Wagon
A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled
Wagons are immediately distinguished from carts (which have two wheels) and from lighter four-wheeled vehicles primarily for carrying people, such as carriages. Animals such as horses, mules, or oxen usually pull wagons. One animal or several, often in pairs or teams may pull wagons. However, there are examples of human-propelled wagons, such as mining corfs.
A wagon was formerly called a wain and one who builds or repairs wagons is a wainwright. More specifically, a wain is a type of horse- or oxen-drawn, load-carrying vehicle, used for agricultural purposes rather than transporting people. A wagon or cart, usually four-wheeled;[1] for example, a haywain, normally has four wheels, but the term has now acquired slightly poetical connotations, so is not always used with technical correctness. However, a two-wheeled "haywain" would be a hay cart, as opposed to a carriage. Wain is also an archaic term for a chariot. Wain can also be a verb, to carry or deliver, and has other meanings.
Contemporary or modern animal-drawn wagons may be of
A person who
Wagons have served numerous purposes, with numerous corresponding designs.[4] As with motorized vehicles, some are designed to serve as many functions as possible, while others are highly specialized.
Terminology and design
The exact name and terminology used are often dependent on the design or shape of the wagon. If low and sideless it may be called a dray, trolley or float.[5]: 68, 79, 165 When traveling over long distances and periods, wagons may be covered with cloth to protect their contents from the elements; these are "covered wagons". If it has high sides, with or without a permanent top, it may be called a "van".[5]: 167 A wagon might be unsprung if ordinarily used over rough ground or cobbles.[6]: 442
A front axle assembly, in its simplest form, is an assembly of a short beam with a pivot plate, two wagon wheels and spindles as well as a drawbar attached to this. A pin attaches the device to a chariot, a wagon or a coach, making the turning radius smaller.[4]
Types
Farm wagon
Farm wagons are built for general multi-purpose usage in an agricultural or rural setting. These include gathering hay, crops and wood, and delivering them to the farmstead or market.[4] Wagons can also be pulled with tractors for easy transportation of those materials.
A common form found throughout Europe is the ladder wagon , a large wagon the sides of which often consisted of ladders strapped in place to hold in hay or grain, though these could be removed to serve other needs.[4] A common type of farm wagon particular to North America is the buckboard.
Freight wagon
Freight wagons are used for the overland hauling of freight and bulk commodities.[7]
In the United States and Canada, the large, heavily built Conestoga wagon was a predominant form of freight wagon in the late 18th and 19th centuries, often used for hauling goods on the Great Wagon Road in the Appalachian Valley and across the Appalachian Mountains.
Even larger wagons were built, such as the twenty-mule team wagons, used for hauling borax from Death Valley, which could haul 36 short tons (32 long tons; 33 t) per pair.[8] The wagons' bodies were 16 feet (4.88 m) long and 6 feet (1.83 m) deep; the rear wheels were 7 feet (2.13 m) in diameter, and the wagons weighed 7,800 pounds (3,500 kg) empty.[8][9]
Freight wagons were designed for hauling loads, not people, and were not built for comfort. In many cases there was no driver's seat or bench, leaving the driver to walk alongside the wagon or ride atop of one of the horses. As a result, many freight wagons had a "lazyboard," a plank that could be pulled out for sitting upon then pushed back when not needed. In America, lazyboards were located on the left side and close to the brake because carts were steered from the left side; the opposite was practiced in Great Britain.[10]
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Conestoga wagon, USA 1840s
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Ox-wagon hauling wool, New Zealand c. 1880
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Twenty-mule team, Borax freight, USA 1880s
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Borax wagons on display c. 1935
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Freight wagons, USA 1905
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Freight wagons, Argentina 1920s
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Load of wheat, USA 1910
Delivery wagon
A delivery wagon was used to
In the city center of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, since 1992 the city's plants are irrigated using a horse-drawn wagon with a water tank.[13]
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Bakery delivery wagon, Australia 1900s
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Alcohol tank wagon, France 1900s
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Store delivery, USA 1900s
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Bread delivery, England 1910s
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Milk wagons, Finland 1920s
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Milk delivery, Canada 1920s
Living accommodations
Wagons have also served as the first mobile homes, as mobile workshops, and mobile kitchens.
