Sled.
A vehicle on runners, used for hauling loads.
It corresponds to the wagon as the sleigh does to the carriage among wheeled vehicles, the two latter being intended for passengers.
The sleds of the Esquimaux vary in their materials and shape.
According to
Captain Lyon, the best are made of the jawbones of the whale sawn to about two inches of thickness and from six inches to a foot in depth.
These are the runners, and are shod with a thin strip of the same material.
The sides are connected by pieces of bone, horn, or wood.
firmly lashed together.
In Boothia,
Captain Ross saw sleds in which the runners were made of salmon, packed into a cylinder, rolled up in skins, and frozen together.
In spring the skins are made into bags and the fish eaten.
Fig. 5165, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik, illustrates the mode
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adopted by the ancient
Assyrians for removing colossal figures from the quarry, where they were hewn, to the place which they were intended to occupy.
The figure was mounted on a sled and protected by a framework of spars or beams, crossing each other at right angles, and tightened by means of wedges.
To prevent the colossus from upsetting, ropes attached to the top of the framework were held by men at each side.
Wooden forks or props, held by men, were also applied to the second cross-pieces to steady it.
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Assyrians removing a human-headed bull (from a bas-relief at Koyunjik). |
Rollers were placed beneath the upwardly curved front of the sled as it advanced, and were collected by men at the rear.
It was drawn by four gangs of men by means of four large ropes attached to projecting pins, two at the front and two at the rear of the sled, and secured by a knot which could not slip.
To impart the first impulse to the mass and to start it again after stopping, a long lever, with wooden wedges beneath to form a fulcrum, was applied at the rear end of the sled, and was worked by ropes extending from near the extremity of its long arm to the ground and drawn upon by men.
A man standing on the front of the sled controlled the movements of the laborers engaged in pulling; others, supervised by foremen, carried the spare rollers and forks, and drew cars containing extra hauling ropes, while a superintendent at the rear directed the whole operation.
The sled was also employed by the Egyptians in transporting large masses of stone, as is illustrated in their sculptures.
In a grotto behind E'Dayr, a village between
Antinoe and El Bersheh, is the representation of a colossus on a sled drawn by 172 men in four rows of 43 each; a man standing on the pedestal at the front of the sledge pours a liquid, probably grease, from a vase, for the purpose of lubricating the planks or ways, though these are not shown, over which it slid.
A superintendent, standing on the knee of the statue, appears as if clapping his hands as a signal for a simultaneous pull; or is, perhaps, preparing to catch something which a person on the ground appears to be about to throw.
Men carrying vases containing grease, or perhaps water, and others with implements of some kind follow, while supervisors or taskmasters bring up the rear.
Relays of drawers walk behind the sledge.
The ropes are all attached to the front of the sled.
The number of men employed may have been much larger than that actually shown.
This sculpture is of the age of Osirtasen II., the contemporary of Joseph, between 1651 – 1636 B. C. See
Wilkinson's
Ancient Egyptians, First Series, Vol.
III. p. 328.
Country sleds are made in various ways.
The
Yankee sled has wide runners which elevate the benches sufficiently.
The
knee-sled has knee-pieces which rest on the runners and support the benches.
Bob-sleds are short.
Log-sleds are short and have a heavy hind bench to support the log.
Fig. 5166 is a view of a sled, showing the runners
A, knees
B, fenders
C, benches
F, roller, hounds, and tongue
E.
Fig. 5167 is a pair of bob-sleds (
bob, short). used instead of a single long sled of equal length, on account of the facility of turning and greater handiness in other respects.
Fig. 5168 is a reversible dumping-sled.
On arriving at the place to dump a load, the sled is upset and is ready for reloading.
The sled projects above and below the floor, and the runners are rounded at each end. It is drawn by a chain looped on to a hook, which is disengaged to bring the dumping-chain into action.
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Sled. |
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Bob-sleds. |
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Reversible dumping-sled. |
Sleds for children and youth are made in many forms.
Two may be cited.
Fig. 5169 has a pair of rudders behind the runners for guiders, the two being simultaneously acted on by cords connected to a tiller-lever.
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Fig. 5170 is a sled with a brake.
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Sled with rudders. |
