We are told by some writers that the rolling log (the one-wheeled cart)
was followed by the two-wheeled cart, on which the wheels were the ends
of a log and the axle was the middle portion of the log hewn down to a
proper size (Fig. 8). Here wheels and axle turned together precisely
like a modern car wheel. This makes a very pretty story but I am afraid
the solid two-wheeled affair represented in Figure 8 is only imaginary,
and that in a true account of the development of the cart it has no
place. The true beginning of the two-wheeled cart may be learned from
Figure 9. Here the wheels are two _very short_ logs through the center
of which are holes in which the round ends (axles) of a piece of timber
(the axle-tree) fit. When the cart moves, the wheels turn upon the axle.
The one-wheeled cart had at first _one log_ turning _with_ the axle;
the two-wheeled cart at first had as its wheels two very short logs
turning _on_ the axles.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--A CART WITH WHEELS AND AXLE IN ONE PIECE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--CART WITH A SOLID WHEEL.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--CART WITH WHEEL PARTLY SOLID.
(From a Model in the National Museum.)]
The first two-wheeled carts were a great improvement upon the single
rolling log, yet they were exceedingly heavy and clumsy. The trouble was
with the wheel. This was very thick and with the exception of the hole
in which the axle went it was entirely solid. Wheelwrights at a very
early date saw that the problem was to make the wheel light and at the
same time to keep it strong. Little by little this problem was solved.
At first crescent-shaped holes were made in the wheel (Fig. 10). This
made the wheel lighter, but did not weaken it. In its next form the
wheel was even less solid than before. It now consisted of four curved
pieces of wood (Fig. 11) held together by four spokes. In this wheel
there was a hub, but the spokes were not inserted in it; they were
fastened about it. In the Egyptian chariot (Fig. 12) we find the wheel
in the last stage of its interesting and remarkable development. Here
the spokes, six in number, are inserted in the hub from which they
radiate to the six pieces of the felly or inner rim. Around the felly
is the outer rim or tire made of wood and fastened to the felly with
thongs. The wheel of to-day has more iron in it, and has more spokes and
is lighter and stronger than the old Egyptian wheel, yet in its main
features it is made like it.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--WHEELS WITH SPOKES.
(From National Museum.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CHARIOT SHOWING HUB,
SPOKES, FELLY AND RIB.
(From National Museum.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--WONDERFUL ONE HOSS SHAY.
(From National Museum.)]
A light running two-wheeled carriage was used by all the civilized
nations of the ancient world. Three thousand years ago in the great and
wicked city of Nineveh chariots raced up and down the paved streets
"jostling against one another in the broad ways, with the crack of the
whip, the rattle of the wheel and the prancing of horses." The chariot
played an important part in the life of the Greeks and Romans, in their
racing contests and in their wars, and throughout the Middle Ages it
was the only vehicle in general use in Europe. As time passed it was of
course made lighter and stronger and better. The doctor's gig so
charmingly described by Holmes in his "Wonderful One Hoss Shay" may be
taken as an illustration of the full development of the two-wheeled
carriage (Fig. 13).
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--AN ANCIENT ROMAN CHARIOT.]
Bring the hind part of one Egyptian chariot opposite to the hind part of
another, lash the two chariots together, remove the tongue of one of the
chariots and you have made a chariot of four wheels or a _coach_. The
form of the most ancient of four-wheeled carriages leads to the belief
that the coach was first made by joining together two two-wheeled
chariots in the way just described. The ancient Egyptians had their
four-wheeled chariots but only their gods and their kings had the
privilege of riding in them. For centuries none but the great and the
powerful rode in coaches. The Roman chariot (Fig. 14), bad imitations of
which we see nowadays in circus processions, was used only in the
splendid triumphal processions which entered Rome after a great victory.
