"flying horses", "exercise", "quadrille" -- and "fandango" 1831

[Ronald Butters]

could there be any information in the patent records of the US government that could answer some of these questions?
On Aug 11, 2011, at 3:51 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> George,
>
> The "exercise" reference seems explained by the item below, the most
> forthcoming of the quotations I've seen.  I looked at Early American
> Newspapers (where I too found the 1796 citation) and 19th Century
> American Newspapers.
>
> 1831:  Daily National Intelligencer, (Washington, DC) Thursday,
> November 17, 1831; Issue 5860; col E   [19th C. Amer. Newspapers]
>
>     Flying Horses.
> This interesting exercise is found to be productive both of Health
> and Amusement.
>     The Proprietor, Mr. T. Clarke, respectfully informs the Ladies
> and Gentlemen of Washington and vicinity, that he intends giving an
> exhibition of the
>     Flying Horses,
>     At Carusi's Assembly Rooms, on Tuesday, Nov 8,
>     For the Exercise and Pleasure of Riding and Catching the Ring
> on the Point of a Sword, practised as an exercise between two or four
> persons. It is an interesting exercise, and at the same time
> conducive to health.
>     Physicians have recommended the Swing Car of Diana, Fandango,
> and many other inventions, for exercise and health; but to all of
> them there has been some particular objection made, which this
> invention obviates. the Proprietor invites the attention of the
> inhabitants of this vicinity to the trial of his Domesticated Horses,
> and every attention will be paid to their pleasure and convenience.
>
> ["Ring[s]" is similar to later carousels (e.g., the 1876 Coney
> Island/now at Martha's Vineyard "Flying Horses" carousel; see
> Wikipedia).  Thus I infer this exercise apparatus is not some kind of
> swing, unlike Dan's, but rather rotating.  "Four persons" presumably
> explains George's "quadrille" mention; additionally, the OED
> associates both "quadrille" and "carousel" with equestrian
> displays/exercises.  Genteel enough -- and easy enough on the dance
> flooring? -- to be conducted in an Assembly Room, and ridden by
> Ladies.  But was this apparatus propelled by the riders, or by a
> motor?  "Carousel" dates from 1673, with the quotation using the
> words "invencon" and "engines"; "merry-go-round" dates from 1729 and
> next 1807.  Were these propelled by motors, live horses or other
> draft animals (unlikely in an Assembly Room, surely), or the riders' feet?]
>
> ["Swing-car" probably refers to something like those on a
> Ferris-wheel.  The Friends' Intelligencer, Vol. 31, allegedly 1875
> [Google Books} has the following:
>
> Merry-go-rounds, and a gigantic wheel-apparatus, with a swing-car
> suspended from each spoke, are very popular.
>
> Note that the first "Ferris-wheel" was 1893 (Wikipedia).  Does the
> 1875 device antedate it?]
>
> "Fandango" 1831:  The OED doesn't appear to have any invention under
> "fandango", just the dance etc.
>
> There are a number of additional mentions of a "flying horse[s]"
> devices in EAN and 19th C. Amer. Newspapers, from the 1830s and on.
>
> Hazard's register of Philadelphia, 1835, appears to say that flying
> horses were illegal in Philadelphia at that time.  [Google Books]
>
> Joel
>
> At 8/11/2011 11:22 AM, George Thompson wrote:
>> My past, I think, is pretty much coeval with yours; but we don't go back to
>> the late 18th century.
>>
>> I do suppose that these flying horses were a merry-go-round, but I am
>> puzzled as to how they could have operated so as to be a source of exercise
>> for the riders.  A back-and-forth swing is exercise, either in kicking one's
>> feet against the ground at the nadir, or in throwing one's body back and
>> forth to move the center of gravity.  The riders on the railroad at Hoboken
>> in the 1830s sat in the car and moved it by turning a hand crank.  this must
>> have worked either by turning the wheels the car rolled on, (like pedalling
>> a bicycle), or by turning a cogwheel under the car that engaged something on
>> the track.
>>
>> In a modern fair, we might see wooden horses sitting on a circular disk
>> which is rotated by a motor at the center, or wooden horses hanging from a
>> ribwork that's spun by a motor.
>> In the second contraption, without a motor, the riders could get exercise
>> and move themselves and each other by kicking against the ground; if there
>> were riders on several horses they would balance the thing and could move it
>> a bit faster by coordinating their kicks than a single rider could, but
>> still they wouldn't get the effect of centrifugal force that a motorized
>> ride does.
>> The first could, I suppose, be moved by hand cranks like the ride at
>> Hoboken, but sitting on a wooden horse at the outside of a 25 or 30 foot
>> radius disk while pedalling to move the disk doesn't sound like much fun,
>> even for people who thought that going 8 miles an hour was going too fast.
>>
>> There's also the example of the Steeplechase ride at Steeplechase Park at
>> Coney Island, which I was actually on, when a little boy.  Long gone, now,
>> since the mid-50s.  In that ride, there were 5 or 6 horses each on a
>> separate track that ran around the outside of a large building.  Each horse
>> moved independently.  It was powered by gravity, but I suppose on a level
>> track the horses could have been moved by pedalling.   I rode the thing with
>> my father on the next horse, and quickly noticed that I could count on
>> beating him to the finish line if I took the horse nearest the building.
>> This shows that I had the mental acuity to have been a successful jockey,
>> and if only I hadn't grown to be 6'2" and weigh 200 lbs, I might have had a
>> very different career than I have had.
>>
>> GAT
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 10, 2011 at 11:50 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>> > At 8/10/2011 04:40 PM, George Thompson wrote:
>> >
>> >>      Presumably these were all some sort of Whirligig, or Roundabout, or
>> >> Merry-go-round, &c.; though perhaps some sort of a back-and-forth swing?
>> >>
>> >
>> > I definitely associate "flying horses" with carousels
>> > (merry-go-rounds), not swings.  The ones that go up and down as the
>> > merry go round. (That is, I must have heard or read it at some
>> > time.)  But perhaps this is too far in the past for you young
>> > whipper-snappers.
>> >
>> > Joel
>> >
>> > ------------------------------**------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> George A. Thompson
>> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ.
>> Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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