Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/247

 Ae Maron 22, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS. 229 THE BUILDING NEWS. ee LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1872. CARRIAGES. HERE are two sides to this subject : one is that of the thoughtful and splendid writer who traced the industry of carriage building as, with daring genius, he pretended to do, between Long-acre and Paradise; the other is that of practical persons, who dwell upon fashion, panels, poles, cushions, and springs. It is only fair to look at both. Let us take the two, in consequence. Men have limbs, yet are not naturally, at least in these ages, walking creatures. They want to travel by steam power, to fly, if they can, to pass from point to point with unnatural rapidity. The truth, indeed, is an old one, for did not the great Alexander exclaim, ‘“‘ Curse my legs!” Out of this indignation arose the idea of cars, wains, waggons, coaches, chariots, and, in a word, vehicles altogether. But when was it? We might as well ask, in the teeth of that eternal sphynx, called history, where was the difference first detected betwen a lobster and acrocodile? Thousands—tens of thousands—of chariots are mentioned in the sacred writings. We know how the Pharaohs are, at all events, reputed to have travelled; and the Persians also, so that the materials and architecture of carriages must have had their origin inan indefinite antiquity, for a Pharaoh is reported as saying to Joseph, “Take your chariots out of the land of Egypt for your children and your wives.” Well, it would be digressing too far, perhaps, out of our way if we dwelt long on the Essedum of Ancient Italy, with its carved and embossed yokes, and its tandem principle of traction; the four-wheeled pilentum of the ancient Gauls, a likeness of which, strangely enough, though the relation may be impossible to trace, is still perceptible in South Wales; the antique car of wicker- work, nearly equivalent to our basket pheton, or the open coaches driven ‘‘ by white ladies,” which were fashionable in the age of Elioga- balus. A learned author has remarked that, from the days of Adam to those of Joseph, the art of coachmaking made hardly any progress whatever. Thousands of useful inventions had perished, and with then myriads of useful men. We remember an observation of this kind in the little-known yet priceless pages of Gognet. But it was not long before, in the second epoch of hu- manity, people began to be tired, and objected to “‘make their own legs their compasses.” They took to riding. Rebekah, however, was among the earliest to protest, aud got tired of her camel’s hump; and so did her damsels. [hey would have had coaches-and- six, if they believed that coaches-and-six ex- isted, or were possible. What then! The Isth- mian Aristides suggested yoking. But yoking implied carriages; and the carriages were forthcoming: it was a question of supply and demand. Mythology assisted the imagi- nations of men; the sun itself was set on wheels, and rolled about from morning till night, after which he took another drive, and axles became a fashion. Stage coaches, family coaches, and, in the end, omnibuses, were contrived. And the inventor got his reward. He was Philomerus—so the poets say, and let not Long-acre contradict them— and he was turned into a constellation, and is known at Greenwich Observatory as Bodtes. Itis said that carts were constructed by Noah, but that is an evident fable; it is also asserted that vehicles of one wheel are as old as Triptolemus, and even Moses, but they must have been either wheel-barrows or bicycles. The antiquity waggons were un- questionably at first those of agriculturists, next those of warriors, and afterwards con- veyances for easy people who did not choose to walk. Then, this method of transit from place to place having been conceived, what is its true history? We must dismiss—if we would get at facts—notwithstanding, the gallant visions of Homer and Pindar ; and we must even lose from sight the origin of one-horse, two- horse, and four-horse harness, notwithstand- ing that it has a direct bearing upon the history of the making and use of carriages. The beginning of coach-making was, indubitably, wicker-work. Even the war-chariots of the Homeric epic are mentioned as being of this pe- culiar materialand construction. ‘‘ Within his wicker chariot he reclined,” says ‘‘ the blind old man of Chio’s rocky isle,” and rods of the wild fig-tree were employed for the pur- pose. We do not vive this fact as a hint to Long-acre ; but as a notice to intimate the degeneration of the art when heavy planks, pegs, and glue were used in the fabrica- tion of more cumbersome vehicles. Next came entire cars of metal, though Cato affirmed that a carriage should be composed in equal proportions of wood and iron; and these metallic vehicles must have been, in their vibration and violence of motion, some- thing like the railway locomotives of the present day, which no man can ride unless after an apprenticeship. They are twice re- ferred to in the Scriptures ; in Judges I., 19: ‘“ Chariots of iron ;” and in Judges IV., 13, again: ‘‘ Even nine hundred chariots of iron.” But it has never yet been decided or accepted that they were carriages of massive metal. Some suppose that they derived their appel- lation fromthe secythes with which they were armed, Once more, Pindar speaks of brazen cars ; but they have been shown to be cars ornamented with engrayed or embossed plates of brass fastened upon wood. It is almost the same with ivory. History talks of ivory vehicles; but, excepting in the miserably and demoralisingly extravagant games of Nero, they were never seen. History talks, also, of carriages constructed entirely of gold. Criticism has corrected this error ; they were not golden, but gilded. We might as well believe in the boast of the impious Emperor