One of the first recorded prams was created by a man named William Kent, right back in 1733. It was designed for the Duke of Devonshire and his design became popular with very rich families in countries across Europe. Kent himself is actually remembered more for his garden architecture than his pram though. This early style was like a miniature horse drawn carriage as opposed to the hand pushed versions we are familiar with today, the intention being for a dog or goat to do the leg work of pulling it along.
The pram developed during the 19th century with the most important design change being the addition of handles at the back, enabling parents to push the pram themselves - this took the pram from being something of an amusement for the child to a much more practical device that could be use by parents and their servants. Early prams were constructed from wicker and the child would sit upright, but from the middle of the 19th century designs changed to allow baby to lie flat. In the 1860s and 70s owning a pram was fashionable for the wealthier families in European and North American society, and from the 1920s onward there use by all classes became common.
In the 1930s prams were made significantly safer with a reduction in wheel size, a deepening of the body and lowering of height. This made the carriages more stable and helped to prevent accidents - making it harder for baby to climb out and a shorter fall to the ground if this were to happen. The addition of footbrakes also became standard practice around this time. Designs were by now also changing from the old wicker style to plastic, rubber and chrome constructions.
The push chair, later to be contracted to create the word pushchair, was born in the early 20th century. Also known as a stroller, this newfangled contraption first appeared back in the 1920s but didn't become common until the middle of the century. A true breakthrough came in 1965 when a man named Owen Maclaren invented what is commonly called the umbrella stroller.
This ingenious design was the first real buggy style pushchair. It used a lightweight aluminum frame that collapsed down to a very compact size, making storage and transportation when not in use far easier. Pushchairs quickly overtook prams as the most popular form of baby transportation and have consistently maintained this position up to the present day.
Nowadays pushchairs are as popular as they ever were, and there are a wide variety of styles to choose from. There are three wheelers and four wheelers, some of which come with a car seat and are known as travel systems. Others are two in ones that can be converted in to prams so that baby can lie flat. Still others are known as three in ones and also allow you to detach the cot so that it can be carried separately. You can also buy buggies specially designed for off pavement use such as walks in the countryside. Not to mention the recent trend for jogging strollers that allow you to run with baby in tow.
If you have more than one child there are models called double buggies or tandem buggies that allow you to transport both children at the same time. There are even triple pushchairs if you have one more little cherub to contend with!
The humble pram has certainly come a long way since William Kent's early goat drawn design, and is pretty much a must have for all parents in this day and age.
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