wheels

  Solid, single piece wheels are crude wheels carved from cross sections of trees and fixed to an axle. Both the wheels and axle turn together between pins and a u-bolt on the cart frame. The first wheels were solid wheels. Single piece wheels do not hold up well under extensive use, tending to crack and break under stress. In later centuries there is also a problem in finding trees with a big enough trunk to make a large wheel.

  Multi-part solid wooden wheels are made from two or more pieces of wood. These wheels were often fixed to an axle that turns together with the wheels. Some versions rotate on the axle. Multi-part wheels have been continuously used from 2,000 BPE to the twentieth century. These wheels are stronger and can be constructed from smaller trees. These multi-part wheels often have iron rims or tires.

  Spoked wheels—wheels made with hubs, spokes, felloes, and rims. Spoked wheels come in many varieties, some have the spokes "dished" and some have straight spokes. Dished spokes are set at an angle from the hub to the rim. Dishing is supposed to improve the strength characteristics of a wheel when it encounters ruts. The dished spoke wheel supposedly was a development of the 19th century but as dished spoke wheels appear in art works from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries this is a doubtful claim.

  What may be intended by this claim is that by the 19th century the dishing of spoked wheels had become a science with extensive formulas and theories supporting the production of dished wheels suitable for each type of vehicle. It is unlikely that copies of the extremely specialized literature giving these formulas and theories would be found in Grantville, so up-time contributions to this development will be limited to a few up-time examples.

  One Roman invention, the single piece fellies for the wheel, was not re-developed until 1775. Grantville does not include a wheelwright's shop nor does it appear that anyone there has experience as a wheelwright, so any improvements in wheels will have to come from down-time wheelwrights examining up-time examples.

  Axles and axletrees

  The earliest axles were fixed solidly to the wheels and the entire assembly of axle and wheel turned. While methods of allowing the wheels to turn on a fixed axle arose early on, the rotating axle/wheel assemblies continued in use. The use of a single axle or axle assembly stretching from one side of the vehicle to the other and supporting a pair of w
heels is as ancient as the use of wheels. Practically speaking, this single axle made aligning the pair of wheels with each other easier.

  Technical engineering bit: For carts the ideal axle runs directly under the center of mass of the vehicle and thus carries loads evenly to the wheels. For wagons, the ideal axles attach to the frame such that the loads are evenly distributed between all four wheels. Uneven loading leads to broken axles and/or wheels.

  Seventeenth-century axles were all made of wood. For wooden axles the ends, where the wheels attach, would have two iron straps fastened, one on the top and one on the bottom. These iron straps (skeins) take the wear of the wheel hubs' rotation. At the end of the axle would be a lynch pin inserted into a slot or hole. The lynch pin keeps the wheel on the axle. By the middle of the 19th century the steel axle was coming into use. Steel axles used a nut to hold the wheel on in place of the lynch pin.

  Nineteenth-century wagons that had dished wheels also had axles that gave those wheels a slight tilt outward at the top. The tilt of the axle end combined with the tilt of the dished wheel's spokes kept the spokes perpendicular to the ground as each spoke rotated and took the wagon's weight.

  It is probable that the angled axle has been around at least as long as the dished wheel.