In the Middle Ages we get a glimpse of a four-wheeled carriage now and
then, but usually the king or a queen is lounging in it (Fig. 15). The
coach could not be generally used in Europe in medieval times because
the roads were so bad. The excellent roads made by the Romans had not
been kept in good condition. Traveling had to be done either on
horseback or in the two-wheeled carriage. In 1550 there were but three
coaches in Paris and in London there was but one. In 1564, however, we
find Queen Elizabeth riding in a coach (Fig. 16) on her way to see her
lover, Lord Leicester. Insert more spokes and lighter ones in the
wheels of this coach of the queen's, put on rubber tires and mount the
body on elliptical springs[17] and we will have the coach of to-day.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--A COACH OF THE MIDDLE AGES.]
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--QUEEN ELIZABETH'S COACH.]
FOOTNOTE:
[17] About the year 1700 elliptical springs were invented, but they did
not find their way into general use until more than a hundred years
later.
THE CARRIAGE
_Continued_
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--NEWTON'S STEAM CARRIAGE, 1680.]
In the last chapter the story of the Carriage was brought up to the
reign of Queen Elizabeth of England. In the century following
Elizabeth's reign a new and most remarkable step in the development of
the carriage was taken. You remember that in the seventeenth century
there was a great deal of experimenting with steam (p. 58). Among other
experiments was one made by Sir Isaac Newton. This great philosopher
tried in 1680 to make a steam-carriage, or _locomotive_, as we call it.
Figure 1 shows the principle upon which he tried to make his carriage
work. The steam was to react against the air, as in the case of Hero's
engine (p. 56) and thus push the carriage along. Newton's experiment was
not satisfactory but the idea of a steam-carriage was now in men's heads
and the hope of making one continued to be cherished. In 1769 Cugnot, a
French army officer, invented a steam-carriage of three wheels (Fig. 2)
but it was a very poor one. It traveled only three or four miles an
hour, it could carry but three persons, and it had to stop every ten
minutes to get up steam. Cugnot, however, deserves to be ranked among
the great inventors for he showed that a steam-engine could be attached
to a carriage and could push it along. In other words he showed that
steam could be used for transportation as well as for working pumps and
turning the wheels of factories. And that was just what was needed most
in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Man needed assistance in
traveling; he especially needed help in carrying things from place to
place. The steam-engine was keeping the mines dry and making it possible
to mine great quantities of coal and was turning the wheels of great
factories where the spinning-jenny and the new power loom (p. 119) were
consuming enormous quantities of cotton and wool. Now if the
steam-engine could also be made to carry the coal and cotton and wool to
the factory, and the manufactured products from the factory to the
market, the industrial revolution would be complete indeed.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--CUGNOT'S STEAM CARRIAGE, 1769.]
Inventors everywhere put their wits together to construct an engine that
would draw a load. The great Watt tried to make one, but having failed,
he came to the conclusion that the steam-engine could do good work only
when standing still. Among those who entered the contest was Richard
Trevithick, a Cornish miner, born in 1771. Trevithick when a lad at
school was able to work six examples in arithmetic while his teacher
worked one. He proved to be as quick in mechanics as he was in
mathematics. He began his experiments with steam when a mere boy, and as
early as 1796 he had built a steam-locomotive which would run on a
table. By 1801 he had constructed a steam-carriage (Fig. 7). Three years
later (1804) Trevithick exhibited a locomotive which carried ten tons of
iron, seventy men, and five wagons a distance of nine and one-half miles
at the rate of five miles an hour. This was the first steam carriage
that actually performed useful work. The honor of inventing the first
successful locomotive, therefore, belongs to Richard Trevithick,
although he never received the honor that was due him.
The honor went to George Stephenson, of Wylam, near Newcastle, England.
Stephenson's parents were so poor that they could not afford to send him
to school long enough for him to learn to read and write. In his
eighteenth year, however, he attended a night school and learned
something of the common branches. In his childhood Stephenson lived
among steam-engines. He began as an engine boy in a colliery and was
soon promoted to the position of fireman. At an early age he was trying
to build the locomotive that the world needed so badly, one that would
do good work at a small cost. Trevithick's locomotive was too expensive.