that he rode in a chariot drawn by wings brought down to him by Hebes from Heaven. ‘The word golden, ever since poetry existed, has always served as a convenient figure of speech. The truth is that ancient carriages seem to have been adorned by laying on laminz of the precious or glittering metals, or of ivory on the wood, fastening them with nails, pegs, or pins, carving them in high relief, with figures of gods, goddesses, men, women, animals, and flowers. Very few specimens of the antique chariot are extant, and of them all are in marble ; but we can find, if we search for it, some knowledge upon the subject. Thus the Greeks, and, after them, the Romans, origi- nally preferred a light-blue tint for the em- bellishment of their carriages ; in a later age a flame-colour ; then a sort of Venetian blue, “resembling the distant waves of the sea ;” sometimes vermilion, set with gems. Their luxury in the matter was boundless; they spread the floors with the softest carpets, they cooled the roofs by jewelled awnings, and they pampered their horses into a perfect state of imsolence ; gilded reins, enamelled harness, imitations of helmets on their toss- ing heads, poitrels ablaze with emeralds and rubies, gilded fillets to tie up their manes, as though they had been the tresses of Ausonian girls, and every description of similar vanity. The picture, however, so far as it has been imperfectly drawn, must suffice us. We have now ‘‘ modern instances” to deal with. The laws which govern the science—for it is a science—of carriage-building are governed, in the first place, by certain understood prin- ciples: that an inanimate body at rest can- not moye without a tractile force being applied; that it cannot be dragged so easily as it can be rolled; and that wheels repre- sent a perpetual succession of levers, obviating concussions or collisions with the ground, and lessening friction. In the case of general mechanics we may put the law thus: If the power be to the weight as the radius of the axle to that of the wheel, there will be an equilibrium ; and in a combination of wheels and axles, where the circumference of the first axle is applied to the circumference of the second wheel by means of a string, or by tooth and pinion, and the second axle to the third wheel in like manner, and so on, there will continue to be an equilibrium when the power is to the weight as the product of the radii of all the axles is to the product of the radii of all the wheels. ‘This is a most important point for the constructors of carriages to consider. A very elementary mathematical knowledge would improve their work, render it easier, make it more adaptable to their customers, and exalt their standing, already high, and once regarded as on a par with artists among the industrial trades, as distinguished from the merely commercial. It is to be feared that an excess of attention is lavished upon form and fashion in our carriages and vehicles of all descriptions. They are curved into graceful shapes, cushioned and _ tapestried, hung upon costly springs, painted and pinked, and hammer-clothed ; yet how often do we see defects in the most expensive of them— each costing more than an ordinary suburban house—simply because the traction power em- ployed, the estimate of weight, and the in- fluence of pavements upon poles, springs, and axles have been forgotten in the eagerness to turn out an equipage fit, in appearance, for a sheriff ! This isa very great subject indeed. We should, perhaps, alarm our readers if we catalogue the sections into which it divides itself; therefore, the main branches only need be indicated — bodies, four-wheelers, two-wheelers, iron-work, wheels, platforms, boxes, trimmings, linings, hammer-cloths, metal and plated furniture, lamps, steps, painting, braces and pole pieces, travelling conveniences, including imperials, wells, rumbles, and hanging of bodies and chaise- heads. Very practical men have written upon these topics, and laid down exceedingly sensible rules—as, that a carriage should be built with reference to the place where it is destined to be used, as a hilly or a smooth country ; and also with regard to climate, which is of consequence in the use of paints ; and of manners, which would forbid an English nobleman driving down Piccadilly in a coach that might be exactly suitable to a Peruvian grandee in his own land. Then, the weight cf the vehicle greatly affects the condition of the animals drawing it. Let us confess, however, that a lecture on a question of this kind may create more bewilderments than it removes; because, who can tell why seats should be narrower in the front than at the back, why there should be a distinction between landaus and demi-landaus, or what is the meaning of a “ tub-bottom” in connec- tion with a curricle in the park ? We do not even venture to surmise what a ‘ whiskey- body” signifies; but the term is probably out of date. It is more interesting to know that, in spite of all mechanical improvements, the prices of carriages have enormously in- creased. We give a coachmaker’s bill of the latter part of the last century:—‘‘ A chariot- body made plain, covered with leather on the roof and quarters, stuffed or prepared on the inside for the lining, the carving and neces- sary iron-work included, £25; door lights, constructed at the sides, £2 ; body altered to round sides, £1.” We should like to see an account like this presented from Long-acre in our day. It is only fair to mention, how- ever, that the coach-builders of those times, while affecting low prices, contrived to extort munificent sums from those who dealt with them through the following list of items, which they called extras : Bodies, carriages, springs, axle-trees, wheels, boots or budgets, platforms, raised hind and fore ends, and blocks for coaches or chariots; blocks for phaetons or gigs, extras for linings, inside furniture for