Cart — Mediated Wiki

{{Short description|Wheeled vehicle for animal drawn transport}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}} {{About|||Cart (disambiguation)|and|Carting (disambiguation)|and|CART (disambiguation)}} thumb|Horse and cart (England, 2013) thumb|Dockworkers and hand cart (Haiti, 2006) A '''cart''' is a two-wheeled vehicle designed for transport. It can be pulled by humans or draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or smaller animals such as goats and large dogs.

The word ''cart'' is often used incorrectly to indicate four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicles. Over time, the word "cart" has expanded to mean nearly any small conveyance without regard to number of wheels, load carried, or means of propulsion. The word ''car'' has often been modified to ''cart'' through colloquialization. For example, several small sport and hobby ''cars'' carry "cart" in their name such as pedal carts (manually pedaled), soap-box carts (gravity run), and go-carts (gas engine). Similarly, ''golf cars'' are more commonly known as golf carts.{{r|ansi}}

A cartwright is a builder of carts, and a carter is the person operating a horse and cart for haulage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is a Carter? |url=https://www.unlockyourpast.co.uk/old-occupation-carter/ |first=Sarah |last=Smith |website=Unlock Your Past |date=21 June 2024}}</ref> The surname "Carter" derives from the occupation.

==History==

[[File:Eastern Han Bronze Chariot (10336760463).jpg|thumb|Han dynasty bronze figures, 1st or 2nd century AD]] The history of the cart is closely tied to the invention of the wheel. Pre-dating the wheel there were dragged devices like sledges and travois. The earliest known wheels date back to around 3400 to 3000 BC. The combination of the wheel and axle enabled the development of early wheeled vehicles which transformed human mobility and trade. The earliest wheeled vehicles had four-wheels (wagons), however two-wheeled vehicles (carts) required about 40% less pulling force than a four-wheeled vehicle of the same weight and were more maneuverable.{{r|hirst|klein}}{{r|anthony|p=65-66}}

With the domestication of animals such as oxen and horses, carts became central to ancient economies. Animal‑drawn carts and wagons were widely used across civilizations for farming, trade, and migration. Their evolution—from solid wooden wheels to lighter spoked designs—marked a major technological advance, improving efficiency and enabling long‑distance transport.{{r|piggott|anthony}}

== Human-powered carts ==

=== Large carts ===

* Rickshaw: Used to transport passengers * Pushcart: a street vendor's or costermonger's cart which carries goods for sale and is manually pushed into position near streets or marketplaces.{{r|collins-pushcart}} * Food cart: a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell food to passers-by * Mormon handcarts: A large cart used in the mid-1800s by westward-emigrating Mormons to carry their belongings

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160" caption="Large human-powered carts"> File:Rickshaw by fabichan in Arashiyama, Kyoto.jpg|Rickshaw File:Street vendor's mobile stall in India.jpg|Street vendor pushcart File:Batagor vendor 4.jpg|Modern food carts File:PlattCrossing.jpg|Mormon handcart </gallery>

=== Small carts ===

Small human pushed or pulled conveyances commonly called carts can have any number of wheels (not limited to two). The term ''handcart'' can mean any of numerous small conveyances.{{r|collins-handcart}}

* Hand truck: A two-wheeled upright handcart for moving boxes, sacks, large appliances and other loads * Baggage cart: for travelers to carry luggage in places like airports and train stations * Shopping cart: a wheeled basket supplied by a store for use by customers inside the premises as they move around selecting items prior to paying for those goods * Serving cart: for transporting prepared food for serving to customers such as in a restaurant or airplanes; may be named for what it carries, such as tea cart for tea service, or pastry cart for offering desserts at a restaurant

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160" caption="Small human-powered carts"> File:Pepsi Cola soda beverage.jpg|Hand trucks File:Chariot à bagages Orly.jpg|Airport baggage cart File:Carrinhosupermercado.JPG|Shopping cart </gallery>

== Animal-powered carts ==

Carts may be drawn by animals, such as horses, donkeys, and oxen. They have been in continuous use since the invention of the wheel. Carts may be named for the animal that pulls them, such as ''horsecart'', ''donkey cart'', ''oxcart'' or ''dog cart'' (not to be confused with ''dogcart'' which is a horse-drawn vehicle that carried dogs).{{r|walrond79|p=62}}

Carts have many different shapes, based on what is being transported and the shape of the draught animal. When being pulled by a single animal, carts have a pair of {{Glossary link|glossary=Glossary of carriage and driving terminology|shafts}} that support and balance the cart, and the weight of the shafts on the animal is carried by a padded harness saddle. When a cart is being pulled by a pair of animals, it has a single {{Glossary link|glossary=Glossary of carriage and driving terminology|pole}} between the pair. Draught traces attach to the vehicle on one end, and to a collar, yoke, or other parts of the harness. Traces are made from leather, chain, rope, or other materials.{{r|vince|p=14ff}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160"> File:Bullock Cart (গোরুর গাড়ি), Rural Bengal.jpg|Oxcart File:Camel cart.JPG|Camel cart File:Bokkenwagen.jpg|Goat cart File:Maastricht, Heerderweg, 1956.jpg|Dog cart </gallery>

=== <span class="anchor" id="Horsecart"></span> Horse-drawn carts ===  {{See also-text|Wagon|Carriage|Coach|Horse-drawn vehicle}}

The term "cart" is a category of horse-drawn vehicles which have '''two wheels'''. However as slang it has been used to mean ''any'' horse-drawn vehicle including those with four wheels—though mainly used to indicate farm wagons and commercial wagons which have corresponding two-wheeled equivalents or forerunners.{{r|vince|p=6}}{{r|smith|p=40}}{{r|berkebile1978|p=79}} The horsecart category includes carts whether pulled by horses, ponies, donkeys, or mules, because the methods of harnessing is the same for all equids. Carts can be divided into freight-carrying carts and passenger carts, with the nicer passenger carts also named ''cars''.{{r|berkebile1978|pp=69, 79}}

For examples, see lists at: * {{Section link|Horse-drawn vehicle|Two‑wheeled passenger vehicles}} * {{Section link|Horse-drawn vehicle|Two‑wheeled load carrying vehicles}}.

