Page:Omnibuses and Cabs.djvu/242

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Omnibuses and Cabs

for 1771 contains the following paragraph: — "Oct. 30. One of Mr. Moore's carts to carry the mail, upon a new construction. was drawn to the General Post Office. The wheels are eight feet eight inches high, and the body is hung on the same manner as his coal carts, covered with wood, and painted green; the driver is to sit on the top."

Moore patented a two-wheel carriage in June, 1786, and another in 1790. The specifications of the latter show that it was hung on two large wheels. The door, however, was at the back, and the driver had a separate seat at the front, but not on the top of the vehicle. It is very probable that Hansom saw Francis Moore's carriages, and that the cab, which has made his name a household word, was an improvement upon the conveyance depicted in Pennant.

Hansom's original cabs, when not plying for hire, stood on premises which now form a part of the Baker Street Bazaar.

In 1836, hackney-coaches, "outrigger" cabriolets, and back-door cabs were still plying for hire, but the immediate and continued success of Chapman's cab prompted the proprietors of those