United States of America (1919)
Armored Truck – None Built
On 29th March 1919, Joseph Treanor McNaier submitted a patent design for a centrifugal gun. This was no ordinary firearm and was not merely a design for a weapon in isolation. When he filed his design on 2nd April, McNaier was proposing a new way to consider an old idea, and one which he had improved on.
Centrifugal Gun
A centrifugal gun is a gun reliant not on the expansion of gas from a chemical propellant or other sources for acceleration, but instead on centrifugal force. Such ideas had been around since at least the early 19th century and perhaps the most famous was the Winans Steam Gun of circa 1860.
The principles of these guns are the same. It is a circular weapon in which a high speed rotor is driven by some means producing a high rotational speed within a casing. Into this a stream of ‘bullets’ in the form of metal ball bearings or musket balls from a hopper are fed. The ball/bullet is accelerated by the rotating arm within the chamber and with only a narrow point of escape flies out of that point at high speed having been accelerated by the rotating arm. This, in effect, is a weaponized version of a lawnmower striking a piece of gravel. A small high velocity object flung by the transference of energy from the arm to the ball.
A slight variation of his centrifugal gun’s feed system involving a simple funnel-shaped hopper for the ammunition. The principle was the same with bullets fed into the center of the rotating part (effectively a barrel) and then spun at high speed before exiting the end of the barrel.
Source: US Patent:1472080.
Note: image has been digitally cleaned by the author.
Certainly, McNaier was not claiming to have invented a centrifugal gun, more an improvement upon one. For example, rather than simple solid balls of metal (lead or steel), he proposed the option of a small explosive-filled ball as a bullet. Further, his design altered the feed of the bullets to come from a hopper above or below the rotating arms in such a way as to avoid jamming the mechanism as they were fed into the breech. By way of showing the potential value of his design, McNaier provided two possible mountings for it for use by the military. The first was on an armored truck and the second was on an airplane.
The Man
The patent for the centrifugal gun was filed in the name of Joseph Treanor McNaier of New York. Treanor was born in New York on 4th April 1875, the son of Walter and Emily McNaeir. He was 44 when he filed his design and also a practicing attorney as a graduate of New York University Law School in 1915. His US military draft card of 1917 states that he was a lawyer by trade residing at 256 West 108th Street, an apartment complex not far from New York’s Central Park.
Doing his part for the USA in WW1 (1914-1919), he registered for the draft and was called upon to serve as a captain within the Judge Advocate General’s Department assigned to the Survey Office within Maritime Affairs in 1917. He was discharged from US military service on 30th June 1920 following a period of sickness beginning in May that year. He survived his illness, which was possibly connected to the flu at the time, as he was back to work at least into 1926 as a solicitor in New York at his family business ‘McNair and Moore’ based in office 2122 at 233 Broadway, New York., – the iconic Woolworth Building.
The Truck
The truck, as drawn by McNaier, would, in plan view, appear as a rectangle with the lower part at the front rounded and the upper part at the front forming a triangle. Between these two was a pair of cylindrical towers blended into the sloping front armor, with the upper of the two smaller and projecting slightly above the level of the flat roof. Surmounted by a low domed roof, the only notable feature on the top of this turret was a single periscope. The lower cylinder was part of the hull, but this upper cylinder formed a turret which could rotate within the larger cylinder below it.
In the two faces of the triangle on the front were a pair of rectangular slots for observation, with one on each side of the cylinders. In the face of the upper cylinder was another slot, although this one was for the centrifugal gun, not for observation.
The armored truck drawn by McNaier for his 1919 patent application. The driver, lounging in the rear, steers by means of an awkward periscope. The gunner, ensconced in a turret at the front, had a clear field of fire before him. Note the different sized wheels from front to rear.
Source: US Patent:1472080.
Note: image has been digitally cleaned by the author. Cross-section of the turret at the front of McNaier’s armored truck, showing the rotating mechanism of the turret, the magazine feed for the gun in the front of the hull, and the gun itself within the turret. The gunners sat behind the giant weapon on a tractor-style seat using the periscope for forward observation.
Source: US Patent:1472080.
Note: image has been digitally cleaned by the author.
The rest of the truck itself was somewhat plain. Vertical armored sides, a horizontal flat roof, and a slightly inclined rear. The vehicle ran on four wheels, with the rear wheels clearly drawn larger than those at the front. The drawing of the vehicle provides an ‘x-ray’ type view inside and therefore obscures some design ideas from the part cut-away, such as a possible access door or observation slot in the left-hand side. There is, however, one more vision slot drawn in the rear right-hand side of the hull, directly over the line of the rear wheel. No transmission or engine is proposed or mentioned by McNaier.
