AN IMPROVED HANSOM.
The only money Hansom received, directly or indirectly, from his invention was £300, presented to him some time later for services rendered to the company at a critical period. But although he reaped very little pecuniary benefit from his invention, posterity has been generous in connecting his name with a cab which is far superior to the one which he invented. If the cab known to us as the “Hansom” were called the “Chapman,” it would be more in accordance with historical accuracy. Mr. John Chapman, the projector of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, was, when Mr. Hansom patented his cab, the secretary of the Safety Cabriolet and Two-wheel Carriage Company. He discovered quickly the weak points in Hansom’s cab, and, setting to work, invented a far superior one. The driver’s seat was placed at the back, the sliding window still in use was introduced, and the framework under the body of the vehicle was constructed to rest on the ground when tilted forwards or backwards. A cranked axle passing under the body of the cab was also introduced.
This cab was patented by Mr. Chapman and Mr. Gillett, who financed him, in December, 1836.
The company which owned Hansom’s cab purchased Messrs. Chapman and Gillett’s patent, and in a very short time placed fifty of the new cabs on the streets. From the first they were a great success, and for sixty-six years they have remained in public favour. The only important alteration made during those years was the introduction of the straight axle, which necessitated the cutting away of the body of the cab beneath the passenger’s seat. This improvement was made very soon after the first Chapman or Hansom appeared on the streets. The side windows of hansoms were, until the fifties, very small—about one foot by eight inches.
FRANCIS MOORE’S VEHICLE.
Hansom’s cab, before being improved by Chapman, bore a strong resemblance to a vehicle of which there is an illustration in Pennant’s “London,” published in 1790. This vehicle is represented as having just passed under Temple Bar, on which are fixed the gruesome heads of traitors. Knight mentions, in his work on London, having seen a print, dated early in the nineteenth century, of a very similar conveyance, which was described as “the carriage of the ingenious Mr. Moore.” That the vehicle in Pennant was built by Francis Moore, of Cheapside, a well-known coachbuilder, there can be no doubt. The difficulty is to decide which conveyance the Pennant picture represents. The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1771 contains the following paragraph:—“Oct. 30. One of Mr. Moore’s carts to carry the mail, upon a new construction, was drawn to the General Post Office. The wheels are eight feet eight inches high, and the body is hung in the same manner as his coal carts, covered with wood, and painted green; the driver is to sit on the top.”
Moore patented a two-wheel carriage in June, 1786, and another in 1790. The specifications of the latter show that it was hung on two large wheels. The door, however, was at the back, and the driver had a separate seat at the front, but not on the top of the vehicle. It is very probable that Hansom saw Francis Moore’s carriages, and that the cab, which has made his name a household word, was an improvement upon the conveyance depicted in Pennant.
Hansom’s original cabs, when not plying for hire, stood on premises which now form a part of the Baker Street Bazaar.