GENERAL REMARKS ON THE COACH-BUILDING TRADE.
It is pleasing to be able to refer to the increased skill and
ingenuity of the coach workmen, especially among the rising
generation of operatives. This fact was elicited by the recent
exhibition of coaches, &c. Not only were there shown several
excellent working drawings of carriages—drawn to scale and difficult
of execution, and showing that there are forthcoming more highly
educated and more competent men well acquainted with the details of
their crafts, and of the proper and scientific manner of setting out
their work, now that frequent change of construction renders this
knowledge so desirable—but there were also shown many clever models
of proposed improvements, the work of the ordinary carriage artisans,
showing that their originators were men of thought and energy. And
no doubt if more prizes were offered, and these exhibitions more
frequent, greater competition would be aroused, which would be the
means of bringing out a great deal of talent which at present lies
dormant for want of some inducement to call it forth.
The art of the coachmaker being an intricate one, inasmuch as he
has to combine in one harmonious whole a number of most varied
products—wood, iron, steel, brass, paint, silver, cloth, leather,
silk, ivory, hair, carpet, glass, &c., each worked by a separate
trade, but generally in one manufactory, and each of which may
be spoilt or injured by careless or improper treatment in any
process—it behoves all engaged in the production of carriages to
work in harmony, that their united labours may approach perfection.
It would add much to this desirable end if in each manufactory,
large or small, were issued a series of printed “general directions”
for conducting the work; not rigid rules that would, if strictly
enforced, reduce men to mere machines instead of free and intelligent
operatives, but such as would so guide each worker in the execution
of his work as not only to give satisfaction to his employer by
its excellent and honest execution, but bring equal credit and
satisfaction to himself. This state of feeling would be a very
desirable one to bring about; it would be the means of bringing about
mutual respect between employer and employed, and lead the way to a
more cordial appreciation of each other’s wants and difficulties; at
the same time it would lessen the incessant watchfulness and anxiety
necessary to insure the work being executed in such a manner that it
may be depended upon for accuracy and excellence when completed.
It is not so generally known as it should be, that in France,
Belgium, Germany, and some other European States, the training of
workmen and apprentices receives a great deal of attention, the
Governments in these countries considering money and trouble bestowed
on such objects to be of national importance. Technical schools
in these countries furnish instruction in drawing, modelling, the
harmonious arrangement of colours, the application of chemistry
to manufactures, metallurgy, and the proper working of metals,
the principles and applications of mathematics and mechanics to
manufactures, together with much that is strictly technical. In
some parts of Germany, before an employer of labour can commence
business on his own account, he must prove to competent persons,
by the execution of some trial work, that he understands what he
undertakes; and, moreover, that he has travelled for three years in
foreign countries, working at his trade, to acquire a knowledge of
its processes in other countries besides his own. There is doubtless
much pedantry in many of the regulations that interfere with the free
exercise of trade, but culling the best points of the system there is
much good that results. The training of apprentices in most trades in
England is very unsatisfactory, and were public attention directed to
the matter, after discussing the subject in its different bearings,
there might be some good general recommendations circulated relating
to the subject.
The carriages of America are so different from our own and from those
of Europe, that they require special attention. It is quite possible
that in the future their style may greatly influence carriages in all
parts. The first noticeable trait in them is lightness, and English
coach-builders generally agree that they carry this lightness too
far, more especially in their larger carriages. We are supported in
this view by the fact, that for some years, these—such as landaus,
broughams, and coaches—have been materially modified by European
types. The Americans have adopted some of the shapes of Europe, and
the European mode of constructing the under-carriages, retaining
their own method of making the pole and splinters, as giving greater
freedom to the horses.
This principle of allowing the horses greater freedom for action
is well worthy of the attention of coach-builders. The manner in
which our horses are confined by tight, heavy strapping and traces,
by tight pole chains, by bearing reins, and the indiscriminate use
of blinkers to the bridles, has been much overdone in England.
If a horse with a heavy load and driven fast over slippery roads
should stumble, it is most difficult for him to recover himself. He
generally falls, and is pushed along by the impetus of the carriage,
and is more or less injured in his limbs or nerves by the accident,
while it is a matter of great difficulty, if not impossibility, for
him to rise again till the harness be unstrapped and the carriage is
removed from above him. Our horses are also harnessed too closely
to their work in two-wheeled carriages. We have thought only of the
ease of turning and moving the vehicle in crowded or narrow ways,
without observing the advantage of long shafts over short shafts. If
the shafts are considered as levers, by which the horse supports and
moves the weight behind him in a two-wheeled cart, it will at once
be obvious that although (whilst those levers are parallel with the
road) it does not so much signify whether they are long or short,
yet the moment they cease to be parallel with the road, when they
point upwards, or more particularly when they point downwards, the
difference between long and short levers is severely felt by the
horse. We can all of us lift a weight or support a weight more easily
with a long lever than with a short one, and it is the same with a
horse.