Stephenson wanted a locomotive that would pay its owner a profit. At the
age of thirty-three he had solved his problem. In 1814 he exhibited a
locomotive that would run ten or twelve miles an hour and carry
passengers and freight cheaper than horses could carry them. Eleven
years later he was operating a railroad between Stockton and Darlington,
England. The steam carriage was now a success (Fig. 3). The iron horse
was soon transporting passengers and freight in all the civilized
countries of the world (Fig. 4). Observe that the first passenger car
was simply the old coach joined to a locomotive.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--STEVENSON'S LOCOMOTIVE, 1828.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--THE "BEST FRIEND." THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE BUILT
FOR ACTUAL SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES.]
The locomotive worked wonders in travel and in carrying loads, yet men
were not satisfied with it. We never are satisfied with our means of
transportation. No matter how comfortably or cheaply or fast we may
travel we always want something better. In the latter part of the
nineteenth century the great cities of the world were becoming
over-crowded. The people could not be carried from one part of a city
to another without great discomfort. The street cars drawn by horses
could not carry the crowds and the elevated steam cars were not
satisfactory. Wits were set to work to relieve the situation and about
thirty years ago the _electric car_ (Fig. 5) was invented. Without horse
or locomotive this quick-moving car not only successfully handles the
crowds which move about the city but it also relieves over-crowding by
enabling thousands to reach conveniently and cheaply their suburban
homes. It also does the work of the steam car and carries passengers
long distances from city to city.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--A TROLLEY CAR.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--A HORSELESS CARRIAGE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
A late development in carriage making is seen in the automobile. As far
back as the sixteenth century a horseless carriage was invented (Fig. 6)
and was operated on the streets of a German city. But here the power was
furnished by human muscle. The first real automobile (Fig. 7) was
invented in 1801, by the man who invented the first successful
locomotive. Trevithick's road locomotive--for that is what an automobile
really is--did not work well because the roads upon which he tried it
were in very bad condition. Inventors after Trevithick for a long time
paid but little attention to the road locomotive; they bestowed their
best thought upon the locomotive that was to be run upon rails--the
railroad locomotive. In recent years, however, they have been working on
the so-called automobile and they have already given us a horseless
carriage that can run on a railless road at a rate as great as that of
the fastest railroad locomotives. To what extent is this newest of
carriages likely to be used? It is already driving out the horse. Will
it also drive out the electric car and the railroad locomotive? Are we
coming to the time when the railroad will be no more and when all travel
and all hauling of freight will be done by carriages and wagons without
horses on roads without rails? The answers to these questions can of
course only be guessed.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE FIRST AUTOMOBILE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--GOOD-BY TO THE HORSE.]
The last and latest form of the carriage is seen in the
_flying-machine_, the automobile of the air. In all ages men have
watched with envy the movements of birds and have dreamed of
flying-machines, but only in modern times has man dared to take wings
and glide in bird-like fashion through the air. The first actual flying
by a human being was done by a Frenchman named Bresnier, who, in 1675,
constructed a machine similar to that shown in the right hand picture
at the top of Figure 9. Bresnier worked his wings with his feet and
hands. Once he jumped from a second story window and flew over the roof
of a cottage. From the days of Bresnier on to the present time man has
taxed his wits to the utmost to conquer the air, and in his efforts to
do this he has invented almost every conceivable kind of machine. About
the middle of the nineteenth century inventors began to apply steam to
the flying-machine, and it is said that in 1842 a man named Philips was
able, by the aid of revolving fans driven by steam, to elevate a machine
to a considerable distance and fly across two fields. In 1896 Professor
Langley, with a flying-machine driven by a small steam-engine, made
three flights of about three-fourths of a mile each over the Potomac
River, near Washington. This was the first time a flying-machine was
propelled a long distance by its own power; it was the first aerial
automobile. But the aerial steam carriage was never a success; the steam
engine was too heavy. In the early years of the twentieth century
inventors began to use the light gasoline engine to drive their
flying-machines and then real progress in the art of flying began, and
so great has been that progress that the automobiles of the air are
becoming rivals of those on the land.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--SOME UNSUCCESSFUL FLYING MACHINES OF A HUNDRED
YEARS AGO.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--A SUCCESSFUL FLYING MACHINE OF TO-DAY.]
THE BOAT
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--THE FIRST BOAT.]
