A Nyíregyházi Jósa András Múzeum évkönyve 43. (Nyíregyháza, 2001)

Néprajz - László Cservenyák: Carriages, wagons, equipages

Az 1954. évi őszi Országos Mezőgazdasági Kiállítás tanulságai és tapasztalatai a szekérgyártás fejlesztésével kapcsolatban Carriages, wagons, equipages The vehicular traffic of the present days have changed to a great extent compared to that of the bygone days: it is actually ruled by cars. However, the oxen-drawn plough, the two-wheeled traps, the four-wheeled wagons or the sledges have belonged to the cultural history of mankind for almost five millenia. From the aristocratic equipages to the horsedrawn cannon-locomotives or hay-wagons several vehicular inventions prove the successfulness of anonymous inventors. The vehicles have always had to adjust to the road conditions and also to the different types of soil as there was no pavement on them. As a result, different regional vehicles were constructed. Their variety perfectly represents ingenuity as well as adjustibility, that is, those mental factors without which material improvement cannot be achieved. The story of carriage Most of the inventions are collective even if public belief or lexicons consider them as individual ones. However, the more we go back in time, the fewer names we can find. Carriage was not invented by a single person either; its development is also gradual just as any other working tool. It was continuously perfected until its culmination was reached at the beginning of the 20

th century. If we start going back in this process and peel off what has been put on it throughout the millenia, nothing but a simple carrying plate on wheels - the forebear of carriage - would stand in front of us. It is indisputable that the carriage, or to be more exact, the two-wheeled cart and the four-wheeled wagon were invented at a higher stage of the production development: during a period when more developed tools were needed. This way it is the function of the forces of production. When cavemen had to take heavy burden to farther places they began to think about how to ease their job. The invention of the wheel and the axle meant great help though nowadays we are prone to consider them as natural and obvious things. To be able to feel the importance of any tools or equipment we have to think in the particular period with its own economic circumstances. Cavemen did not, of course, started to solve their transporting problems by using carriage: it was preceded by simpler carriage means. Its simplest version was the use of bast: the burden was tied up with bast with which they were able to drag it away. Twig is the ancestor of sledges. Putting the burden onto a branch was the next step. Then came the slip. This was one branch of the development of transporting "vehicles" which was getting closer and closer to the wagon. The biggest problem is that of the origin of wheel since carriage does not exist without wheel. This way, in fact, the story of carriage is as old as the story of wheel. Several theories have been worked out about how it was created. What was the first wheel like actually? The answer to this question is quite simple. Of course it had no spokes. We can be almost sure that it was a disc-wheel, a full-wheel. Later on, however, different types of wheels were invented until the spokes finally appeared. Hungarian carriage These days it is unquestionable that carriage was a Hungarian invention, or to be more exact, Hungarian craftsmen developed it from the different versions of wagons. According to the traditions King Matthias was its inventor. However, the truth is only that it was during his reign when it was constructed from the goods-wagon. He urged the quick goods and passenger transport when his residence was placed to Vienna in 1485. The king also liked using it; he usually travelled about 100.000 steps, 527