Governess-cart

[igenlode]

The vehicle that I've called a 'governess-cart' is the little two-wheeled pony-carriage known to Raoul as a demi-tonneau (a name akin in form to the English 'tub-cart'?)



(Click for modern photos of demi-tonneau awaiting restoration)

It seats two adults in comfort and two adults plus children at a pinch -- with Christine, Félix and Victoire accompanying Hippolyte, the driver, you can imagine things getting quite crowded, especially when Victoire gets excited :-D

Comments

[watervole]

I can see the dropped axle in the pictures, but the cart appears to be supported on the springs over the wheels rather than on the axle, so it doesn't quite make sense. I must be missing something.

[igenlode]

You're right; in this example (and in the painting, I think) the bottom of the body appears to be supported on a level with the hubs of the wheels, with a big space left above the actual dropped axle. Which seems a bit pointless, really.
(Perhaps it simply lowers the weight of the wrought-iron axle itself to a safer level?)

Here's a picture of a tub-cart type vehicle where the hubs are actually in the middle of the body, from Wikipedia...

[watervole]

That's interesting. The tub is below hub level, but the dropped axle is below that, so there must be some technical reason why the body has to be well above the axle.

[igenlode]

Maybe to allow for bouncing on the springs? I'm not immediately clear whether the leaf spring set-up allows for the body to go below the level at which it starts...

[watervole]

That might be it.