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160" caption="Horse-drawn carts"> File:Mejuffrouw Tachard en Ernst van Loon in een rijtuig voor huis Hydepark, RP-F-2007-361-27.jpg|Pony and cart (Netherlands, 1888) File:Driving Competion (3716744148).jpg|Modern cart (England, 2009) File:Beverley Gas Works, Old Hull Road 1910 (archive ref DDX1544-1-11) (28284430335).jpg|Heavy hauling cart (England, circa 1910) File:From 'Street Life in London', 1877, by John Thomson and Adolphe Smith- (6516045387).jpg|Donkey cart </gallery>

== Other historical carts ==  * {{Anchor|Dead cart}}Dead cart: A cart used historically for transporting corpses during epidemics, plague outbreaks, or battlefield cleanup. Typically a simple utility cart adapted for the purpose, and could be horse-drawn or human-powered.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A journal of the plague year |title-link=A Journal of the Plague Year |first=Daniel |last=Defoe |author-link=Daniel Defoe |date=1848 |orig-date=1722 |publisher=W. Tegg & Co. |location=London |ol=33180553M}}</ref> * Night-soil cart or night-cart: A cart used for collecting and transporting night soil (human waste) before the availability of modern sewer systems; typically a simple utility cart drawn by a horse or pushed by sanitation workers at night.{{r|berkebile1978|p=203}} * Rag-and-bone cart: A cart used by itinerant collectors (rag-and-bone man) who gathered rags, bones, scrap metal, and other reusable materials in the 18th to 20th centuries; often hand-pushed or drawn by a small horse or donkey.<ref>{{cite news |title=Squeezing Out the Rag Men |url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/511/856/136732958w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS388065385&dyn=21!zoom_2?sw_aep=mclib |work=The Times |date=9 March 1965 |page=23}}</ref>

==See also== {{div col}} * Misraħ Għar il-Kbir — Collection of prehistoric cart ruts in Malta * {{Annotated link|Sling cart}}

; Images * {{Commons category-inline|Carts}} * {{Commons category-inline|Hand carts}} * {{Commons category-inline|Pushcarts}} * {{Commons category-inline|Animal-powered carts}} * {{Commons category-inline|Horse-drawn carts}} {{div col end}}

==References== <references>

<ref name="ansi">{{Cite web |title=ANSI/OPEI Z130.1-2020: Golf Cars Safety Specifications |url=https://blog.ansi.org/ansi/ansi-opei-z130-1-2020-golf-cars-safety/ |date=August 4, 2020 |first=Brad |last=Kelechava |website=American National Standards Institute}}</ref>

<ref name="anthony">{{cite book |last=Anthony |first=David W. |title=The Horse, the Wheel, and Language : How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World |year=2007 |publisher=Princeton University Press |ol=11182657M |isbn=9780691058870}}</ref>

<ref name="berkebile1978">{{Cite book |last=Berkebile |first=Donald H. |title=Carriage Terminology: An Historical Dictionary |year=1978 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press |isbn=9781935623434 |ol=4534466M}}</ref>

<ref name="collins-handcart">{{Cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/handcart |title=Definition of 'handcart' |website=Collins online dictionary}}</ref>

<ref name="collins-pushcart">{{Cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/pushcart |title=Definition of 'pushcart' |website=Collins online dictionary}}</ref>

<ref name="hirst">{{Cite web |title=The Invention of the Wheel and Wheeled Vehicles : The Impact of Wheeled Vehicles on Human History |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/wheeled-vehicles-history-practical-human-use-171870 |website=ThoughtCo |first=K. Kris |last=Hirst |date=September 20, 2018 |orig-date=April 4, 2012}}</ref>

<ref name="klein">{{Cite journal |title=Evolution of the Wheel |first=H. E. |last=Kleinschmidt |journal=The Scientific Monthly |date=October 1944 |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=273–282 |jstor=18250 |bibcode=1944SciMo..59..273K |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/18250}}</ref>

<ref name="piggott">{{cite book |last=Piggott |first=Stuart |title=The Earliest Wheeled Transport |publisher=Thames and Hudson |year=1983 |isbn=9780801416040}}</ref>

<ref name="smith">{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles |first=D.J.M. |last=Smith |year=1988 |publisher=J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd. |isbn=0851314686 |ol=11597864M}}</ref>

<ref name="vince">{{Cite book |title=Discovering Carts and Wagons |first=John |last=Vince |publisher=Shire Publications Ltd |edition=3rd |date=1989 |orig-date=1987 |isbn=0-85263-885-X |ol=17414160M}}</ref>

<ref name="walrond79">{{cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of Driving |first=Sallie |last=Walrond |year=1979 |publisher=Country Life Books |isbn=0600331822 |ol=4175648M}}</ref>

</references>

Category:Carts Category:Horse driving Category:Human-powered vehicles Category:Animal-powered vehicles