At first, when a man wanted to cross a deep stream, he was compelled to
swim across. But man at his best is a poor swimmer, and it was not long
before he invented a better method of traveling on water. A log drifting
in a stream furnished the hint. By resting his body upon the log and
plashing with his hands and feet he found he could move along faster and
easier. Thus the log was the first boat and the human arm was the first
oar. Experience soon taught our primitive boatman to get on top of the
log and paddle along, using the limb of a tree for an oar (Fig. 1). But
the round log would turn with the least provocation and its passenger
suffered many unceremonious duckings. So the boatman made his log flat
on top. It now floated better and did not turn over so easily. Then the
log was made hollow, either by burning (Fig. 2), or by means of a
cutting instrument. Thus the canoe was invented. Very often if the
nature of the tree permitted it, the log was stripped of its bark, and
this bark was used as a canoe.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE INVENTION OF THE CANOE.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--THE RAFT--SHOWING ALSO EARLY USE OF THE SAIL.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--A PRIMITIVE OARLOCK.]
The canoe was one of the earliest of boats, but it is not in line with
the later growth. The ancestry of the modern boat begins with the log
and is traced through the raft rather than through the canoe. By lashing
together several logs it was found that larger burdens could be carried.
Therefore the boat of a single log grew into one of several logs--a raft
(Fig. 3). By the time man had learned to make a raft he had learned
something else: he had learned to row his boat along by pulling at an
oar instead of pushing it along with a paddle. But in order to row there
must be something against which the oar may rest; so the oarlock (Fig.
4) was invented. Rafts were used by nearly all the nations of antiquity.
Herodotus, the father of history, tells us that they were in use in
ancient Chaldea. In Figure 3 we have a kind of raft that may still be
seen on some of the rivers of South America. Here a most important step
in boat-building has been taken. A _sail_ has been hoisted and one of
the forces of nature has been bidden to assist man in moving his boat
along.
The raft was bound to develop into the large boat. The central log was
used as a keel and about this was built a boat of the desired shape and
size. Stout timbers, called ribs, slanted from the keel, and on the ribs
were fastened planks running lengthwise with the vessel. To keep out the
water the seams between the planks were filled with pitch or wax. Thus
the raft grew into a large spoon-shaped vessel (Fig. 5). The early boat
was usually propelled by oars, although a single sail sometimes invoked
the assistance of the wind. It had no rudder and no deck, and if there
was an anchor it was only a heavy stone.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--"THUS THE RAFT GREW INTO A LARGE, SPOON-SHAPED
VESSEL."]
In the early history of the boat there was no such thing as a rudder.
The oarsman had to steer his craft as best he could. With the
appearance of larger boats, however, a steersman comes into view. He
steers by means of a paddle held over the stern of the boat. Within
historic times, probably about the time of Homer (1100 B. C.), the
rudder appears as an oar with a broad blade protruding through a hole in
the side of the boat well to the stern (Fig. 6). Throughout the whole
period of ancient history boats were steered by rudders of this kind.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--THE POSITION OF THE RUDDER IN ANCIENT TIMES.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--ANCIENT ANCHORS.]
The anchor came later than the rudder. Of course even in primitive times
there were methods of securing the vessel to the ground under water but
they were very crude. Sometimes a sack of sand was used as an anchor,
sometimes a log of wood covered with lead was thrown overboard to hold
the boat in its place. In Homer's time the anchor was a bent rod with a
single fluke. About 600 B. C. Anacharsis, one of the seven wise men of
Greece, gave a practical turn to his wisdom and invented an anchor with
two flukes (Fig. 7). The invention received the name of "anchor" from
the name of the inventor.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--A ROMAN GALLEY OF ONE TIER OF OARS, INTRODUCING
THE RUDDER.]