- Shepherd's hut - for remote shepherds
- Vardo - traditional wagon of the 19th-century British Romani people
- Living van - used to house roving work crews during early steam engine days
- Showman's wagon - elaborate living accommodations for showmen
- Chuckwagon - a small wagon used for providing food and cooking; essentially a portable kitchen
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Shepherd huts
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A Romani Vardo
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Showman's wagon
Entertainment and show
Travelling circuses decorated their wagons to be able to take part in the grand parade—even packing wagons for equipment, animal cage wagons, living vans and band wagons.[5]: 45 Popular in North America was, and still is, the float or show wagon, driven by six horses pulling a highly decorated show wagon with a token payload, and heavily painted with company or owner advertising.[5]: 1 Horse-drawn wagons are popular attractions at tourist destinations for leisurely sightseeing.[5]
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Pageant wagons, Belgium 1615
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Circus parade wagon, built 1904
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Parade float, USA 1908
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Tourist wagon, USA 2004
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Sight-seeing wagon, Germany 2008
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Exhibition wagon, USA 2017
Motorized wagons
During the transition to mechanized vehicles from animal-powered, vehicles were built by coachbuilders and the bodies and undercarriages were substantially similar to the horse-drawn vehicles.
- Hippomobile - 1860s invention, gas powered
- Steam wagon - late 1800s, large steam-powered vehicle
- buggy
- buggy
- High wheeler - 1910s - often made from converted horse-drawn wagons
In modern times, the term station wagon survives as a type of automobile. It describes a car with a passenger compartment that extends to the back of the vehicle, that has no trunk, that has one or more rear seats that can be folded making space for carrying cargo, as well as featuring an opening tailgate or liftgate.[14]
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Patent drawing for the Duryea Road Vehicle, 1895
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George B. Selden driving an automobile in 1905
Modern agricultural wagons
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Front unload forage wagon
Wagon train
In migration and military settings, wagons were often found in large groups called wagon trains.
In warfare, large groups of
In migration settings, such as the
Draught animals
In addition to horses and oxen, animals such as mules and goats have been used as draught animals for appropriately-sized wagons.
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Sheep and children's wagon (1883)
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Goat pair and wagon (1917)
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Donkey and wagon full of children (1925)
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Mule team and wagon (1939)
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Oxen and covered wagon (1951)
Wagons in art
As a common, important element in history and life, wagons have been the subjects of artwork. Some examples are the paintings The Hay Wain and The Haywain Triptych, and on the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar.
See also
References
- ^ "wain n 1". Oxford English Dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. 1989.
- ^ "Wagoner". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- ^ "Wagoner". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Waggon". Rees's Cyclopædia. Vol. 37. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown. 1817–1818.
- ^ OL 11597864M.
- ^ OL 7004294M.
- ^ Gardner, Mark L. (September 1997). "Wagons on the Santa Fe Trail: 1822-1880" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ a b "Twenty Mule Teams". Death Valley National Park. National Park Service. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- ^ "Borax: The Twenty Mule Team". Archived from the original on 25 September 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
- ^ Burt, Olive W., John Wanamaker: Boy Merchant, The Bobbs-Merrill, Company, Inc., New York, copyright 1952, 1962, page 62.
- ^ Hillick, M.C. (1898). Practical Carriage and Wagon Painting. Chicago: Press of the Western Painter. pp. 2, 109–116.
- ^ Sanders, Walter R. (1922). Ice Delivery. Chicago: Nickerson & Collins. pp. 170–172.
- ^ "Ein PS für 160 Blumenkübel" [One horsepower for 160 flower pots]. Gmünder Tagespost (in German). 31 July 2015. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "Definition: station wagon". Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Timothy (1863). "Bealton, VA". Library of Congress Prints & Photographs. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ "Thaddeus Lowe with his Inflation Wagons". Smithsonian Institution: National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
External links
- The dictionary definition of wagon at Wiktionary
- Media related to Wagons at Wikimedia Commons
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.