CH. Ill SPLINTER-BAR 25 



moveable part about a coach increases the chances 

 of breakage, but the increase of comfort to the 

 horses is undoubted. This arrangement is similar 

 to that usually seen on light wagons, with the dif- 

 ference, however, that the swingle-tree is deep 

 enough, and the pin stiff enough, to permit the use 

 of the outside roller-bolt as a step. The motion 

 of the swingle-tree is restricted by a strap, which 

 should be put on quite tight, since a movement of 

 the roller-bolt of an inch and a half in front of, and 

 behind, the bar is sufficient. 



Some coachmen think that a coach can be guided 

 more accurately with an entirely stiff bar than with 

 moveable swingle-trees, because either horse, if 

 urged forward, will turn the fore-carriage very 

 quickly by the application of his force to the outer 

 end of the bar. Since, however, the motion of the 

 swingle-tree is limited by the strap and by the neat- 

 ness of fit of the pin, it will be found, in practice, 

 that the difference is not noticeable. 



The amount of the motion of the ends of the 

 swingle-trees corresponding to the action of the 

 horses' shoulders can be well observed in a trotting 

 wagon, which always has swingle-trees, and it is 

 very noticeable to the occupant of any one-horse 

 vehicle, a coupe for instance, in which the traces are 

 attached directly to the root of the shafts and not to 

 a swing-bar, the alternate sideways motion given to 

 the carriage being extremely disagreeable. 



1 Nimrod' says (Malet, p. 386) : ' The swing bar 



