Baby transport
These methods include baby carriages (prams in British English), infant car seats, portable bassinets (carrycots), strollers (pushchairs), slings, backpacks, baskets and bicycle carriers.
The large, heavy prams (short for perambulator), which had become popular during the Victorian era, were replaced by lighter designs during the latter half of the 1900s.
Slings, soft front carriers, and "baby carriages" are typically used for infants who lack the ability to sit or to hold their head up.
Images of children being carried in slings can be seen in Egyptian artwork dating back to the time of the Pharaohs,[2] and have been used in many indigenous cultures.
One of the earliest European artworks showing baby wearing is a fresco by Giotto painted in around 1306 AD, which depicts Mary carrying Jesus in a sling.
[3] Baby wearing in a sling was well known in Europe in medieval times, but was mainly seen as a practice of marginalised groups such as beggars and Romani people.
Cradleboards were either cut from flat pieces of wood or woven from flexible twigs like willow and hazel, and cushioned with soft, absorbent materials.
On-the-body baby carrying started being known in western countries in the 1960s, with the advent of the structured soft pack in the mid-1960s.
The two ringed sling was invented by Rayner and Fonda Garner in 1981 and popularized by Dr William Sears starting in around 1985.
Portable cradles, including cradleboards, baskets, and bassinets, have been used by many cultures to carry young infants.
His son, Jesse Armour Crandall was issued a number of patents for improvements and additions to the standard models.
In June 1889, an African American man named William H. Richardson patented his idea of the first reversible stroller.
In 1965, Owen Maclaren, an aeronautical engineer, worked on complaints his daughter made about travelling from England to America with her heavy pram.
One of the longer lived and better known brands in the UK is Silver Cross, first manufactured in Hunslet, Leeds, in 1877, and later Guiseley from 1936 until 2002 when the factory closed.
Silver Cross was then bought by the toy company David Halsall and Sons who relocated the head office to Skipton and expanded into a range of new, modern baby products including pushchairs and "travel systems".
They continue to sell the traditional Silver Cross coach prams which are manufactured at a factory in Bingley in Yorkshire.
[10][11] "Strollers" or "pushchairs/buggies" (British English) are used for small children up to about three years old in a sitting position facing forward.
The first stroller of this kind was the so-called "Roller Buggy", developed by industrial designer Valentin Vodev in 2005.