Those who have travelled abroad must have noticed the great weights
placed upon two-wheeled carts in France and Belgium, and the greater
comparative distance the horse is placed from the wheels, and yet he
carries his load easily enough, because he does not feel its weight
upon his back. Many English drivers seem to have observed this, and
try and ease the horse and lessen his chance of stumbling by tipping
the shafts up in front; but in this way the horse is made to feel
a pressure on the under part of his body, which certainly will not
improve his health. It is very probable that in future years public
opinion will be in favour of longer shafts and poles. This will also
tend to preserve good carriages from the damages they at present
suffer from the heat of the horses and the quantity of mud which is
thrown by their heels upon the front of the vehicle. The reins will
of course have to be longer, but this cannot be of much consequence;
the driver of a brougham is farther from the horse than the driver of
a mail phaeton, but it is not by any means true that the brougham is
any more difficult to drive than the phaeton on that account.
There is another fashion prevalent in this country which is certainly
a fallacy, viz. the supposed necessity for the driver to sit
nearly upright, which necessitates a deep boot and a clumsy, thick
coachman’s cushion. In America, Russia, and parts of Germany, the
driver sits low, but places his foot against a bar in front of the
footboard; this in their carriages is longer than in ours. Four
horses can be driven very well and easily in a low landau, and very
powerful-pulling and fast-trotting horses held in with apparent
ease. Our coachmen are often in danger of being pulled over by their
horses, and certainly when an accident happens in a collision they
are easily thrown from the boxes. They do not have the purchase and
security that the Russian drivers seem to possess.
One of the greatest novelties introduced by the Americans into the
United States is the “buggy,” a name first given in England a hundred
years ago to a light two-wheeled cart, carrying one person only, and
which we now call a “sulky.”
The Americans have lavished all their ingenuity upon these buggies,
and they have arrived at a marvellous perfection of lightness. They
are hung upon two elliptical springs. The axles and carriage timber
have been reduced to mere thin sticks. The four wheels are made so
slender as to resemble a spider’s web. Instead of the circumference
of the wheel being composed of a number of felloes, they consist of
only two of oak or hickory wood, bent to the shape by steam. The
ironwork is very slender and yet composed of many pieces, and in
order to reduce the cost these pieces are mostly cast, not forged,
of a sort of iron less brittle than our cast iron. The bodies are of
light work like what we call cabinet work. The weight of the whole
vehicle is so small that one man can easily lift it upon its wheels
again if it should be accidentally upset, and two persons of ordinary
strength can raise it easily from the ground. The four wheels are
of nearly the same height, and the body is suspended centrally
between them. There are no futchells; the pole or shafts are attached
to the front axletree bed, and the front of the pole is carried by
the horses in just the same way that they carry the shafts. The
splinter-bar and whipple-trees are attracted to the pole on swivels.
Some are made with hoods and some without. The hoods are made so that
the leather of the sides can be taken off and rolled up, and the back
leather rolled, removed, or fixed at the bottom, a few inches away
from the back, the roof remaining as a sun-shade. The leather-work is
very thin and of beautifully supple enamelled leather.
The perfection to which this vehicle has been carried is certainly
wonderful; and every part that is weak or likely to give way is
carefully strengthened. If well made they last a long time without
repair. The whole is so slender that it “gives” and recovers at any
obstacle. The defect in these carriages in English eyes consists
of the difficulty of getting in or out, by reason of the height of
the front wheel and its proximity to the hind wheel. It is often
necessary to partly lock round the wheel to allow of easy entrance.
There is also a tremulous motion on a hard road that is not always
agreeable. It is not surprising, however, that with the great
advantages of extreme lightness, ease, and durability, and with lofty
wheels, these vehicles travel with facility over very rough roads,
as there is a great demand for them in our colonies. It must be
remembered that the price is small, much less than the price of our
gigs and four-wheeled dog-carts. This cheapness is attained by making
large numbers to the same pattern, by the use of cast iron clips,
couplings, and stays, and by using machinery in sawing, shaping,
grooving, and mortising the timbers, and by the educated dexterity
of the American workman, always ready to adopt any improvement. An
educated man will make a nimble workman, just as an educated man
learns his drill from the military instructor more quickly than a
clown; and an educated man finds out the value of machinery and
desires to use and improve it. Instead of fearing its rivalry he
welcomes it; he remembers that all tools, even the saw and the
hammer, are machines, and that the hand that guides these tools is
but a perfect machine obeying the guidance of the brain more quickly
and in a more varied manner than any man-made machine. The American
workman, therefore, uses machines more and more.
