This is the third in a five-part blog on early RV patents. This blog covers worldwide RV patents granted between 1910 and 1919. (Patent numbers are in brackets - the full patents can be searched online by number or name) The second decade of the twentieth century saw innovation move at two different speeds in Europe and North America. Whilst Europe was facing the prospect of war, the US was able to develop new types of vehicle that could be used for leisure purposes. Automobiles were becoming powerful enough to tow trailers, so the camping trailer became the preferred form of RV in the US. The ..read more

This is the second in a five-part blog on early RV patents. This blog covers the only known RV patent granted between 1900 and 1909. (Patent numbers are in brackets - the full patents can be searched online by number or name) The first decade of the twentieth century saw very few RV-related patents, for one simple reason: attention was focused elsewhere. The arrival of the automobile was captivating engineers and consumers. There were thousands of patents issues for all manner of vehicles, engines, batteries, lights and machinery related to making automobiles faster, safer and more reliable. L ..read more

This is the first in a five-part blog on early worldwide RV patents. This blog covers some of the earliest RV patents granted before 1900. (Patent numbers are in brackets - the full patents can be searched online by number or name) The horse-drawn era is often neglected when telling the history of the RV. Prior to the widespread introduction of the automobile at the start of the twentieth century, a few intrepid individuals and families, notably in the UK and the USA, decided to explore the countryside in horse-drawn wagons. In North America the horse-drawn ambulance wagon was popular as a mea ..read more

It's an exciting time for road vehicle design and technology. That goes for recreational vehicles too. One way to predict the future direction of RVs is to look to the past. Paradoxically, it seems to me, the RV historian is in a good position to speculate about the RV of the future. Exploring how RVs have developed over the last 100 years or so gives some useful clues as to how they might change in the years to come. So here's one RV historian's 2023 view of the future of the RV. Nothing in the RV World is New The final chapter of my 2014 book The Caravan Buyers Guide was called 'The Caravan ..read more

As the coronation of King Charles III nears on 6 May 2023, did you know that an RV played an interesting role in another king's coronation? My thanks to John Duresky for providing information and photos for this blog. In 1937 an American trailer was shipped to England by Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. for the coronation of King George VI on 12 May. Unbeknown to the British establishment, it would be used to broadcast the event live but illegally to an American radio audience. Shortly before the coronation of King George VI at Westminster Abbey in London on 12 May 1937, a strange RV arrived in Engl ..read more

A$75,000 (for Australian residents only – this RV is based in Sydney, NSW) "A small, compact, light caravan that can easily penetrate into secluded districts, along narrow lanes shady with overhanging trees, enables the traveller to see and enjoy more real country that he who owns a more sumptuous and heavier vehicle." J. Harris Stone, Caravanning and Camping Out (1914) Overview A reluctant sale of a Vista RV Crossover XL hybrid camping trailer built in December 2017. The Vista is located in Sydney. One fastidious owner since new. This camper trailer is made by a small, passionate, family-own ..read more

The first ever double-decker caravan was built in France in 1919. It was big – very big. All images except where noted are courtesy of ,Gallica, the online digital archive of the Bibiothèk Nationale de France. Double-decker caravans are problematic. They are generally heavy and have a high centre of gravity, making them unsafe to tow in double-decker mode. If the upper floor is mechanically lowered for towing, additional problems arise in connection with the rigidity and reliability of the lifting mechanism and the challenge of keeping the space between the two levels dust-, water- and windpr ..read more

Rare images of an American 'living car' towed by a steam traction engine at the start of the twentieth century. The international approach to studying the history of recreational vehicles that I use in my research often pays handsome dividends. An RV-related story of one country is often related in the newspapers of another. This is a case in point – a story about an American traveling workshop and 'living car' reported in France, dating back to 1901. Not an RV, but an important ancestor. An organisation in France called the Le Conservatoire numérique des Arts et Métiers, or CNUM for short, h ..read more

An important French caravan built by journalist Louis Baudry de Saunier in about 1920. Louis Baudry de Saunier was a well-known early twentieth century cycling and automobile writer and journalist from France. He created two important pre-WW1 publications, La Vie Automobile and Omnia. After the First World War he became editor-in-chief of the Revue Mensuelle du Touring Club de France, where he promoted the benefits of tourism and in particular the advantages of travelling by caravan. He wrote several books including La Joie du Camping ('The Joy of Camping') in 1925 and Le Camping Pratique Pou ..read more

The ten key steps in American travel trailer design. Introduction Recent discoveries of early twentieth century American camping trailers have allowed us to fill in some gaps in the early design evolution of the travel trailer. The travel trailer in all its forms is still the dominant form of American RV today. The 'housecar' or motorhome followed a different evolutionary path and will be explored in a future blog. These recent discoveries help us to understand that the travel trailer as towed by an automobile evolved from horse-drawn vehicles. This is not surprising, since all wagons drawn b ..read more