The Mechanical Carousel

Back in the 1100's, as Spanish crusaders journeyed across the land we now know as Turkey, they observed the locals playing a game on horseback that resembled a "little war".  They brought this game back to Spain, calling it a carosella. From Spain the game spread throughout Europe, evolving as it went from medieval jousting to its less-combative descendant, tilting at rings. 

In France, the game became the object of tournaments among royals and nobility, full of pageantry and fan-fare with horses draped in luxurious fabrics and adorned in bejeweled harnesses.  The object was to ride your horse or chariot at full tilt with lance in hand and spear an opponent or, in later years, a small ring tied with brightly colored ribbons from a tree limb or pole.  Riders who did well were greatly celebrated and bestowed with riches and glory.  So, noble families went to great lengths to have their sons trained in the game.  

Eventually, an enterprising Frenchman devised an efficient way to aid young noblemen in the art of le carrousel as it had come to be known in France.  He suspended carved horses and chariots from chains hung from spokes that radiated from atop a central, rotating pole.  The young trainees sat astride the carved beasts and tilted at rings with each revolution of the machine, thus improving their game without tiring or harming a real horse.

This was the beginning of the modern mechanical carousel.  You can still find a few simple carousels of this type in France today, mostly in the children’s areas of public parks.

By the late 1700s, it was all the rage among wealthy French families to have a carousel of their own.  The devices were no longer used as a training tool for jousting but existed purely to entertain.  The carved horses and chariots became more and more elaborate. Other animals as well as fantastical creatures were added to the rotating menagerie. 

However, these early carousels had to be lightweight so that they could be moved by man, mule, or horsepower.  It wasn’t until the invention of the steam engine that carousels came to be what we know them as today with galloping horses that spin at speeds unheard of in the 18^th century. 

Photocredit: Sarah B. Towle © 2010.