The History of Baby Strollers
The Baby Stroller is a widely used invention in today’s society with the amount of traveling and moving around involved with every day living. The stroller’s appearance through history and the changes made through the need of convenience, dates back to the 1700s.
In 1733 William Kent invented the early pram. Kent was more known for being a gardener architect at the time. The pram he created was shaped like a shell, had springs for comfort, wheels, and was meant to be pulled by a goat, large dog, or small pony. The problem with the pram back then, only the very rich could afford to buy these as an entertaining toy for their babies.
In 1840, thanks to Queen Victoria for buying 3 carriages from the Hitching Baby Store, carriages became very popular. Carriages were made by wood or wicker, and held together at the joints by brass. This must haves were so heavily designed, they became work of arts. The models were named after royalty and royal homes. Names such as Princess, Duchess, Balmoral, and Windsor were very popular.
In June 1889, William Richardson invented the first reversible stroller. The bassinet was built to face the parents. William had changed the structure of the carriage, and increased movability by adding axles to the wheels so each wheel will move separately. Wheel axles are still used on today’s modern strollers.
During WWI in 1920, the baby boom made the ever so need of baby strollers very popular. Every family except for the very poor could afford a stroller. From the popularity, safety became a must; which brought the need of brakes, having larger wheels, deeper prams, and lower, sturdier frames.
In 1965, an aeronautical engineer named Orwen Maclaren put his knowledge of aeroplanes to invent the first umbrella stroller with aluminum frame. These lightweight foldable strollers were invented because of Maclaren’s daughter complaint of how difficult it is to travel from England to America with her child.
Since 1980, there have been new features added to the strollers of today with new safety build, and more accessories. This shows that the need of Baby strollers will remain in high demand which will bring even more new features to increase convenience and safety for the baby and parents. What the future will bring will keep the development of the baby stroller history growing.