In England machinery for wood shaping is used at Derby, Newcastle,
Nottingham, Worcester, and other towns, and in Paris some very good
machinery is at work in coach factories. In London it is chiefly
confined to patent wheel factories, a few steam-driven saws, patent
mills worked by hand, and drilling and punching machines. But until
the use of machinery is more generally adopted in London, it is
probable that the trade of building carriages for export will drift
more and more to the provinces and the continent. The saving effected
by machinery in cab and omnibus building would be great, because the
patterns vary so little, and all the other parts of a carriage would
correspond with another, and counter-change when repairs were needed.
The coach-builders of the future will look to steam and hand
machinery as their great assistance in cheapening the cost of
first-rate carriages, in multiplying them for the probable increased
demand, and also to build carriages more speedily. It now takes from
two to three months to build a brougham, of which at least five weeks
are consumed simply in the wood and ironwork, a period which by the
use of machinery might easily be shortened.
There has been much controversy about difference in the length of
the front and hind axletree. It has been usual to make no greater
difference than will allow the higher wheel to follow in the same
track as the lower wheel. In France, however, it has been the
practice since the year 1846 to make the front axletree of broughams
6 inches shorter than the hind ones. The object has been to allow
the front wheel to be placed nearer to the body. As the front wheel
of a brougham must turn entirely in front of the body, the additional
gain of 3 inches was very desirable. Some English coach-builders have
followed the example of the French. There is a decided gain. The eye
is pleased with the proportions, the horse is eased, and upon hard
roads the difference of track is of no consequence. On the other
hand, in the country roads, the well-worn ruts make the running of
the carriage uneasy, whilst in town the driver often forgets that
the curbstones will strike his hind wheels sooner than his front
ones, and also more mud is thrown upon the panels. Under these
circumstances it is very probable that the French plan will not find
universal favour.
If carriages had always to move along perfectly smooth roads such as
a tramway of wood, stone, or iron, the use of wheels in overcoming
friction would be their sole utility, and their height would be of
small consequence. But as carriages are drawn along roads with loose
stones and uneven surfaces, wheels are further useful in mounting
these obstacles, and it is plain that a high wheel does this more
easily than a low wheel. To demonstrate this, let us suppose a
shallow ditch or gulley of a foot wide and 2 inches deep, a wheel 2
feet high would sink into this and touch the bottom, but a wheel 3
feet high would only sink an inch, and a wheel 4 feet 6 inches high
would only sink half an inch (the wheels are supposed to cross the
above-mentioned gulley at right angles), on account of their greater
diameters. Consequently, while the large wheel would have to be
lifted by a force sufficient to raise it half an inch, a force will
have to be applied to the smaller wheel to raise it 2 inches, and
under more disadvantageous circumstances, because the spokes are in
this case the levers, and we know that the longer the lever the more
easily is the load raised.
That the leverage power of a high wheel is very great is shown by
the advantages gained by a large wheel in locomotives and bicycles.
There is an idea deeply rooted among coach-builders and coach-buyers
too, that the draught of a vehicle is diminished by placing the front
part of the carriage as far back as possible. Intelligent men who
have given the subject great attention, and tested the actual working
of this idea, say that it is a fallacy; but other intelligent men,
who also say they have tested its working, say that it would effect
a great saving in the draught if it were successfully accomplished.
The general idea amongst practical men is, that it would not be an
advantage. We have already seen that the draught of a vehicle with
large wheels is less than that of a vehicle with small wheels. If,
therefore, a load has to be placed on a four-wheeled vehicle, it
should be so placed in relation to the front and hind wheels that
the greater part of the weight should rest on the higher wheels. To
obtain this result, it is sufficient to bring the hind-carriage part
as far under the body as it will work with comfort and safety, in
order that as little weight as possible rests on the fore-carriage
part. English coachmakers have been working at this for thirty years,
but for the most part blindly; they have copied well known builders
in construction as well as shape; they hear that these well known
firms’ carriages run and follow very lightly, and if they could copy
accurately they would obtain the same reputation.
[Illustration: Fig. 56.—Single Brougham.]
But while there is some doubt as to throwing the front wheels
backward for the purpose of lessening the draught, Mr. Offord of
Wells Street, Oxford Street, has been exercising his ingenuity for
the purpose of throwing the back wheels further forward, and has
produced a brougham that offers peculiar advantages in this respect
(Fig. 56). The hind wheel appears to be placed right across the door,
but the facilities for ingress and egress are quite equal to those
given in the ordinary brougham. This novel contrivance presents
nothing singular in appearance, while a very little reflection will
satisfy the practical thinker that the advantage sought after, of
lessening the draught of the carriage, must be obtained far more
completely with this arrangement than by throwing the front wheel
backward.
