A high wheeler is a car which uses large diameter wheels that are similar to those used by

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...

s. These cars were produced until about 1915, predominantly in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Design

High wheelers were derived from horse-drawn

wagon A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by Working animal#Draft animals, draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are i ...

s, and often were conversions of these. Similarly to these wagons, they often had wood-spoke wheels, suspensions, and boxy wooden bodies. The large-diameter slender

wheel A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machin ...

s provided ample ground clearance on the primitive roads of the late 19th century, and frequently had solid rubber

tire A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...

s. These cars were produced in many body styles. The most common were the motorized wagon (utility vehicle) runabout, roadster and buggy, some with detachable

tonneau A tonneau ( or ) is an area of a car, truck, or boat open at the top. It can be for passengers or cargo. When applied to trucks it refers to their ''bed'' (American English) or ''tray'' (British English). Origin of term A tonneau was orig ...

s. File:International Torpedo - Coupe Florio 2015 01.jpg, International Harvester Auto-Buggy File:1911 International Wagon.JPG, 1911 International Harvester Auto Wagon File:Vintage International Harvester Auto Buggy (5043226321) (cropped).jpg, International Harvester Auto Wagon File:Sears Model L.JPG, Sears Model L Image:Patent, Duryea Road Vehicle, 1895.png, Patent drawing for the

Duryea Duryea may refer to: * Duryea (surname) * Duryea Motor Wagon Company, first American automobile company * Duryea, Pennsylvania, a borough in Luzerne County {{Disambiguation ...

Road Vehicle, 1895 File:George B Selden driving automobile in 1905.jpg, George B. Selden driving an automobile in 1905 File:Lenoir Hippomobile.jpg, Lenoir Hippomobile, 1863

History

Before gasoline engines became widely available, high wheelers were powered by

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

s or

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

s. The decline of the high wheeler began when standard automobiles became more sophisticated and inexpensive. The end came with the popularity of the

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. Th ...

. The last high wheelers were built around 1915.

Manufacturers

The following companies produced high-wheeler cars: * ABC * Anchor Buggy * Åtvidabergs Vagnfabrik * Best *

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

* Buckeye * *Clymer * Cole* * Columbia Electric* * De Schaum * DeWitt * *

Duryea Duryea may refer to: * Duryea (surname) * Duryea Motor Wagon Company, first American automobile company * Duryea, Pennsylvania, a borough in Luzerne County {{Disambiguation ...

* * Electrobat * Eureka * Fuller* * Hatfield * Haynes-Apperson* * Hobbie Accessible * Holsman *

Holyoke Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247. Loca ...

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated IH or International) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It wa ...

* *Jeannin * Jewell/Jewel* * Keystone * Kiblinger *

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

* *Lindsley * Luverne* * McIntyre* * * Reliable Dayton * Schacht* *

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

* Single Center *Sperry Electric * Staver * * Success * * Waverley Electric* Waverley Electric
/ref> * Woods* ** * Companies which also produced cars other than high wheelers

References

Sources

*Kimes, Beverly Rae and Clark Jr, Henry Austin. ''Standard Catalog of American Cars: 1805-1942'' (Third Edition). Iola, WI: Krause. 1996. {{ISBN, 0-87341-428-4 Car body styles Car classifications Highwheeler 1890s cars 1900s cars 1910s cars Veteran vehicles Brass Era vehicles