c 
throughout the year; and it has been found, 
after long and general trial, to possess eminent 
adaptation for conveying all kinds of solid man- 
ure, for carrying stones and other materials re- 
quired in the operations of draining, for convey- 
ing all sorts of produce to market, for carrying 
home potatoes and turnips, for conveying all 
other articles which can be properly discharged 
by tilting, and, with the addition of a harvest 
frame, for carrying home hay, sheaf-corn, cut 
grass, cut vetches, and field pease and beans. It 
admits of much variety of construction, as to at 
once wheels, shafts, body, and fixedness or re- 
moveableness of sides; and it derives its name 
and distinctive character from the circumstance 
of its buck or body being so hung upon a bar- 
pivot, and fastened with a moveable bolt to the 
front cross-bar of the frame, that, on the with- 
| drawal of the bolt, it can be ‘couped’ or tilted, 
so as, with a single jerk, to discharge the whole 
| of its load. In a tilt-cart of ordinary construc- 
tion, the length of the body at bottom is 5 
| feet, the length of the body at top is 55 feet, the 
| breadth of the body at bottom is 3 feet 10 inches, 
| the breadth of the body at top is 4 feet 4 inches, 
the depth of the body is 3 feet 8 inches, and the 
diameter of the wheels is 4 feet 6 inches; and in 
one of smaller size, adapted almost exclusively to 
home cartage on the farm, the length of the body 
at bottom is 4 feet. 2 inches, the length of the body 
at top is 4 feet 8 inches, the breadth of the body 
is 34 feet, the depth of the body in front is 145 
inches, the depth of the body in rear is 133 inches, 
and the diameter of the wheels is 3 feet 10 inches. 
In every tilt-cart of good construction, the body 
rests by means of bolsters upon the axle; the 
shafts are jointed to the axle by means of a rod, 
which passes through their ends and through 
the bolsters ; the axle is of the bent order, with 
25 inch arms; the wheels are of the dished form, 
and have a cylindrical tread or sole, and are so 
far inclined from the vertical as to bring them 
to the standard gauge below ; and the shafts are 
about 9 feet 2 inches in total length, or about 63 
feet for the yoke, and have large staples on their 
upper surface for effecting the attachment to the 
horse’s harness, In Plates XJ. and XJT. will be 
found various drawings to illustrate the con- 
struction of the ordinary tilt-cart. The framing 
is represented in /%g. 1; a bird’s-eye view of it, 
in F%g. 2; a profile of it upon the axle, in fig. 3; 
and a back-end view of it, in %g. 4. 
A two-horse tilt-cart differs from an ordinary 
one principally in being stronger, deeper, and 
larger, and also in readily serving as a hay-cart. 
A plan or horizontal view of a cart of this kind, 
fitted with frames as a hay-cart or corn-cart, is 
shown in fg. 5; a profile of it, in /ug.6; anda 
back-end view of it, in Wg. 7. But in a two- 
horse cart, the hind-horse bears all the weight 
which lies before the centre of gravity, the fore- 
horse, whenever his line of draught is not from 
the hook of his collar to the centre of the axle, 
CART. | 717 | 
continually pulls the hind-horse downward, and 
the two horses are variously liable to act as con- 
flicting rather than as conjoint powers. Now, 
in order to make the efforts of the two horses 
coincide, two iron frames, each with a sheeve or 
whorl, and represented in ‘gs. 8 and 9, are 
fixed into the axle, as at A, /%g. 6; and upon the 
sheeves of these frames, passes a rope or chain, 
BAC, same /%g. In the outside of each shaft is 
fixed a long iron staple, as DE, F%gs. 5 and 6; 
and on each staple is placed an iron slider, as BD, 
Fig. 6, having liberty to shift either forward or 
backward from B to E. The chain from the 
collar of the hind-horse is hooked into the eye 
of the slider at B; and the chain or rope by 
which the fore-horse draws, passing from his 
collar at OC, Hig. 6, round on the sheeve A, is 
hooked into the other eye of the slider at D. 
By this means, the two horses are so connected 
that, whenever the one relaxes, he suffers a 
close and severe pressure of the collar upon his 
shoulders from the exertion of the other horse, 
and must either be painfully pulled backward or 
renew his own exertion; and thus the simul- 
taneous efforts of the two horses, instead of being 
always unsteady and often conflicting, are so 
fused into each other as to constitute practically 
one power; and their combined action, in conse- | 
quence of their draught being in line, is pecu- | 
liarly suited to fields and soft roads, where the 
wheels are liable to sink or be obstructed. 
The dormant-bodied cart is suited for carrying 
substances, such as bags of grain, sacks of flour, 
hampers, boxes, and the miscellaneous packages 
of mercantile transit, which require to be dis- 
charged by lifting; and it admits of a greater. 
variety of size and construction than even the 
tilt-cart, yet, in general, bears a close resemblance 
to that vehicle in all features except those which 
are immediately connected, with tilting. Its 
shafts are prolonged backward to its extremity, 
and have, at the axle, projections which serve 
the purpose of bolsters ; and they usually measure 
in entire length about 123 feet,—the portions for 
the yoke and for the forepart of the cart being 
of the same length as those of the tilt - cart. 
Varieties of this cart without any box, and with 
large platform, are very commonly used by pub- 
lic carriers and in large commercial towns. 
The French cart has a considerable resemblance 
to the frameless dormant-bodied machine ; but 
is much simpler and far less scientific in its struc- 
ture, and might not inaptly be compared to the 
rude slide-car, mounted on vertically moving 
wheels. Its poles or shafts are similar to those 
of the slide-car, but stronger, and are equilibri- 
ously poised upon the axle; and its wheels are 
narrow at the tire, very slightly dished, run 
almost vertically on the road, and are often six 
feet in diameter. A cart of this kind may be 
called emphatically the long cart, and admits of 
being drawn by so many as five or six horses, 
and, on level roads, may be advantageously used 
a _ >? 
Ei es = | 