The rattling so constantly complained of in carriages can in a great
degree be obviated by placing pieces of india-rubber so that the
doors shall press upon them when closed; it is a good thing also to
have india-rubber at the bottom of the doors for the windows to drop
upon when let down.
The difficulty of protecting carriages from the dirt has recently
been met by placing what is called a “mud scraper” just at the back
of the hind wheels. It is formed of a piece of india-rubber about 3
inches square and a ¼ inch thick, held in position by a short iron
rod attached to the end of the hind spring.
The elaborate dress carriages, hung with braces upon a C and
under-spring perch carriage, require so much skill and practice in
their manufacture that it is impossible to give ample directions
for their construction in a work like this. Some years ago it was
thought that no carriage could be made comfortable unless it was hung
upon the old-fashioned perch carriage with braces; but it was found
that by the introduction of india-rubber, especially in the ends of
each spring, that what are termed elliptic spring carriages (which
are of course much lighter in draught and less in cost) can be made
extremely pleasant in motion.
[Illustration: Fig. 57.]
Fig. 57 shows an iron-framed or “skeleton boot” for a landau. It is
extremely light and strong.
It is desirable to direct attention to the proper horsing of
carriages, that the owners of carriages and horses may so adapt their
plans as to get the most satisfactory result from their arrangements.
Not unfrequently a carriage is ordered for one horse only; when
it is partly made, or perhaps finished, fittings are ordered for
two horses; and it sometimes happens that the two horses put to
the light one-horse carriage are coach-horses, between sixteen and
seventeen hands in height. Such horses, though well adapted to a
family carriage, are quite out of their place attached to a light
one. Although they can draw it at a good pace, and over almost any
obstacle in the road, and do their journey without fatigue, the
carriage suffers sooner or later. The lounging of such horses against
a light pole, the strain thrown on the pole in case of a horse
tripping, the certain breakage that must occur in case of a fall,
and the risk of overturning the carriage, should all be considered
before putting a very light carriage behind very large horses. It
also sometimes happens that miniature broughams and other very small
carriages, built as light and as slight as safety will allow, are
afterwards used with a pair of horses. In such cases, if accidents do
not occur through the great strain of a long pole acting as a lever
on very light mechanism, the parts become strained, do not work as
they were intended to do, and necessitate constant repair from not
being adapted to the work put upon them. Carriage owners should, in
their own interest, have their carriages and horses suited to what
they ought and can undergo, bearing in mind that there are advantages
and disadvantages both with heavy and light carriages. The former are
easier and more comfortable to ride in; they are safer for horses,
drivers, and riders; and the necessary repairs are less frequently
required. The lighter carriages follow the horses more easily, and
can therefore do a longer day’s journey; and, although the necessary
repairs may come more frequently, the saving of the horses may be an
advantage that many persons will consider of the utmost importance.
Such light carriages should, however, be made of the choicest
materials and workmanship, that they may do the work required of them.
A feature in the financial department of coach-making must not be
overlooked, as it has much influence on an important trade. In former
times a large proportion of the carriages were built to order for the
owners; the reverse is now the case; most persons select a finished
carriage which pleases their taste, or an advanced one, and get it
completed their favourite colour. This, of course, necessitates the
employment of a larger capital to meet the altered state of trade,
which now requires so large a stock of carriages to be kept ready for
use.
The excessive competition of recent years has so reduced the profit
on each carriage, that in order to carry on his business without
loss, the builder has to require a prompt payment from his customer
instead of giving a long credit.
The modern system enables the coach-builder to make his purchases for
ready money, and so buy not only better in quality but at a less cost
than for extended credit, in order that he might in his turn give
long credit to his customers, so that he is now obliged to depend
on small profits and quick returns by turning over his capital more
rapidly. He is not now, as much as in former times, the agent of
the persons who supply the materials that he and his workmen convert
into a carriage, but rather the designer, capitalist, and director
of those who seek his service or custom, whether to supply labour or
materials.
From the Government returns we find that carriages of all sorts have
increased from 60,000, in 1814, to 432,600 in 1874—a benefit to the
general population, it is clear, as well as to the workmen. In 1874,
125,000 carriages paid the Government duty.
The valuable library and fine series of photographs of state and
other carriages of the Coach and Coach Harness Makers’ Company are
open to coach artisans every Saturday afternoon. Tickets of admission
may be obtained at the principal coach-builders in London.
In Calcutta there are several coach-builders of good reputation, and
who employ large numbers of native workmen. Messrs. Dyke employ 600
hands; Messrs. Stewart and Co., 400; and Messrs. Eastman, 300. The
men are chiefly Hindoos, and are clever and industrious, but have a
singular habit of sitting down to their work. Owing to the prejudices
of the people in regard to the use of animal fat, the labourers who
have to use grease are chiefly Mahommedans. The wages in the trade
vary from sixpence to two shillings per day.
