Stroller

Strollers are a baby transport (or child carrier, stroller, pram or baby carrier) for transporting and carrying infants. They are a common site, but what is the story behind them. How did we get to the high-tech strollers that we gotten so used to these days?

A “stroller” (North American English) or “push chair” (British English, also sometimes “buggy”) has the child (generally up to three years old) in a sitting position, usually facing forwards, instead of facing the pusher.

History

Push chairs and prams

William Kent developed an early pram in 1733. He was a garden architect in England who had become well known for his work. In 1733, the Duke of Devonshire asked Kent to build a means of transportation that would carry his children. Kent obliged by constructing a shell shaped basket on wheels that the children could sit in. This was richly decorated and meant to be pulled by a goat or small pony. By 1840, the baby carriage became extremely popular. Queen Victoria bought three carriages from Hitchings Baby Store.

The pram of those days were built of wood or wicker and held together by expensive brass joints. These sometimes became heavily ornamented works of art. Models were also named after royalty, Princess and Duchess being popular names, as well as Balmoral and Windsor.
Pram in Assam, India about 1902

In June 1889, William Richardson patented his idea of the first reversible stroller. The bassinet was designed so it could face out or in towards the parent. He also made structural changes to the carriage. Until then the axis did not allow each wheel to move separately, Richardson’s design allowed this, which increased maneuverability of the carriages.

As the 1920s began, modern baby carriages were now available to all families. They were also becoming safer, as new features like larger wheels, brakes, deeper prams, and lower, sturdier frames began to appear.

In 1965, Owen Maclaren, an aeronautical engineer, worked on complaints his daughter made about traveling from England to America with her heavy pram. Using his knowledge of aeroplanes, Maclaren designed a stroller with an aluminum frame and created the first true umbrella stroller. He then went on to found Maclaren which manufactured and sold his new design. The design took off and soon “strollers” were easier to transport and used everywhere.

Since the 1980s, the stroller industry has developed with new features, safer construction and more accessories.

Slings and baby carriers

Although the carrying of children on the body using devices is a relatively recent phenomenon in the West, the practice has been established in many cultures for centuries. Images of children being carried in slings can be seen in Egyptian artwork dating back to the time of lauren Pharaohs, and have been used in many indigenous cultures. Devices for carrying children, not on the body, take the form of “carrycots”, although many cultures have produced portable cradles, cradleboards, baskets, travois and other devices for making young infants easier to pick up and set down quickly. The modern car seat infant carrier is a relative latecomer.

On-the-body baby carrying in the west started being known in the 60’s with the advent of the structured soft pack in the mid 1960’s. Around the same time, the frame backpack quickly became a popular way to carry older babies and toddlers. In the early 70’s, in Germany, the wrap was reintroduced. In 1986, the ring sling was invented and popularized. In the early 1990s, the modern pouch carrier was created in Hawaii. While the Chinese mei tai has been around in one form or another for centuries, it did not become popular in the west until it was modernized with padding and other adjustments. It first became popular and well known in mid-2003.

Pushable Vehicles

Carriages and prams

A “baby carriage” (in North American English), “perambulator” or “pram” (in British English) or “carrycot” is generally used for newborn babies and have the infant lying down facing the pusher.

Prams have been widely used in the UK since the Victorian era. As they developed through the years suspension was added, making the ride smoother for both the baby and the person pushing it. In the 1970s, however, the trend was more towards a more basic version, not fully sprung, and with a detachable body known as a “carrycot”. Now prams are very rarely used, being large and expensive when compared with “buggies” (see below). One of the longer lived and better known brands in the UK is Silver Cross, first manufactured in Hunslet, Leeds, in 1877, and later Guiseley from 1936 until 2002 when the factory closed. Silver Cross was then bought by the toy company David Halsall and Sons who relocated the Head Office to Skipton and expanded into a range of new, modern baby products including pushchairs and travel systems. They continue to sell the traditional Silver Cross coach prams which are manufactured at a factory in Bingley in Yorkshire.

Strollers and pushchairs

A “stroller” (North American English) or “buggy” (British English, “push chair” being previously used as well but less currently) has the child (generally up to three years old) in a sitting position, usually facing forwards, instead of facing the pusher.

Strollers for multiple infants include the twin (side-by-side) and the tandem configurations.

“Pushchair” was the popularly used term in the UK between its invention and the early 1980s, when a more compact design known as a “buggy” became the trend, popularised by the conveniently collapsible aluminium framed Maclaren buggy designed and patented by the British aeronautical designer Owen Maclaren in 1965. “Pushchair” is the usual term in the UK, but is becoming increasingly replaced by buggy; in American English, buggy is synonymous with baby carriage. Newer versions can be configured to carry a baby lying down like a low pram and then be reconfigured to carry the child in the forward-facing position.

There are a variety of twin pushchairs now manufactured, some designed for babies of a similar age (such as twins) and some for those with a small age gap.

Triple pushchairs are a fairly recent addition, due to the number of multiple births being on the increase. Safety guidelines for standard pushchairs apply. Most triple buggies have a weight limit of 50 kg and recommended use for children up to the age of 4 years.
Inglesina 3-in-1 pram

Richardson’s Patent Changes Everything

On June 18, 1889, an African-American man named William Henry Richardson walked into a Baltimore patent office with an idea that forever changed the baby carriage. His idea was for a baby carriage that used a special joint to allow a bassinet to be turned to face the operator or face away as in conventional prams of the day. In essence, he created the first reversible baby carriage. Several changes he made also went into the axles, which allowed for greater turning ability. Up until that time, baby carriages had solid axels that did not allow for independent wheel movement. The front wheels turned together, and the back wheels turned together. Richardson’s carriage allowed for the wheels to turn individually—which meant that the vehicle could turn 360 degrees in a much smaller turning radius. Many of Richardson’s design modifications are still in use today.