Foot Gongs

 

Why a foot gong?  

Some drivers prefer to use a bubble horn as a warning (safty device): It is not expensive and it looks quite well on the carriage. For them we have a chalenge: Try to recreate a emergency situation (a child runing in front of the carriage for example) and then try to pull the rains, use the brake and the bubble horn at the same time. It is quite difficult to do 3 things with only 2 hands. This wouldn't happen with the foot gongs because they reach a much longer distance (even in modern traffic) and they wouldn't need their hands to operate it. 

 

 Some history about foot gongs (also called "Bermuda gongs")  

Foot gongs for horse drawn carriages were developed in late XIX century for use in the big cities like London, Paris and of course NY. Technically good foot gongs must be made of bronze or brass and be able to reach 50m with two loud and clear sounds (something like a DING - DONG). Feet operated so that hands could allways be on the reins, foot gongs here very popular among professional drivers.  In 1994 we found in a antique shop some foot gongs of several sizes that heren't melt down in WW2 and started to make precise hand-made replicas of two of the pieces: One bigger (the european size) and the other one smaller (the american size)  In Portugal, as well as in some european regions the foot gongs are considered an essential part of the carriage, don't you think like them? 

Click on the next picture to hear the gongs sound

This could be the final look of your own carriage! A touch of elegance and a safety precaution for avoiding some of the driving accidents.

The FG1 is the European Size (bigger) and the FG2 is the American Size (Smaller). Both models are available in brass and nickel