“In Hindostan” (says Mr. Thrupp) “there are a large number of
vehicles of native build. It has been frequently remarked that
there is little change in Eastern fashions, that tools and workmen
are precisely as they were a thousand years ago, and the work they
produce is precisely the same. In examining, therefore, what is now
done by Indian coach-builders, we are probably noticing carriages of
a similar, if not identical, sort with those in use three thousand
years ago. The commonest cart in Hindostan is called ‘hackery’ by
Europeans; it is on two wheels, with a high axletree bed and a
long platform, frequently made of two bamboos which join in front
and form the pole, to which two oxen are yoked; the whole length is
united by smaller pieces of bamboo, tied together, not nailed. In
France two hundred years ago there was a similar cart, but the main
beams terminated in front in shafts; in neither the cart of India nor
of France were there any sides or ends. The French cart is called
_haquet_, and it is probable that the French, who were in India as
well as ourselves, may have given the term hackery to the native cart
which was so like their own. The native name, however, is _gharry_.
Other carts have sides made by stakes driven into the side beams;
the wheels are sometimes of solid wood or even of stone. Wheels are
also made by a plank with rounded ends and two felloes fitted on
to complete the circle. Again wheels are made like ours, and also
with six or eight spokes, which are placed in pairs, each pair close
to and parallel with one another. If a carriage for the rich is
required the underworks are like those of a cart, but the pole is
carefully padded and ornamented with handsome cloths or velvet; the
sides of the body are railed or carved, and the top is of a very
ornamental character, similar to the howdah of state that is placed
on an elephant. It has a domed roof supported upon four pillars, with
curtains to the back and sides. The passengers ride cross-legged
under the dome on pillows. The driver sits on the pole, which is
broad at the butt end, and he is screened from the heat by a cloth
which is fastened to the dome roof, and supported upon two stakes
which point outwards from the body. A variety of different shaped
native vehicles may be seen in elaborate models in the Indian Museum
at South Kensington, although they do not show much originality of
design or beauty of execution, and are said to be really creaking and
lumbering affairs. When the Hindoos wish for a four-wheeled vehicle,
the plan appears to be to hook on one two-wheeled carriage behind
another, connecting them with a perch bolt, and on the hindermost
they place the body. There is a singular addition to their vehicles
outside the wheels; a piece of wood curved to the shape of the wheels
is placed above it, frequently supported by two straight uprights
from the end of the axletree outside the wheel. This acts as a wing
or guard to keep any one from falling out of the vehicle, and also
the dress of the passengers from becoming entangled in the wheel.
In addition, a long bar of wood, rather longer than the diameter of
the wheel, curved to the shape, called ‘Cupid’s bow,’ is fastened
to the axletree, the linch-pin being outside of it, and the ends of
the bar tied to the ends of the wing by cords. I imagine it to be
placed in order to be a safeguard for the people in crowded streets,
who might be pushed by the throng against the wheel. It will be seen
in many of the models, and also in ancient drawings of Indian and
Persian vehicles. Many of the carts which are designed to carry heavy
loads have a curved rest from 20 to 30 inches long attached to the
lower side of the front end of the pole; this serves not only as a
prop while the vehicle is being loaded, but should the oxen trip and
fall it supports the cart and prevents the load, yoke, and harness
from weighing down the poor animals, as they struggle to recover
themselves. In England we have very few of these humane contrivances;
we have, however, short rests to prop up a hansom cab when not at
work. In India there are several huge unwieldy structures on wheels
called ‘idol cars;’ the name of the car of Juggernaut must be
familiar to many. The wheels of some of these are of enormous blocks
of stone, shaped and drilled for the work. In the Indian Museum is
a photograph of an idol car from South India, in the district of
Chamoondee and the province of Mysore, which deserves examination.
The car appears well proportioned, and the ornamental carvings are
beautiful in design and would bear comparison with most European work.
“The _hecca_, or _heka_, is a one-horse native car, resembling
an Irish car. It consists of a tray for the body fixed above the
wheels on the shafts, and has a canopy roof; the driver sits on the
front edge of the tray, and the passenger cross-legged behind him.
The _shampony_ is the usual vehicle for women, which resembles the
former, but it is larger; the wheels are outside the body, and it is
drawn by two bullocks; the canopy roof is furnished with curtains
that are drawn all round, and the driver sits on the pole in front of
the body. All these native vehicles have wooden axles, which until
recently, I am told, were used without grease, from the prejudices
of the people forbidding them to use animal fat. Some used olive oil
or soap, but in most large towns there are now regulations obliging
the natives to use some substance to avoid the noise and creaking
of the dry axles. The commonest carriages in Central India are
called ‘_tongas_,’ but the universal native word for a vehicle is
‘_gharry_.’”
