A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are immediately distinguished from (which have two wheels) and from lighter four-wheeled vehicles primarily for carrying people, such as . Common animals which pull wagons are , , and oxen. 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;
Contemporary or modern animal-drawn wagons may be of metal instead of wood and have regular wheels with instead of traditional .
A person who drives wagons is called a "wagoner",
Wagons have served numerous purposes, with a variety of designs.
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. When traveling over long distances and periods, wagons may be covered with cloth to protect their contents from the elements; these are "
". If it has high sides, with or without a permanent top, it may be called a "
van". A wagon might be unsprung if ordinarily used over rough ground or cobbles.
A front axle assembly, in its simplest form, is an assembly of a short beam with a pivot plate, two wheels and spindles as well as a drawbar attached to this. A pin attaches the device to a horse-drawn vehicle making the turning radius smaller.
Types
Farm wagon
Farm wagons are built for general multi-purpose usage in an agricultural or rural setting. These include gathering
hay,
and wood, and delivering them to the farmstead or market.
Wagons can also be pulled with
for easy transportation of those materials.
A common form found throughout Europe is the , a large wagon the sides of which consisted of ladders strapped in place to hold in hay or grain, though these could be removed to serve other needs.
Freight wagon
Freight wagons were used for the overland hauling of freight and bulk commodities.
They were not designed for transporting people and were not built for comfort. Many were constructed without a driver's seat or bench, leaving the driver to walk alongside the wagon or ride atop one of the horses. Many freight wagons had a "lazyboard," a plank that could be pulled out for sitting upon, and then pushed back when not needed. In America, lazyboards were located on the left side and close to the brake because wagons were steered from the left side.
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 per pair.
Freight wagons in the American West were hauled by oxen, mules or horses. Freight wagon teams would generally haul between three and thirty-five tons of freight when hauling to mining outposts. On the return, they would haul ore to steamboats or to railroad depots.
File:Smithsonian National Museum of American History - Conestoga Wagon (8307591214).jpg|Conestoga wagon, USA 1840s
File:Bullock Team Wool Wagon.jpg|Ox-wagon hauling wool, New Zealand c. 1880
File:20 Mule Team in Death Valley.jpg|Twenty-mule team, Borax freight, USA 1880s
File:20-mule-team wagons.jpg|Borax wagons on display c. 1935
File:Freight team LCCN2013647269.jpg|Freight wagons, USA 1905
File:Freight cart with a farmer and horses (3526479046).jpg|Freight wagons, Argentina 1920s
File:Horse-drawn wagon loaded with 175 sacks of wheat beside freight car LCCN2007677294.jpg|Load of wheat, USA 1910
Delivery wagon
A
delivery wagon was used to deliver merchandise such as milk, bread, produce, meat and ice to residential and commercial customers, predominantly in urban settings. The concept of express wagons and paneled delivery vans developed in the 19th century. By the end of the 19th century, delivery wagons were often finely painted, lettered and varnished, serving as image-builders and rolling advertisements.
Special forms of delivery wagons include an
ice wagon and a
milk wagon.
carried liquid cargo. Water wagons made deliveries to areas lacking piped water and for military camp use. In the early 1900s, the American street flusher used a gas-powered pump to clean city streets of litter or mud, and to wet down dust in dry seasons. Liquid manure wagons were low tank vehicles for spreading manure on fields in the 1860s–1900s. Oil wagons operated from the 1880s to 1920s and held up to 500 gallons of oil or spirits.
In the city center of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, since 1992 the city's plants have been irrigated using a horse-drawn wagon with a water tank.
File:Baker's-van-r.jpg|Bakery delivery wagon, Australia 1900s
File:Paardenkar met alcoholtank van de firma Delizy & Doistau Fils (Rectification d'Alcools) in Pantin, RP-F-F01164-30-2.jpg|Alcohol tank wagon, France 1900s
File:Bon Marche Department Store horse-drawn wagon, probably 1900 (SEATTLE 102).jpg|Store delivery, USA 1900s
File:Breadvan - London 1.jpg|Bread delivery, England 1910s
File:Hevosvaunuja Helsingin Meijeriliikkeen pihalla, toisessa kerroksessa konttori - - hkm.HKMS000005-km003lbl.jpg|Milk float, Finland 1920s
File:Acme Farmers Dairy milk delivery wagon (I0004258).jpg|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
File:Shepherd living vans at the Great Dorset - geograph.org.uk - 1476363.jpg|Shepherd huts
File:Gipsy caravan, Fishers Farm - geograph.org.uk - 238741.jpg|A Romani Vardo
File:Walker Hoadley's caravan.jpg|Showman's wagon
File:Chuckwagon.jpg|Chuckwagon
Entertainment and show
Traveling 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. 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. Horse-drawn wagons are popular attractions at tourist destinations for leisurely sightseeing.
File:Triumph-isabella-ommeganck-1615-alsloot.jpg|Pageant wagons, Belgium 1615
File:Circus parade wagon.jpg|Circus parade wagon, built 1904
File:Horse drawn Japanese float in Portland Rose Festival parade, Portland, Oregon, 1908 (AL+CA 2101).jpg|Parade float, USA 1908
File:Colonial Williamsburg wagon tour.jpg|Tourist wagon, USA 2004
File:2008-06-01Dinkelsbühl Pferdewagen03.jpg|Sight-seeing wagon, Germany 2008
File:Budweiser Clydesdales, St. Louis, Missouri (33625293774).jpg|Exhibition wagon, USA 2017
Motorized wagons
During the transition to mechanized vehicles from animal-powered, vehicles were built by
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
-
Duryea Motor Wagon – 1890s gasoline powered, patterned from the American buggy
-
Auto Wagon – early 1900s gas-powered, patterned from the American 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.
File:Patent, Duryea Road Vehicle, 1895.png|Drawing for the Duryea Road Vehicle, 1895
File:George B Selden driving automobile in 1905.jpg|George B. Selden driving an automobile in 1905
File:1911 International Wagon.JPG|1911 International Harvester Auto Wagon (High wheeler)
File:International Torpedo - Coupe Florio 2015 01.jpg|International Harvester Auto-Buggy
Modern agricultural wagons
File:Gravity wagon 3-2.jpg|Gravity wagon
File:Forage wagon.jpg|Front unload forage harvester
Wagon train
In migration and military settings, wagons were often found in large groups called
.
In warfare, large groups of were used to support traveling armies with food and munitions, forming "baggage trains". During the American Civil War, these wagon trains would often be accompanied by the wagons of private merchants, known as , who sold goods to soldiers, as well as the wagons of photographers and news reporters.
In migration settings, such as the emigrant trails of the American West and the Great Trek of South Africa, wagons would travel together for support, navigation and protection. A group of wagons may be used to create an improvised fort called a laager, made by circling them to form an enclosure. In these settings, a chuckwagon is a small wagon used for providing food and cooking, essentially a portable kitchen.
Draft animals
In addition to horses and oxen, animals such as mules and goats have been used as draft animals for appropriately sized wagons.
File:Brazilian Princes 1883.jpg|Sheep and children's wagon (1883)
File:Goat team - Washington, D.C..jpg|Goat pair and wagon (1917)
File:The 18-seater pram, Park Royal Hospital, London, 1925 Wellcome L0002193.jpg|Donkey and wagon full of children (1925)
File:Ben Turner and family in their wagon with mule team. Flint R... (3109740135).jpg|Mule team and wagon (1939)
File:Opnamen FF-tentoonstelling te Enschede. Een Transvaalse boer met een huifkar get, Bestanddeelnr 904-7345.jpg|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
External links
