{{Distinguish, Brake{{!Brake, label 1= Evans's brake NLW3362829

A brake (French: ''break'') was a horse-drawn carriage used in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the training of horses for draft work, or an early automobile of similar body design. A

shooting-brake Shooting brake (sometimes mis-identified as "shooting break") is a car body style which originated in the 1890s as a horse-drawn wagon used to transport shooting parties with their equipment and game. The first automotive shooting brakes wer ...

was a brake pressed into service to carry beaters,

gamekeeper A gamekeeper (often abbreviated to keeper), or in case of those dealing with deer (deer-)stalker, is a person who manages an area of countryside (e.g. areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland) to make sure there is enough game for shoo ...

s and sportsmen with their dogs, guns and game. There were purpose-built

s designed to carry the driver and a footman or gamekeeper at the front facing forward, and passengers on longitudinal benches, with their dogs, guns and game borne along the sides in slatted racks. In the 19th century, a brake was a large, four-wheeled carriage-frame with no body, used for breaking in young horses, either singly or in teams of two or four. It has no body parts except for a high seat upon which the driver sits and a small platform for a helper immediately behind. If the passenger seats were made permanent the vehicle might be described as a waggonette. When automobiles were first developed, the term "brake" was also applied to those with bodies similar to a horse-drawn brake. Currently the word is sometimes used for an

estate car A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

(see also

) or

station wagon A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

. In France, the term ''break'' is synonymous with a ''station wagon'', having been called a ''break de chasse'', literally translated: ''hunting break.''

External links

Austin Carriage Museum
Weirsdale, Florida. Formerly Florida Carriage Museum & Resort. Photos and text: click on ''The Carriage Museum'', then on ''Classification of Carriages'', then ''Breaks''.
CAAOnline: Carriage Tour
and

Carriage Association of America. Illustrations and text.
The Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages

Stony Brook, New York Stony Brook is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island. Begun in the colonial era as an agricultural enclave, the hamlet experienced gr ...

: Collection Database. Search ''break''; illustrations and text Carriages

See also

External links