fooey on automobile history

[ritaxis]

Went haring off to find out how automobile side windows opened at the turn of the century . . . to discover that they didn't have side windows, or any sufficient protection tio drive around in winter time, until the 20s, which is kind of too late.

How on earth am I to transport Yanek and the Duke's children around the landscape in the middle of winter then?  They'll freeze if they have to drive in an open car for several hours.  Carriages?  What about the horses?  Didn't they suffer horribly in that cold?

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

My limited understanding is that horses are relatively cold-tolerant if they can be kept dry.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Big piles of furs wrapped closely about their shoulders.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

My girlfriend says, "They wore big heavy coats and they had what were called 'carriage rugs'--furs." But cars were more often used for show than transportation: back when, horses were more reliable and horses did better on bad roads.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I remember reading instructions on how to lay up a car for winter, and that pertained in the UK certainly until between WWI and WWII. Not everyone would, of course, but the idea that you drove all year round and that cars were for routine travel rather than for pleasure driving was only just becoming the norm.

Horses are fine in cold weather as long as it's cold and dry. So they do better in a European or Russian winter than a British one, though they're fine in the UK as long as they're stabled and dried off thoroughly after work and fed well. Mud is the enemy of travel in winter and snow and ice can be helpful. With the right shoes, horses cope perfectly well in snow and on ice and in cold climates they would pull sleighs rather than carriages in winter.

Horses' ability to gallop on snow has been turned into the sport of ski joering.

This might be exactly what you want. A horse-drawn sleigh outside a house in Hughesovka in 1900. Hughesovka, which is in the Ukraine was, bizarrely, founded by a Welshman named Hughes. I would think the climate would be about right for your story and as you can see, the passengers are all wrapped up in furs with furry hats.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Going from memory of anecdote here, but my dad's first car -- bought right after WW2 -- was of a model that could be fitted with an optional heater, which added about 10% to the cost of the vehicle! So most folks did without and drove wearing a heavy coat.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

did you never read little house on the prairie? people just bundled up and went.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

isn't there a song that goes "dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh..."?

[ice-hesitant.livejournal.com]

Bridle up a troika (http://www.google.ca/search?q=troika&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=TbK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=hHE6T8KIPKal2AW0rrmhCg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBoQ_AUoAQ&biw=981&bih=955).

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I suspect people then dashed around the landscape in the middle of winter less than we do now. However, I'm sure they did some of it. In that geographic area, wouldn't sleds pulled by horses be traditional? Horses do pretty well in the cold, especially if they're working (but it's important to take care of them afterwards). And I don't know how far back horse blankets actually go, but they're not so much a "technology", it's more a question of resources allocated to keeping the horses comfortable and healthy -- and the healthy part was very important back then.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I don't think the car would be able to cope with the temperatures - modern oils cope with freezing temperatures, older oils don't, so the engine might seize up for lack of lubricants. Then there's the lack of traction on tyres, and the lack of power to cope with snow drifts and the general unbalancedness of cars that would make them prone to accidents on ice, never mind the complete and utter absence of snow ploughs and gritters - you wouldn't set out on a winter journey because you might not be able to make it through.

As for winter travelling, try a sleigh. Horses don't mind cold - their nostrils warm the air they breathe, and unless you let them stand around sweaty, they're unlikely to have problems at all. Bundle up the passengers in fur, with heated bricks at the bottom to keep their feet warm, and with things to tie across their ears and faces, and they'll be fine.

You'd wait for snowfall - but winter is, in that respect, a _good_ travelling time, when your main transport are horses - snow is a much better surface than mud or uneven roads for transporting heavy loads, and sleds are, if anything, faster than carriages.
They might, if the journey is long enough, break at an inn to a) rest/change horses and b) warm up, but unless there's a snowstorm, travelling will be no big deal.

[pameladean]

I know Laura Ingalls Wilder is problematic, but The Long Winter has a lot about using and looking after horses in a record South Dakota winter, including details such as needing to stop periodically and put your hands around the horses' noses to melt off the ice that congealed from their breath so they wouldn't smother.

P.