It was in the Mediterranean Sea that the boat had its most rapid
development. As early as we can get a glimpse of that wonderful body of
water it was alive with boats (called galleys) that had well-laid keels
and lofty sides, and rudders, and sails. The greatest of the earlier
navigators were the Phoenicians whose boats had traversed 5,000 years
ago the whole course of the Mediterranean and had even ventured beyond
the Straits of Gibraltar. The ancient Greeks also were a great sea-going
people, and their merchantmen or trading boats visited every part of the
known world. But it was the Romans who at last became masters of the
ancient seas. The Roman galley, therefore, may be taken as the
representative boat of ancient times. What kind of a boat was the Roman
galley? It was propelled chiefly by oars, just as nearly all the boats
of antiquity were. Occasionally a sail was hoisted when the wind was
favorable but the main reliance was the rower's arm. Men had not yet
learned to use the sail to the best advantage. The older galleys had one
row of oarsmen (Fig. 8), but as the struggle for the mastery of the sea
became keener the boats were made larger and more rowers were necessary.
Galleys with two and three, and even four rows of oarsmen were built by
the Roman navy. When there was more than one row of oars the rowers sat
on benches one above another. The oarsmen were slaves or prisoners
captured in war, and their life was most wretched.[18] They were chained
to the benches on which they sat, and were compelled to row as long as a
spark of life was left. Sometimes they dipped their oars to the music of
the flute, but more often it was to the crack of the lash. Figure 9
shows us how the Roman galley looked when Rome was at the height of her
power (100 A. D.). Here is a vessel about 400 feet long and about 50
feet across its _deck_, a part of the boat, by the by, which was not to
be seen in the earlier galleys. The boat is a trireme, that is, it has
openings for three tiers of oars, and it is propelled by several hundred
oarsmen. For steering purposes it has four stout paddles, two on each
side near the stern. Two masts instead of one carry the sail which,
considering the size of the boat, would seem to be insufficient. This
galley of the first century of our era represents the full development
of the boat in ancient times.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--A ROMAN GALLEY WITH THREE BANKS OF OARS.]
After the downfall of Rome (476 A. D.) it was a long time before there
was any real progress in boat-making. The glimpses we get now and then
of vessels in the Middle Ages almost make us feel that boat-building was
going backward rather than forward. But such was not the case. The ship
in which William of Normandy sailed (Fig. 10) when he crossed over the
Channel to give battle to Harold (1066 A. D.) was not so impressive as a
Roman galley, yet it was, nevertheless, a better boat. In the first
place William's boat was a better sailer; it relied more upon the force
of the wind and less upon the oar. In the second place, it could be
steered better, for the rudder had found its way to its proper place and
was worked by a tiller. Finally, the shape of the Norman boat fitted it
for fiercer battles with the waves.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--THE SHIP IN WHICH WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR CROSSED
THE CHANNEL IN 1066.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--A MEDITERRANEAN GALLEY OF THE 14TH CENTURY.]
If we should pass from the English Channel to the Adriatic we should
find that boat-making had undergone the same changes. A Mediterranean
galley of the fourteenth century (Fig. 11) shows fewer oars and more
sails. Instead of three rows of oars and two sails as on the Roman
galley, there are three sails and one row of oars. This was the tendency
of the boat-builder in the Middle Ages; he crowded on the sail and took
off the rowers. A war-boat of the sixteenth century (Fig. 12) shows that
the last row of oarsmen has disappeared.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--A WAR-BOAT OF THE 16TH CENTURY, SHOWING THAT
THE LAST ROW OF OARS HAD DISAPPEARED.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--A CHINESE COMPASS. AS THE CART MOVED THE HUMAN
FIGURE IN FRONT ALWAYS POINTED NORTH.]
About the middle of the thirteenth century there began to appear on the
decks of vessels almost everywhere in Europe, a little instrument that
is of the greatest importance in the history of the boat. This was the
_mariner's compass_. The use of the magnetic needle was known in China
(Fig. 13) a thousand years before it was known to the Europeans, but in
this, as in many other instances, the Chinese did not profit by their
knowledge. Sailors have always sailed at night by the North star; but
before the use of the compass was understood they could little more than
guess their way when the night was dark and the stars could not be seen.
With a mariner's needle on board they can tell the direction they are
going no matter how dark the night. We can easily understand that
sailors prized very highly the discovery of the compass. With the
appearance of this faithful guide they became bolder and bolder and were
soon venturing out upon the trackless expanse of the ocean. It was the
compass that led to the discovery of the new world, for without it no
sailor could have held his course due west long enough to reach the
American coast.