In 1860 a carriage was made for one of the ladies of the Sultan of
Turkey’s harem. It was built, I believe, from a design by the late
Owen Jones—a great authority upon Oriental art—and cost £15,000 of
English money—a very expensive present for the Commander of the
Faithful to make to one out of many wives.
The following is given in an American trade periodical, under the
heading of “Are they Competent Judges?”—
“Carriage-makers who seldom if ever take the lines into their
hands and ride out in carriages of their own manufacture, are they
competent judges of the merits or the demerits of the vehicles which
they with confidence recommend to others? We think not. It is one
thing to oversee and pay well for the building of a fine buggy or any
other kind of vehicle, and quite another to experience the sensations
produced by putting them into actual wear. A buggy may be handsome in
general appearance and composed of the best material, yet defective
in ease of motion and comfort to the occupants. The set of the axle
may cause the vehicle to run heavy, and communicate to the rider
an unpleasant jarring motion, and at the same time add unnecessary
labour to the horse. The springs may be too stiff for their length,
and fail to vibrate sufficiently under the greatest weight they may
be called upon to sustain. The seat may be too low, the back placed
in such a position or so trimmed as to be a continual source of
uneasiness, and the foot-room be cramped. These and other defects may
exist while the carriage-maker who seldom rides out remains in total
ignorance of them, in so far as his own personal experience extends.
Now an individual having purchased a buggy of such a one, might drive
up to his door and inform him that this or that defect existed and
needed to be remedied, and fail to convince the maker that such was
the case. He would probably plead the skill of his workman, the care
with which every buggy was carried forward to completion, and thus
fortify himself in his own opinions, through gross ignorance of what
constituted comfort while seated in a vehicle carried along over
roads of different degrees of smoothness.
“The tendency of such a course is toward a standstill point in the
way of needed improvement, and must certainly work adversely to the
carriage-makers’ interests. So far as our observation extends, we
are well satisfied that the builder who adopts an opposite course is
by far the most successful. Becoming sensible of defects by personal
experience, he is keenly sensitive and anxious to remove any cause
of complaint brought to his notice by others. With such a one the
customer feels that he is dealing with a manufacturer alive to his
convenience and comfort, and will not be apt to go elsewhere to
purchase, although he may have had occasion to point out several weak
points.”
“The truly progressive carriage-maker tests his own work by
frequently taking airing and criticisms of those who ride a great
deal and are competent to speak on such points, and to any little
defects that may be shown he gives the most careful examination and
attention. No matter who may suggest a new idea of value, he puts it
away as so much gained. He gathers here a little and there a little,
which, in the aggregate, when applied as little things, amount to
something so important as to give to his work an indescribable
_something_ which marks it as superior, and in short gives it a
distinctive character.”
It is too often the case that we look upon success in business as
that condition only in which a man has secured to himself sufficient
income to retire and lead a life of comparative ease and pleasure.
While we would say nothing against an individual choosing to retire
from active pursuits and enjoy the fruits of his labour, nevertheless
the example thus set has a tendency to create in others a desire to
_speedily_ arrive at such a position careless of the means used to
attain the end, and bringing into the business other elements than
industry and the other good qualities necessary for the safe conduct
of business, viz. grasping avarice, cunning deceit, and at times
heartlessness, or, in fact, any legal means by which they can follow
the American’s advice to his son: “Get money, honestly if you can,
but get money.” These mean, sordid feelings of course react upon the
employés, and they feel them in the shape of reduced wages and having
the greatest amount of work literally ground out of them.
We hear occasionally of a man who, by a bold speculation, has “made
a fortune” in a few months, but the majority of business men are not
gifted with that keen foresight and courage which are so essential
to the speculator, and must therefore be content with small gains,
accumulating slowly year by year.
It is well that it is so, for the cares and disappointments attendant
on the conducting of any business keep down pride of heart, and
secure to society a majority of that class of men who can sympathise
with the unfortunate and down-trodden, and who give more liberally
to the rearing of those institutions which benefit and improve the
masses.
Success depends in a great measure on the knowledge of the business
engaged in, the proper application of industry to the materials
required, frugality, promptness in meeting engagements, and good
moral character.
In no occupation are the above qualities more essential than that of
the manufacture of carriages, yet how few out of the whole number
who claim to be carriage-makers have a good general knowledge of the
business. Four distinct branches have to be looked after—woodwork,
blacksmithing, painting, and trimming. The materials used by the
respective branches are entirely dissimilar and costly, and require
the utmost vigilance on the part of the proprietor to see that there
is no unnecessary waste.
