I IO BREAK CH. VI 



tain amount of prejudice, have led to the retaining 

 of the perch construction in heavy vehicles, like 

 coaches. 



A light buggy has only two elliptic springs, and 

 therefore, of necessity, a perch, because the springs, 

 set crosswise, would not be in the proper position to 

 resist the strain of the draught ; carriages interme- 

 diate in weight between coaches and bug-cnes usu _ 

 ally have no perch, and have four elliptic springs, or 

 some modification of them.* 



Mail-phaetons are almost the only carriages- to 

 which the two systems are applied, some having 

 perches and regular telegraph springs, and others 

 (demi-mail phaetons) four elliptic springs only. In 

 this particular style of carriage, the body is not 

 heavy enough to make the telegraph springs work 

 easily, and a phaeton with a perch, although stylish, 

 is apt to be stiff and uncomfortab e. 



Since a break is principally to ' knock about' with 

 and to use in rough places, it is better to have it 

 without a perch ; its greater lightness and the ease 

 with which it can be turned in narrow places much 

 more than counterbalances any advantages that the 

 perch construction may possess. 



The wagonette break is the kind most frequently 

 used, but while it is convenient to carry baggage or 

 the like, it is not as good a four-in-hand vehicle as 



* Beaufort, p. 238, speaks of Clark's coach, on the Brighton 

 Road, in 1862, as having no perch and being good to carry a load. 



