Alodern carriages are manufactured in great variety of form and mode of structure. The simplest form is the buckboard, in which the only spring is the long. flexible board which attached directly to the hind axle and separated from the front one by a king-bolt. There ace many forms of light four-wheeled carriages, usu ally drawn by one horse, which ace classed under the general name of buggies, and which may or may not have folding tops. As an example of the latter class the runabout is a light and popular type. The surrey is a two-seated buggy. Then there is a large group of more elaborate hooded carriages, in which the driver's seat may or may not be on a level with the rest of the carriage, and in which there is often much glass used. These vehicles reach their greatest elabora tion in the barouehe and the brougham. There is a group of two-wheeled pleasure vehicles, in which the shafts are more or less rigid, as part of the load is borne by the horse. These are described under CART.
Fashion and utility produce frequent changes and developments in carriages, and to the many forms different names are applied in different countries and at different times. Shooting-traps, golf-carts. mail-phaetons, and spiders are in stances of vehicles which in many cases are used for purposes widely different from those for which they were originally designed. Victoria and cab riolet are the names of open-hooded carriages with two scats, while the an open car riage often fitted with a canopy, has seats for four people in addition to the coachman and groom. The landau is a large carriage for four passengers, where the top may be folded back, thus transforming it from a closed to an open car riage. Somewhat resembling the brougham. but higher, lighter, and somewhat less pretentious and costly, thus making it particularly available for use in the country and smaller towns, is the roekaway. Of similar eonstrution, but lacking the more solid frame and glass of this vehicle, is the depot-wagon. The wagonette, which may or may not have a roof, consists of a box-seat for the coachman or driver in front of two longi tudinal and parallel seats. The brake, which is well suited for four-in-hand driving, is a high eldele with two, three, or four parallel and trans verse seats, serving as a substitute for the road coach or drag. (See CoAcn and COACHING.) The brougham or with little transformation becomes the 'four-wheeler,' which, especially before the introduction of the hansom, in America, was known as a cab, while the French fiucre and the German and Russian droschkc may be considered a modified form of the victoria or The chaise, which is a term usually applied to a two-wheeled cart, now practically obsolete. was
at one time extensively used, and in the United States was known as a shay, the word being pre served in the familiar poem by Holmes, entitled "The I )ne-1 horse (If the vehicles used for the convenience of the general public, the cab, the stage-coach, and the (minibus are the principal types. The cab, or hansom cab, is a two-wheeled vehicle wit the driver's seat behind and above the body of the carriage. It was invented in 1835 by an Englishman named .Toseph Ilansom. The devel opment of the stage-coach is described under CoAcn. The omnibus is arranged with the en trance for passengers at the back, an aisle run ning lengthwise with a row of seats on each side facing each other. The omnibus came into use in England about 1829. The introduction of the steam railway and the street railway has per decreased the use of omnibuses more than any other class of vehicles, though for many years they have formed an interesting feature of Paris and London street travel. The name and essential features, however, are preserved in a class of pri vate carriage constructed on a smaller scale, and carrying more passengers than the usual three sea led vehicle.
The most notable feature in the construction of carriages at the beginning of the Twentieth Cen tury is the increased use of rubber tires for both city and country vehicles. The pneumatic tire, first used about IS90, did not meet with universal use, being confined to trotting sulkies, runabouts, or heavy omnibuses. Later solid rubber tires were improved and made adaptable for all kinds of pleasure vehicles and are now found univer sally. The 'good-roads' movement in the United States has caused a quite general adoption of broader tires, especially for wagons to carry heavy loads. The different forms of horseless carriages are discussed under AUTOMOBILE. For further information, consult : W. Burgess, Practical Treatise on Coach-Building (London, SS1) ; A. Thrupp, fl istory of the Art of Coorh Banding (London, 1877). See CART; COACH; COACHING; DRIVING; HANSOM ; PIIA ETON ; WAG ON ETTE.