We shall close this chapter with the following remarks on “Taste”
from W. Bridges Adams’s valuable book on “English Pleasure
Carriages:”—
“There is a notion prevalent amongst uninstructed people that the
quality called taste is a peculiar gift which an individual is
endowed with at birth, and which cannot be acquired by any amount
of application. Some portion of this belief is founded on reason,
inasmuch as the physical faculties of some individuals at their
birth are more perfect than those of others. Some are born with weak
and some with strong eyes, and the same difference may exist in
the perceptive faculties generally, on which faculties the quality
of taste must depend. But even as weak eyes may be strengthened by
judicious treatment, and strong eyes may be weakened by injudicious
treatment, so inferior perceptive faculties may be improved by
cultivation, and those which might have been first-rate may disappear
by neglect. Even in those nations where the germs of taste are
developed in but few individuals, where the mass of the community
cannot discover beauty for themselves, they are yet susceptible of
its influence when it is placed before them by others.
“Taste may be considered as another word for truth or proportion,
both morally and physically. Much false taste exists in the
community, and always has existed, but the total amount is
continually lessening. The reason of the false taste is the imitative
nature of man, which in an uncultivated state follows without
examining. But even as it is the nature of water to attain a state of
rest after violent oscillation, so it is the tendency of truth and
proportion to grow out of the chaos of either thought or matter.
“Carriages constructed for the purposes of pleasure are works of
art, in which taste may be widely developed in form, colour, and
proportion, but the former is of course subservient to the mechanical
construction. The hitherto defective mechanism of carriages, in
which ‘a large wheel is made to follow a small one,’ has to a great
extent destroyed proportion, and given a general license to all kinds
of heterogeneous devices and barbarous ornaments, as if to overlay
defects which there were no apparent means of obviating. Custom
has reconciled the public to this discrepancy, which, were it now
to appear for the first time, would excite universal distaste and
ridicule.
“In an ordinary coach the side form of the body is composed of
elliptic lines, from which the supporting iron brackets or loops are
continued into reversed curves. This contrivance keeps the centre
of gravity low. The four C springs from which the body is suspended
are each, or ought to be, two-thirds of a circle, with a tangent
to it to form a base or support. The perch beneath the body, which
connects together the framework supporting the spring, is curved
into a serpentine line corresponding to the bottom of the body and
the loops; and thus an agreeable form is preserved. But the double
framework in front and the unequal wheels entirely discompose
the whole effect, and from an art point of view it is extremely
disproportioned, and consequently unsightly.
“Now the manufacturer possessing taste steps in, and by lightening
the heavy parts by beading, carving, &c., fine lines of colour,
and the arrangement of the hammercloth, redeems the vehicle from
positive ugliness, and produces a work of art by the harmony of the
various curves as a whole, though to produce this harmony there are
no well-ascertained rules. Therefore it is that the builder who
possesses taste produces combinations pleasing to the eye, and he who
is without taste produces unsightly works, which he is necessarily
obliged to sell at a low rate of profit as mere articles of
convenience, not of refinement. And even as articles of convenience
they are imperfect, inasmuch as the harmony of form arises from the
due proportion of parts to each other, and that very proportion
produces a greater amount of convenience. The size and weight of a
carriage ought to be proportioned to that of the horse or horses
intended to draw it, as well as the locality in which it is to be
used and the persons who are likely to use it; and the proportion
of parts having once been accurately settled, the same rule of
proportion must be observed, whether on an increasing or diminishing
scale.
“After settling on the preliminary of form, the next consideration
is that of colour. Taste in the latter can do much towards amending
defects in the former, or at least can divert the attention of
ordinary observers from dwelling upon them. Certain colours produce
their effect by contrast, as green and red, purple and yellow, orange
and blue, &c.; others produce their effect by harmony, as green and
drab, or brown and amber; others again by gradation, as the differing
shades of green and brown in almost endless variety. Colours are
divided into two chief classes, the warm and the cold. Red and yellow
and their varying gradations are warm colours. Green and blue and
their varying gradations are cold colours. The intermingling of
opposite colours produces neutrals. In choosing the colour for a
carriage, it should be considered whether durability or appearance
is the first consideration. For this country the warm colours are
the most appropriate, as we hardly have enough of summer weather to
render the adoption of cold colours general, except to such people
as can afford carriages for each different season. The richest
looking colours are not those which wear the best as a rule; but as
an exception to this the yellows, which are both rich and showy, are
amongst the most durable colours. For bright sunny days the straw, or
sulphur yellow, is very brilliant and beautiful. Dark greens have a
very rich appearance, but they do not wear well, the slightest specks
being magnified by the dark surface. The olive greens are preferable,
more especially for the summer, as they show the dust less, and are
very good wearing colours. The shades of brown are even more numerous
than those of the greens, and equally durable, though some of the
lighter shades have a rather unpleasing effect, far too homely for
varnish. Some of the darker browns become exceedingly rich with the
admixture of a reddish tint, from the first faint tint up to the deep
beautiful chocolate colour, the intermediate shades between which and
a decided lake afford perhaps the very richest ground colours used in
carriage-painting. Blues were formerly a great deal used to contrast
with a red carriage part and framework. Very dark blues are now often
used, but they soon become worn and faded, the least speck of dust
disfiguring them. Drabs are scarcely ever used for body painting,
though for some peculiar purposes they might be advantageously
applied.
