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Acabriolet (alternativelycabriole[1]: 32 ) is a lighthorse-drawn vehicle, with two wheels and a singlehorse. Thecarriage has a folding hood that can cover its two occupants, one of whom is the driver. It has a large rigid apron, upward-curving shafts, and usually a rear platform between the C springs for agroom. The design was developed inFrance in the eighteenth century and quickly replaced the heavierhackney carriage as thevehicle for hire of choice inParis andLondon.[2]
The wordcabriolet is derived from the French version of the Italiancapriolo meaning ayoung goat, due to the swaying motion of the vehicle at speed suggestive of the skipping and capering of a kid.[1]: 32
Thecab oftaxi-cab or "hansom cab" is a shortening ofcabriolet.[3][1]: 29
One who drives a horse-drawn cab for hire is acabdriver.[4]
Imported from France to England in the 1790s, the cabriolet was originally a two-seater driven by its owner, with a platform on the rear for a groom to stand on. The vehicle soon came of interest to the hire-trade. Londoners had wanted a faster alternative to the slow 4-wheeled hackney carriages, but the hackney proprietors had an exclusive license to carry passengers in the center of London. In 1805, the first 9 cabriolets were granted license to ply for hire but only outside of the main center of London and limited to two persons only—limiting the arrangement to a single passenger, with the driver uncomfortably sitting beside his fare. In 1823, 12 cabriolets were licensed and put into service with an awkward seat built off to one side for the driver—increasing the number ofpaying passengers to two.[2][5]: 9 [1]: 90
Accidents were common because the drivers showed off their new-found speed and would occasionally collide with streetposts or other vehicles causing the passengers to be pitched forward into the road. There were several attempts to ban the cabriolet as a safety hazard to other users of the roads. The next two-wheel cab to come into popularity was theHansom cab which had a lower center of gravity, thus a better safety record, and the driver was positionedbehind the passengers. Hansoms gradually took over the hire-trade from the cabriolets.[2][5]: 9