horse drawn bobsled question

[INCase]

in the family barn we found another bobsled. there was a bob sled frame and a set of "skis" that were sold at the auction in 2021 with a wagon box. the bidder never took the frame so i drug it back into the barn. i'm guessing its in the order of 100-130 years old.

in the process of chasing water leaks in the roof i found another full bobsled buried in the straw.

I have looked up some pictures to learn a bit more about it but haven't come across anything quite the same. namely where the skis mount to the "axle" beam there are pivots. Seems "fancier" or more modern that most i've come across. Also has a steel plate that the front axle pivots on the frame.

have a full set up with 4 team hitch and a 2nd set minus the rear axle.

attached is a couple pictures.

anyone know anything about these? style? make? model?

 

[JimB2]

Probably made by the local blacksmith in the area. My Dad’s cousin was a blacksmith and he used to make them and also put new steel runners on the sleds. The set that we had and used to haul logs out to the road side when I was young, had a plank running from the front of the sleigh runner up under the front bunk connecting to the rear of the runner. The two sleds were connected by a short wooden pole. My great uncle had a set exactly like yours, the rear sled was connected to the front sled by crossed chains. If you were hauling something like telephone or electric poles you could lengthen the chains to led the rear sled run closer to the end of the poles. My Grandfather had many stories of hauling logs out of the woods and dropping them on the ice on a river or lake ready for the spring log drive when the ice melted. In my youth I have hauled hundreds of loads of logs out of the woods with JD 420U, IH 300U and B414D. I will look in some old farm photos for sled log haulin.

 

[INCase]

thanks.

the last picture is the whole thing mostly put together (hitch isn't attached).

 

[abuelo]

The chains crossed between the front and back runners allowed the back runners to follow in the same track as the front. Worked great in the bush going around trees.

 

[DanielW]

Looks like a logging sleigh gear. Abyeli is correct: chains between front and back runners cross to make it more of an articulated steering system - you'd be surprised how tight they can turn in the bush. Lots of fun times riding on one with my grandfather driving the team up front.

 

[J Wendt]

I have two bobsleds both of them different. Bobsleds were made locally like Jim said. There were no set plans and everybody had a different idea or use.

 

[Russ from MN]

This isn't a very good picture of the bobsled, but it's my dad hauling cedar telephone poles in about 1926. Apparently the phone company wasn't very fussy about how straight they were. My dad and my grandpa hauled a lot of pulpwood across the Rainy river into Canada and loaded it into railroad cars in 1928, then grandpa passed away in 1929. By 1940 my dad owned 2 trucks and had 3 guys working for him, as all wood was loaded by hand.

 

[JimB2]

That is the same type of bobsleds that my Grandfather and Dad and I used to haul logs with.
You can see the additional plank running from front of sled runner back under the bunks.
Always had to park the bobsleds on top of some sticks or brush or the runners would freeze to the track and it would be difficult to break them loose in the morning. My Grandfather always talked about then watering the sled tracks so they would freeze into ice and pull easier.
Going down steep hills they would wrap chains around the sled runners and going up steep hills they had iron bars attached to the rear bunk that were sort like a fish hook but the hook was cut off and sharpened so it would dig into the snow and ice is the sled went backwards. My Grandfather talked about on long steep hills they would stop the horses and let the sled slide back some until the irons dug in and then let the horses rest for a time and then go again. On really big hills they had Donkey engines with a winch and cable system to assisted the horses on the pull up the hill and also as a brake system going down the other side of the hill.