The sketch doesn’t look exactly like the real thing, but that’s not  surprising; ads of the time often bore only a passing resemblance to the actual product as shown in other ads, or to the one owned by the visitor who first wrote to us:

What is surprising is that the smaller drawings detail the mechanics very well.  The text extols the superior maneuverability the casters offer (it’s point no. 1 in the ad):

Swivel action wheels providing easy and tireless handling motion for going around curves and corners in the house or on the porch, or carriage will turn around in its own radius if necessary.  Such easy steering is very helpful outdoors in turning corners, backing up, reversing direction, etc.

As the copywriter points out, this was

THE ONLY BABY CARRIAGE THAT REALLY STEERS

But that wasn’t its only important feature; Siebert also touts (point no. 4) the

Not-tip safety bar — this device ensures complete safety and prevents child from tipping over in carriage if left by himself or carriage is used as a bassinet.

At $37.95, this was not a cheap carriage.  Prices for standard soft-bodied pram-type buggies tended to hover around $30.00; $50.00 was high (although true luxury prams would be higher).

Sadly, those fantastic casters weren’t even mentioned in a 1951 advertisement illustrated by a picture of the Siebert Steering Carriage, and by 1952, the steering carriage profile seems to have disappeared, supplanted by that of more conventional buggies like the “famous Siebert Slumberland” carriage:

Standard wheels.  Sic transit gloria.

Related – Mailbag: New Tech, 1945-Style and  Siebert Steering Carriage: The Patent

In March of 1946, Donald W. Siebert applied for a patent, on behalf of the O. W. Siebert Company,  for a “running gear for baby carriages and the like” — a brand-new use for the over-sized casters that were common on wheelchairs.  Here’s a schematic from that filing:

Pretty cool, isn’t it?  The innovation was essentially the simple addition of large, ordinary, casters, but it was a revolutionary idea on a buggy.  There’s an interesting grille on the front (in the US, we might be tempted to call it a “cow catcher“) that guards the casters.  Here a complete sketch from the patent filing, showing the grille in detail :

And here’s a close-up on the carriage:

The metal work is substantial, and nothing like what you’d see today:

Those hard rubber tires are typical of US strollers and prams of the era; if they look like tricycle tires, there’s a good reason.  Like many other similar companies, Siebert also made tricycles, as well as other wheeled toys.

The patent, number 2,433,069, was granted on December 23, 1947 to Donald W. Siebert, the son of the company’s founder, and its president at the time of the grant.

This new and refreshing take on pram tech didn’t catch on.  Donald Siebert’s radical re-engineering was too distant from the elegant look of the British prams nearly every US mother dreamed of — and too far ahead of its time.  More’s the pity!

Related — Mailbag: New Tech, 1945-Style and Siebert Steering Carriage: Another Advert

]]> http://www.pramwatch.com/2010/03/siebert-steering-carriage-the-patent/feed/ 2 http://www.pramwatch.com/2010/03/mailbag-new-tech-1945-style/ http://www.pramwatch.com/2010/03/mailbag-new-tech-1945-style/#comments Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:02:20 +0000 Curator http://www.pramwatch.com/?p=2036 A visitor writes:

I’ve  got a 50’s (?) pram from US and my question is if you know anything about it?  .  .  .  Do you know if it came originally with those front wheels or is it custom-made?

Why, yes, I do!  Here’s the pram in question:

You can see why our visitor wonders about the wheels.  And the answer is, yes, those front wheels are original.  Your pram is a “Siebert Steering Baby Carriage”:

The hottest value on the market — this is the fastest selling carriage in the country; beautifully styled in luxuriously heavy coated cloth with chrome metal gear including bumper. See it and You’ll buy it.

That’s what the ad guys said, anyway.  The claim of hot sales is undoubtedly over-blown; after the war, as before, mothers were acquiring prams as a matter of style as as much as practicality, and, in those heady days of conformist consumerism, most weren’t eager to push a buggy the neighbors might find peculiar.

Although I have loved this carriage from the moment I first saw it in an ad, this is not a model that captured either the hearts of mothers, nor of rival manufacturers, who, notably, did not rush to copy it.

Those wheels were definitely odd for the time.  They are this buggy’s claim to fame:  In every other respect, it’s very much like standard USA coaches from this era. It wasn’t until the advent of the Dutch Bugaboo in 1999 that kooky, over-sized swivel wheels became chic.  Bugaboo made over-sized casters iconic; although the chassis is very different, you can see how modern the 1945 wheel alignment looks, immortalized here on a 2007 Netherlands stamp:

Bugaboo showed its own genius when they named their creation the “Frog”, which made a quirky virtue out of a silhouette that had no established market.

Otto W. Siebert founded the  O. W. Siebert company, a manufacturer of baby carriages and velocipedes, in 1921 after an early association with H.N. Thayer in Erie, Pennsylvania, which also manufactured baby strollers and carriages.

Donald W. Siebert, the inventor of the steering baby carriage, was Otto’s son, and president of the company after his father’s retirement in 1946.  O.W. Siebert was located in Gardner, Massachusetts, a heavy  manufacturing area in the northeastern USA, from the late 1800s through the middle of the 20th century; this carriage was made there.

There’s more to learn about this Siebert; additional posts forthcoming.

Stamp image from Bugaboo

Related:  Siebert Steering Carriage: The Patent and Siebert Steering Carriage:  Another Advert

On the other hand, if you’re the owner of this baby, you have my blessing.  In spades:

Sweet, non?  And they say Detroit’s dead.

Source:  Queensland Region Cadillac LaSalle Club

As tipster Eph (thanks, Eph!) says

I don’t know why they bothered with the other colors at all

but there are other options.  A free-standing garage to house this baby will likely set you back only  marginally less than the stroller itself, but it’s a small price to pay for the glory that is those fenders.

From the Life Magazine archives (1943):

Mother pushing baby in carriage made with wooden wheels, springs, brakes and handle due to metal shortages during the war.

The “springs” on this buggy aren’t what we usually think of as springs, of course. The entire suspension is made of wood; you can see it best just above the wheel at the right front, where the side cross bars connect with the lower chassis. The curved rod that is sticking out toward the ground is the brake, also made of wood.

Source: Life magazine archives

That’s right — it’s a scooter-and-stroller all in one. A few quick kicks, a few pedestrians tossed aside, and you’re at your destination in no time.

That picture’s from The Daily Mail. It’s from the Roller Buggy press kit. Note that Roller Buggy prudently failed to put an actual child into the scooter for this demo shot.

If there were any reason at all for this device to exist, it would actually be pretty cool. Apparently the transformation from stroller to scooter involves simply pulling the platform out from under the stroller and flipping the seat. Remove the seat completely, and you’ve got the scooter alone. Of course, even folded flat, the thing looks huge, but there you have it:

It’s allegedly for kids from age 1 1/2 and up, but the Daily Mail article shows a car seat attached, so if you wanted to scramble your infant, it’s theoretically possible.

Wired’s Gadget Lab wrote about this buggy in 2007, but I’m guessing it’s dead in the water since I can’t find any place to buy one now. Our loss, but probably a plus for infant and pedestrian longevity.

Roller Buggy triptych from Wired’s blog; the Roller Buggy/PIXSTUDIOwebsite’s here, but it’s so awful I couldn’t bring myself to plow through it.