Carriage
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Carriage. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a wheeled vehicle designed to carry people on ordinary streets and roads. Two-wheeled carts or chariots were known to the Assyrian and Egyptian. It may be remembered that David brought home the Ark in a new cart, and that "the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and He smote him" for putting his unhallowed hand on the Ark when the oxen drawing the cart stumbled over rough ground. For want of roads in former times, four-wheeled carriages were comparatively rare. It is believed that beyond the rudest sort of peasants' carts, there were not a dozen carriages or coaches in all Europe when America was discovered. The bodies of the earlier carriages, were hung on straps by way of springs. The carriage spring passed through several stages. The first attempt to relieve the jar of riding was the suspension of the box by leathern straps from stiff iron arms or jacks rising in front and behind from the axles. Then it occurred to some one to give the upper ends of the jacks a little spring. The next step was to coil the upper ends of the jacks into springs having the shape of the letter C. Elliptical steel springs have been in use about a century. The very names of the various kinds of carriages are bewildering. Gig, sulky, and go-cart; chaise, calash, cariole, coupe, hansom, and jaunting car ; coach, brougham, barouche, rock away, landau, and Victoria; buggy, phaeton, and surrey; cab, hackney, fiacre, and drosky; drag, carryall, and tally-ho; wagonette, barge, stage, and omnibus; dray, express wagon, and van; cart, truck, and farm wagon,--there is no end to the classes, styles, and variations. It is impossible to say what further changes may be introduced by the automobile. Some idea of the extent to which the manufacture of vehicles is carried in the United States may be gained from the census statistics: Number of factories 7,632 Capital invested $118,187,838 Wage earners 62,540 Annual wages $29,814,911 Cost of material $56,676,073 Wholesale value of products $121,537,276 See Wagon ; Car ; Automobile
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
An iron vehicle to run on tracks, which ought to be laid convenient to one or more of the foundry cranes, and from thence inside the oven or stove. In planning carriages for this purpose strict attention should be given to local requirements, not to any particular one that may have been seen or heard of elsewhere. For example: Would it be best to make a perfectly flat table? and, if so, how high, and how large in area? Or, should it be provided with fixed or adjustable racks? If so, how high and in which direction, to be most convenient for passing the cores? Again, would it be of service to attach taper-sockets for loam-work spindles, with the view of building on the carriage direct? Finally, is it possible to so combine these or other qualities as to make it the best and most convenient carriage possible for either special or general purposes? See OVEN; SPINDLE.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a general name for any vehicle intended for the conveyance of passengers either on roads or railways. Carriages are structures mounted on two or more wheels, and in form, build, and accommodation they are exceedingly diverse. Carriages of one kind or other have existed from immemorial antiquity.