Hansom Cab

The hansom cab is a two-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage for hire, patented in England in 1834 by the architect Joseph Hansom, designed with a low center of gravity and the driver's seat mounted high at the rear behind the passenger compartment so the vehicle could turn corners at speed with less risk of tipping than earlier hired carriages. Built to carry two passengers in an enclosed cabin with the driver communicating through a small hatch or trapdoor in the roof, the hansom cab became the dominant form of horse-drawn taxi in London and other major cities during the second half of the nineteenth century, prized for its speed and maneuverability through crowded urban streets. It was gradually displaced in the early twentieth century by the motorized taxicab.