Tongues and shafts
A tongue is a single piece of wood that is fastened to the middle of the cart or wagon frame. A tongue may also be called a draught bar, pole, or beam. The tongue allows two draft animals to be hitched to the frame, one on either side of it. For heavy wagons and carriages the base of the tongue allows for the attachment of a doubletree and two singletrees using a tongue hammer. The picture of a wagon tongue most people have seen is the one on a farm wagon in western films.
The draft animals hitched or yoked to a tongue control the turning of the cart, wagon, or carriage by pushing/pulling on it. When turning a wagon or cart that doesn't have a tongue, one of the draft animals will end up doing most of the pulling while the other's trace chains are slack.
The tongue is long enough to allow the wheelers or draft animals closest to the wagon to be hitched to it without having the wagon crowd their heels. The tongue extends a few inches in front of the wheelers and ends in an iron or steel ring or loop. A secondary tongue, sometimes called a swing bar or body pole, may be attached to this ring or loop and in turn the next pair of draft animals, the swings, are hitched to this by a doubletree and a pair of singletrees.
Alternately the swings' doubletree is hooked directly to the end of the tongue or to a chain (known as the "fifth chain") running under the tongue. The lead pair of a six-horse hitch generally have their doubletree and singletrees combination attached to a chain coming from either the end of the primary or secondary tongue or in some cases directly from the frame of the vehicle.
This combination of tongue(s) and chains can be continued to allow for multiple pairs of draft animals to be hitched to the vehicle. Only the wheelers are hitched to the wagon tongue. The remaining pairs are hitched via doubletrees and singletrees to a long chain attached to the wagon frame.
Another alternate of the heavy wagon tongue has provisions to allow the attachment of a double yoke for a span of oxen. In a manner similar to that used with horses, a chain from the end of the tongue allows for additional spans of yoked oxen to be attached to the vehicle.
It hasn't been clear just when the hinged or drop wagon tongue came into use. The wagon tongue, hinged or not, is usually attached to the frame by a peg or iron rod that allows it to be replaced without dismantling the frame. Despite their size and strength, broken wagon tongues were almost as common as broken wheels. The hinged wagon tongue lets the tongue be swung up 90 degrees. It also allows the tongue to move somewhat independently of the wagon. When travelling across rough roads or potholes, a rigid tongue is much more likely to break itself or to break various pieces of the running gear.
The wagon tongue often came with a support that would hold it level when the team wasn't hitched. This made harnessing the draft animals easier as one didn't have to lift the heavy tongue up to attach the harness. For long hauling, especially in the US, the wagon tongue would have a pair of clamps or U-brackets. Hanging on the side of the wagon was a long, narrow box with pegs that would slip into the clamps on the tongue. This box was a feed trough for feeding grain and hay to the draft animals.
Shafts are two pieces of wood or metal that are fastened to the vehicle. A single draft animal stands between the shafts and is hitched or yoked to the shafts. Shafts are found on vehicles ranging from crude ox carts to fine harness buggies.
If oxen are the draft animals of choice than the end of the shafts or tongue allows for the attachment of a single (shafts) or double (tongue) ox yoke. The oxen's yokes will attach to the shafts, tongue, or tongue and chain.
The shafts or tongue not only serve to attach the draft animals but also can be part of the braking system, allowing the draft animal to pull backwards on them.
In some areas, shafts are used with multiple animals (usually horses). Two of these variations are the tandem hitch in which a second horse is hitched directly in front of the one between the shafts with traces fastened to hooks or rings on the ends of the shafts. A version of the trioka, the three horse hitch of Russia, often featured two additional horses hitched on either side of the one between the shafts. I have not been able to determine exactly how the outside horses are hitched to the shafts or vehicle.
Running Gear
The running gear is the assembly consisting of the frame, axles, wheels, and tongue (or shafts). By the 19th century most farm and freight wagons had bodies that were bolted onto their running gear. This allowed the owner to have one set of running gear and several specialized bodies. It also allowed for easier repair. For some awkward loads, such as large logs, the running gear might be used without the body. The log could be chained under the running gear or chained on top of the frame.
The parts of the frame and running gear could be very few and simple or many and complex. All parts of the frame had their own names, which also varied (and varies today) widely. The variations of frame and running gear construction are so great that they would require a book to begin to cover.
As with most things associated with wagons and carriages, the fifth wheel has a wide variety of local names. It would require a large book to explain and detail them. Whatever the name or type, the fifth wheel allows the front axle and wheels to turn independently of the wagon or carriage body.
Singletrees, Whiffletrees, Whippletrees, Doubletrees, Swingletrees, Tripletrees, Spreader bars, Splinter Bars, and Eveners
The singletree(whippletree or whiffletree) is a short piece of cylindrically shaped wood thicker in the middle and tapering toward the ends. It has three sets of iron rings, one at each end and one in the middle. The middle ring is oriented in the opposite direction from the end rings and is attached to the load with a hook, snap, or chain, which allows it to move freely. Using a singletree, a draft animal in regular harness can be hitched to the frame of a drag, a plow, or the doubletree on a wagon. The singletree allows the animal a better angle of draft (translated as more pulling power) than being directly attached to the shafts or tongue.
