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CAR (Late Lat. carra)
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See also:CAR (See also:Late See also:Lat. carra) , a See also:term originally applied to a small two-wheeled vehicle for transport (see See also:CARRIAGE), but also to almost anything in the nature of a carriage, See also:chariot, &c., and to the carrying-See also:part of a See also:balloon. With some specific qualification (tram-car, See also:street-car, railway-car, sleeping-car, motor-car, &c.) it is combined to serve as a See also:general word instead of carriage or vehicle. From See also:Ireland comes the " jaunting-car," which is in general use, both in the towns, where it is the commonest public carriage for hire, and in the See also:country districts, where it is employed to carry the mails and for the use of tourists. The gentry and more well-to-do farmers also use it as a private carriage in all parts of Ireland. The genuine Irish jaunting-car is a two-wheeled vehicle constructed to carry four persons besides the See also:driver. In the centre, at right angles to the See also:axle, is a " well " about 18 in. deep, used for carrying parcels or small luggage, and covered with a lid which is usually furnished with a See also:cushion. The " well " provides a See also:low back to each of the two seats, which are in the See also:form of wings placed over each See also:wheel, with See also:foot boards See also:hanging outside the wheel on hinges, so that when not in use they can be turned up over the seats, thus reducing the width of the car (sometimes very necessary in the narrow country roads) and protecting the seats from the See also:weather. The passengers on each See also:side sit with their backs to each other, with the " well " between them. The driver sits on a movable See also:box-seat, or " dicky," a few inches high, placed across the See also:head of the " well," with a footboard to which there is usually no splash-See also:board attached. A more See also:modern form of jaunting-car, known as a " See also:long car," chiefly used for tourists, is a four-wheeled vehicle constructed on the same See also:plan, which accommodates as many as eight or ten passengers on each side, and two in addition on a high box-seat beside the driver. In the See also:city of See also:Cork a carriage known as an " inside car " is in See also:common use. It is a two-wheeled covered carriage in which the passengers sit See also:face to face as in a wagonette. In remote country districts the poorer peasants still sometimes use a See also:primitive form of vehicle, called a " low-backed car," a See also:simple square shallow box or shelf of See also:wood fastened to an axle without springs. The two wheels are solid wooden disks of the rudest construction, generally without the See also:protection of See also:metal tires, and so small in See also:diameter that the See also:body of the car is raised only a few inches from the ground. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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