Perambulators, strollers, and sundry curious conveyances
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Mutsy 4Rider Light in “college ocean”:
Must be a 2009, since it appears that “college ocean” isn’t a color choice (in the USA, at least) in 2010. Too bad; it’s striking. I’d confirm this guess, but Mutsy’s site is purgatorial. Pushed by a dad, who seemed to be enjoying the walk very much.
A static picture just doesn’t capture it, but you can’t miss the beauty and grace of this buggy. Aesthetically speaking, among contemporary prams, it’s the crème de la crème.
Little Olive demonstrates:
The tiny hands say it all. Repeat after us: Your pushchair is not a baggage cart. At least, not if it’s carrying a child as well.
Olive appears to have been only mildly rumpled, and her father, the infamous Sacha Baron Cohen, and mother, actress Ilsa Fisher, responded quickly and attentively. For those who keep track, all three were reported to have been in Paris for the marriage of the Olive’s parents following their six-year engagement. (There’s a baggage tag on the Maclaren; home is England.)
Source: Mail Online (photo, and incident, reported on March 23, 2010. We’re slow on the celebrity uptake around here.)
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Orbit, car seat version:
Actually, there were two Orbits spottings on this particular day – they were traveling independently, though, and I only managed to get this one.
OK, two Orbits. Big deal! But here’s the kicker: Both Orbits were spotted entering J C Penney. Those are $1,000-plus strollers. What does THAT say about the economy, pundits?
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.
Wilmington, Delaware. Rock Star Baby, car seat configuration:
Is it the baby who’s the “rock star”? Why, no — it’s the stroller’s designers, Bon Jovi and Tico Torres. I kid you not. (Warning, the website’s incomprehensible, and impossible to navigate. Form over function. Dumb. But stylish.)
I hated the umbrella stroller when it first came out. I know . . . Owen Maclaren saved the world (or at least the world’s parents) when he invented this trim little model:
It really was a great solution for quick trips, or, as originally intended, for throwing into the overhead bin on an airplane. However, neither this version, nor the millions of super-cheap, super-flimsy ones that followed in its wake provided anything other than a cramped, bone-jarring ride.
Maclaren eventually developed more baby-friendly models, and other manufacturers jumped on the band wagon. I got used to the idea, and even used an Italian version — this Perego Bye-Bye — for The Pram Museum Heir’s portable buggy:
Maclaren’s neatly engineered buggy was the final blow for old-style mass-marketed prams and strollers, though, and I’ve never really forgiven him. Nonetheless, thousands (millions?) of New Yorkers will tell you that there’s nothing better for the subways of their fair city than the descendants of that first little mesh pushchair.
The one above is from 1966, and in MOMA’s permanent collection. Yes, we’re jealous. We don’t have one at The Pram Museum, and we want one!
West Chester, Pennsylvania. Bugaboo Cameleon:
Bright and cheery. One doesn’t often see the pram version outside of NYC; it’s used for too few months per child, and the concentration of Bugaboos falls hugely once you’ve left the Upper East Side.
. . . or a thousand dollars, anyway. Why you might pay a huge amount of money for an eccentric modern stroller:
No, it’s not the trophy moms. It’s that high, conversational observation seat for the toddler, and the ability to hoist the infant above the worst of the automotive exhaust. Not to mention how nicely it keeps umbrella spokes and briefcase edges out of baby eyes, while at the same time offering the occupant a view of more than an endless sea of adult knees.
You rock, Xplory — too bad you don’t do it for, say, a mere 500 bucks, instead of a thousand big ones.
San Francisco, SFO. A German Gesslein, probably a Future :
Ask me how impressed I was to see that a charming young German couple flew to San Francisco with their super-tank of a pram/pushchair. No compromises here! At the end of their vacation, they were still thrilled to have had it, and why not? With a carriage this size, it’s possible to sightsee all day long without compromising a baby’s comfort one little bit. Take that, you wimpy North Americans with your plastic carseats-cum-baby-haulers!
The Siebert Steering Baby Carriage has been previously discussed here and here. This ad, from September, 1945, covers all the salient features of this unusual buggy in detail:
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