The singletree's other main advantage is that its design allows the draft animal to pull evenly on the load even when he is not moving straight ahead of it. Also, when combined with doubletrees and chains, the singletree allows multiple animals to be hitched to the same vehicle and to pull efficiently.
On a vehicle with a tongue, two singletrees are attached to the doubletree, one on each side. The doubletree (spreaderbar, swingletree, or splinter bar) is another shaped piece of wood with iron or steel rings and fittings. A doubletree is attached to a wagon tongue with a shaped piece of steel or iron called a tongue hammer.
This is a very simplified version of singletrees and doubletrees. Every geographical area appears to have its own names for these devices. I've attempted to use the most commonly understood versions.
Eveners are shaped pieces of wood with iron or steel rings or hooks that allow three, four, or more draft animals to be hitched abreast using combinations of doubletrees and singletrees. Eveners distribute the load between the draft animals regardless of the size of the team.
Wheel Tracks and Wheel Bases
The wheel track of a vehicle is usually measured from the outside edge of one wheel to the outside edge of the other wheel on the same axle. Occasionally this may be called the wheel base. The term "wheel base" generally refers to the distance from the center of the front axle to the center of the back axle.
Bibliography
Farm Waggons and Carts, James Arnold, David & Charles, 1977
300 Years of Farm Implements and Machinery 1630-1930, Ronald Stokes Barlow, kp books, March 2003
Packhorse, Waggon and Post: Land carriage and communications under the Tudors and Stuarts, J. Crofts, University of Toronto Press, 1967
Horses in Harness, Charles Philip Fox, Reiman Associates, Inc. , Greendale, WI, 1987
Wagons for the Santa Fe Trade: Wheeled Vehicles and Their Makers, 1822-1880, Mark L. Gardner, University of New Mexico Press, 2000
John Deere Buggies and Wagons, Ralph C. Hughes, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1995
The Horse in the Middle Ages, Ann Hyland, Sutton Publishing Limited, 1999
The English Farm Wagon, Origins and Structure, J. Geraint Jenkins, David & Charles, 1981 (Third Edition)
Horses, Oxen, and Technical Innovation, John Langdon, Cambridge, 1986
The History of the Carriage, Laszlo Tarr, Arco Publishing Company, Inc. , New York, 1969
The Draft Horse Primer, Maurice Telleen, Draft Horse Journal, Inc. , 1977
Sears, Roebuck & Co. 1908 Catalog (reproduction), Sears, Roebuck & Co. 1897 Catalog (reproduction), Fred L. Israel, Editor, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, 1968
Websites
Note: websites appear and disappear quickly. Those listed below are still good to the best of my knowledge.
http://www. carriagedriving. net/archives. html
Carriage Driving. Net the Carriage Driving Webzine
http://204. 186. 123. 72/
Miffinburg Buggy Museum
http://scholar. chem. nyu. edu/tekpages/harness. html
The Medieval Technology Pages—The Horse Harness
http://www. caaonline. com/
The Carriage Association of America
http://www. kismeta. com/diGrasse/this_old_wheel. htm
This Old Wheel
http://www. austincarriagemuseum. com/carriages. html
The Austin Carriage Museum
http://www. susqu. edu/art_gallery/buggies/buggies. htm
Buggies—The Development of the Horse-Drawn Light Carriage in Central Pennsylvania
http://www. over-land. com/coach. html
The Concord Coach
http://www. geocities. com/karen_larsdatter/wagons. htm
Wagons, Carriages, and Carts in Medieval and Renaissance Works of Art
http://www. georgianindex. net/horse_and_carriage/carriage_door. html#TOP
Georgian Index—Horses and horse drawn vehicles in 18th & 19th CenturyEngland
http://www. swingletree. co. uk/carriages(1). htm
Swingletree Carriage Collection
http://www. firstshotphoto. com/catspokes&. htm
First Shot Buggy and Wagon Sales
http://www. nationalcowboymuseum. org/research/r_hoof_imag_2. html
The National Cowboy Museum
http://home. planet. nl/~bwmburen/t9. htm
Farm Cart And Wagon Museum In Buren, Netherlands
http://www. ruralhistory. org/interface/public/farming/implements/implements_wagons. html
The Museum of Rural English Life
http://www. horsedriver. com/cart/harness. html
Chimacum Tack Shack—Harness Information
http://www. liveryone. net/carriage_directory. html
Great Northern Livery Company Reproduction Carriages and Wagons
http://www. liveryone. net/gear. shtml
Carriage parts chart
http://www. wall. netxv. net/TX2k/rstilesTX2000freightlines. htm
The Freight Lines- Roads to Concho
http://www. kshs. org/publicat/khq/1938/38_2_welty. htm
Supplying the Frontier Military Posts
http://www. outfo. org/literature/pg/etext02/tpoic10. txt
Paths of Inland Commerce, by Archer B. Hulbert
http://www. linecamp. com/museums/americanwest/define_the_west/mule_skinners/mule_skinners. html
Muleskinners & Freightwagons
THE END
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Eric Flint, Grantville Gazette-Volume XI
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