CATALOGUE OF THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING COLLECTION. 109 



Model of American Stage Coach. (Scale 1 : 6.) Made in the Museum. 



The stage coach, a vehicle for fast overland travel and mail con- 

 veyance, often in connection with steamboat lines, was in general use 

 throughout the United States from the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century until railway systems, extending into new territory, accom- 

 modated the travel. Through the agency of competing transporta- 

 tion lines the speed of the American horse for stages of eight or ten 

 miles was materially increased. Four strong wheels, with iron tires 

 and wooden spokes varying in number according to the dictum of 

 local wheelwrights, were attached to strong and light running gears, 

 differing in design and method of attaching springs and bracing. 



Cat. No. 180,055 U.S.N.M. 



FIG. 51. OVERLAND STAGE COACIIj 1800. 



Model of Red River Cart, 1882. (Scale 1:6.) Made in the Museum. 



According to Robinson's " Great Fur Land," published in 1872, 

 " the only tools necessary not only to mend but to construct a [Red 

 River] cart, are an ax, a saw, and an auger; with these the half- 

 breed is independent. Huge trains of these vehicles are used for 

 freighting over the northern plains." The wheels of twelve spokes 

 are very much " dished." Rawhide is used in place of metal in 

 strengthening the joints of the rims and hubs. 



Cat. No. 181,309 U.S.N.M. 



Model of An Automobile Truck, 1921. (Scale, One-fourth Actual Size.) 

 Made and Presented by The Autocar Co. 



The indispensability of the automobile truck to modern civiliza- 

 tion has been demonstrated again and again, and more definitely 