“In addition to the ground colour other colours are used to relieve
it, the framework of the body being generally painted black; and in
the case of a very dark colour being used for the ground, it becomes
necessary to run a fine line of a lighter shade in order to mark the
inner edges of the framework. The same process is applied to the
carriage parts and under framework for the purpose of making it look
lighter to the eye. Were the perch, beds, and wheels painted of one
colour they would look exceedingly heavy and clumsy; but the skilful
management of the fine lines, or ‘picking out,’ as it is technically
called, produces a pleasing optical illusion. The same effect is
sought also in the carved work, which would look very bare were it
not heightened and brought into relief by the judicious application
of black and coloured lines. Heraldic bearings used to be painted
very large on the panels; in fact they formed the principal ornament,
as they were painted in their proper heraldic colours. With bright
grounds, such as yellow, the effect is often very good, but with most
other colours it destroys the general harmony, and on this account it
has been the custom of late years to paint them very small, and very
often of the same colour as the ground, only lightened up to give
relief. This is of course the other extreme.
“Proportion in carriages applies to both form and colour; as regards
form, it regulates the sizes of the various parts so that the
whole may harmonise, and dictates the adoption of contrivances for
lessening the apparent size of those parts which would otherwise be
unseemly. Thus, the total height which is necessary in the body for
the comfort of the passengers is too great for the length which it is
convenient to give it; therefore the total height is reduced, and to
give sufficient leg room a false bottom is affixed by means of convex
rockers, and which, being thrown back and painted black, cease to
form a portion of the elevation; they are, like a foundation, out of
sight, and thus the proportion of the front view (the side is called
the _front_ in coach-builder’s parlance) is preserved. In painting
the body of a coach or chariot, it is customary to confine the ground
colour to the lower panels and to paint the upper ones black, all
except some stripes on the upper part of the doors. Now, inasmuch as
colour in this case constitutes form by means of outline, and as
that outline gives an irregular figure, it is a decidedly defective
arrangement, making the upper part of the structure look heavier
than the base. But the fact is, this defect has not been caused by
intentional bad taste; it is a mere result of imitation, of following
up old practices when the motive for them has ceased. It was formerly
the custom to cover the roofs and upper panels with greasy leather
in order to make them water-tight, the edges of the leather being
fastened down with rows of brass nails. This leather was black, and
thus the eye became gradually reconciled to an unsightly object from
a consideration of utility. After it was discovered that undressed
leather could be strained on and painted, it was still considered
necessary to paint it black, as the surface was not smooth enough to
show well with bright colours; and now that wooden panels are used to
the upper as well as the lower part, long custom has made the black
colour of the upper part appear indispensable.
“As by the present mode of constructing bodies various joints are
left exposed to view, where leather unites with wood or two varieties
of wood join in the same surface, it becomes necessary to resort to
some means of covering them, and this is usually done by beading, as
previously described. This is not altogether satisfactory as usually
done, as it gives the side lines a broken and unfinished appearance.
Where the beading is blacked it does not show much and scarcely
matters, but the polished beading should go over the whole of the
outline, as is done in some of the best carriages, or else it should
not show at all. The elegance of a carriage depends on the perfection
of the outlines, and anything which tends to disturb those outlines
should be avoided.
“The handles of the doors are always made conspicuous, being of brass
or plated metal. Necessity dictates this, as the constant action of
the hand in opening or shutting the doors prohibits the use of paint
on account of its rapid wear. The side of the carriage would look
better without this prominent projection if it could be avoided, but
as that is impracticable it is generally placed at the intersection
of the central vertical and the central horizontal lines, where it
interferes less with the outlines than it would in any other position.
“In the lining and trimming of a carriage, form, colour, and
proportion are all requisites. All dress carriages have hammercloths
or coloured drapery surrounding the driver’s seat. This forms a most
prominent object, and if it does not harmonise with the rest of
the vehicle the proportion of parts will be destroyed. The general
form of the outline must be regulated by the lines of the ironwork
or framework on which it is supported. There is great room for the
display of taste in arranging that the colour of the hammercloth
and lace, &c., shall harmonise or effectively contrast with the
colour of the body. Yellow carriages are sometimes fitted with blue
hammercloths and sometimes with drab ones, and the effect is equally
good in both cases when well managed.”
Careful attention to the above points will enable the practical
coach-builder to produce a vehicle as near artistic perfection as the
present shapes will allow.