4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE COACH CH. I 



these, on the axle and on the bed, form, the floor, 

 and other boards fastened vertically against them, 

 form the sides of a body. A wagon of this kind, 

 sometimes covered by a canopy, was undoubtedly 

 the first four-wheeled vehicle in which people were 

 carried. 



The next advance was to suspend seats by means 

 of straps attached to the sides, whereby more com- 

 fort could be had than by sitting on the rigid car- 

 riage-part ; wagons thus arranged can be seen at 

 the present time in Switzerland. 



Finally, a ' body,' distinct from the carriage-part, 

 was suspended from the points of the four stand- 

 ards, the fixed body having been removed, and this 

 form of carriage remained in use for a lonof time, 

 as is shown in prints as late as the end of the i 7th 

 century. 



About 1660 (Thrupp, p. 43), the 'Berlin' was in- 

 vented in Germany. In this, the floor of the body 

 was rounded and rested on long leather straps, 

 called thorough-braces, which ran from one stand- 

 ard to the other, and the under-carriage was fre- 

 quently made with two parallel perches for strength 

 and stiffness. The coachman's seat was on the 

 carriage-part, and not attached to the body. 



We have now reached the form of carriage which 

 lasted until late in the 1 8th century, and which still 

 exists in the modern American 'Concord coach,' 

 with the modification of having the coachman's seat 

 placed on the body instead of on the carriage-part. 



