Mailbag: A Sulky

Sandra writes:

I acquired this pushchair but have no idea of the manufacturer or date it is  as it has no identifying marks at all. I have looked on the internet but have not found anything that looks like it. Thought you may have some idea it is very unusual having only two wheels and canvas seat with leather straps.

Here’s the vehicle in question:

This is a sulky — a small, light cart meant to transport a child.  Sulkies have been around, in some form or another, since the early 1900s.  This one, the simplest style possible, is probably from the 40s, but that’s only an educated guess, not an actual fact.  Although it is possible to push it, it was probably meant to be pulled backwards, once the stand was folded up.

This one is a very trimmed-down version, rather striking in its minimalism, with a beautiful curve below the seat.

Sulkies were one of a number of variations on the theme of “light folder” in the 1940s and 1950s.  Here’s an ad from 1950:

The text reads:

Give baby a smooth ride in this sophisticated sulky.  The adjustable top protects against wind and sun.  Folds easily to take baby in your car.

Along with the full seat and hood, this sulky has two tiny rear wheels, allowing it to be pulled at quite an angle, but preventing disaster if the angle gets too acute.  Sulkies typically didn’t have brakes; preventing that kind of disaster was strictly the obligation of whoever held the handle.  The ad also notes that folders with brakes begin at more than twice this price.

Ours, at The Pram Museum, is very similar to the sulky in this ad.  The seat and hood are a light weight denim — yes, just like modern (non-stretch) denim.  Most cloth strollers and prams were well-coated to make them waterproof, but this is plain cotton, as the ad notes, providing protection only against “wind and sun”.  This wouldn’t be a rainy day vehicle.

Note the black, swooping, fenders.  They are pressed metal, and thus rather cheaply made, but a touch of fashionable styling.

If Sandra’s is the trimmest and the sleekest of the mid-century sulkies, ours is the most bloated:  It really is smaller and more portable than most of the folding strollers of the era, but that advantage might have been erased by the necessity of pulling, rather than pushing, it.