This slot appears to line up with the driver’s seating position, which would compete as potentially the most comfortable position for an armored vehicle, appearing more like a couch than a seat. Sat on this couch, the driver controlled the direction of the vehicle by means of a steering wheel connected to a large box affixed to the floor of the vehicle. No pedals or levers are shown.
The Airplane
The airplane offered two possible mounting ideas for a centrifugal type weapon on top and below the fuselage, at the rear and front of it, respectively. Powered by a directly connected transmission shaft from the engine, these centrifuge guns would have been able to spray a large volume of bullets forwards or backwards. In these contexts, accuracy, the main problem with such guns, would be obviated somewhat by the nature of ground-strafing or fending off an unfriendly aircraft behind it, where a wider dispersal than normal bullets might have been advantageous.
Illustration from McNaier’s centrifugal gun patent showing the system mounted at points D and/or E on a generic aircraft. Source: US Patent 1472080.
Note: image has been digitally cleaned by the author.
Summary
Neither the truck nor the airplane seem to have been connected in any way, shape or form to McNaier’s own military service, nor his life experience. It is unclear where his ideas for these weapons may have come from, but there were certainly other centrifugal gun ideas around at the time and before from which he may have drawn inspiration. The drawing of both the truck and the airplane are basic and somewhat crude. The truck, afterall, is little more of a suggestion that a normal truck be used along with a front-and-center-mounted turret for his gun. For that matter, the gun itself is also rather redundant. It is hard to see what advantages a centrifugal gun might have over a readily available, smaller, and simpler system in the form of a machine gun. The centrifugal gun might have a veritable abundance of ammunition from its large magazine, but spherical objects are not as ballistically efficient as a bullet shape, they are also not ans accurate, not to mention that they are being fired from an open chamber rather than through a rifled barrel to spin them for stability. Less accuracy and lower range cannot be effectively overcome with just ‘more’ being used.
McNaier maybe had something on offer for his aircraft use of the gun, where such dispersal was less of a problem in the chaos of a dogfight. There were already plenty of machine guns and simply adding a second one could beat out any minor advantage his design might have had.
McNaier sadly provided no details of the engine, the armor (presumably bulletproof), performance, or a particular utility for his vehicle either for the Army or perhaps the police for riot control.
Either way, it is likely no surprise that the truck was never built and McNaier seems to have had a successful legal practice to rely on, so perhaps he did not need to trouble himself too much more with ideas of firearms anyway.
McNaier’s Armored Truck. Illustration by Esteban.
Specifications McNaier Armored Truck
Crew
2 gunner, driver
Dimensions
u/k
Propulsion
u/k
Armor
bulletproof?
Armament
centrifugal gun
Speed
u/k
Sources
Bender’s Lawyer’s Diary, State of New York, 1916-1920.
New York Herald, 9th October 1921, Page 3.
New York Supreme Court, Papers of Appeal Appellate Division First Department, 1925.
New York University Catalog, 1915-1916. New York, University.
US Census 1880 ED94, Page 40.
US Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918, New York City No. 134, Serial 510, Order no. 857.
US Officer Muster Roll 1916-1939. Hayes-Holabird Post. Reel 132.
US Patent US1472080 ‘Centrifugal machine gun and method of feeding same’, filed 2nd April 1919, granted 30th October 1923.
US Veterans’ Bureaus service index card, film 105256134. NARA microfilm 76193916.
WW1 Roster of Officers, Hayes-Holabird Post. Reel 132. Monthly Officers’ Roster, Port of Embarkation at Hoboken, N.J. dated 15th June 1920.
Blacksher Armored Automobile. Illustration by hansclaw.
United States of America (1916)
Armored Car – None Built
In 1916, there was one war sucking up all of the attention – the war in Europe, which was seeing the largest European empires battling it out at extreme costs. The USA did not enter the war until April 1917, and, in the meantime, already had a military challenge of its own to contend with – a revolution in Mexico which led to numerous border raids by armed forces. Some armored cars were deployed by the US Army to the border, but one man in southern Alabama also had an idea. His name was Erasmus Blacksher and his vehicle would allow for an armored car with improved mobility and protection over existing designs.
The Man
The man behind this invention was Erasmus Manford Blacksher. Erasmus was a “farmer & financier” from Brewton, a small town in southern Alabama. Born on 4th August 1878 in Boykin, Alabama to Uriah and Martha Blacksher, he was born into a wealthy family, one which had made its money in the timber industry. In 1911, he was a wealthy man and built a grand house called ‘Marinia’ on his family estate known as ‘Alco’. In records, he was giving his occupation as a farmer throughout this time and even beyond WW1. During that war, he, like millions of other men, was required to register for the draft, and he did so in September 1918.
In 1929, following the stock market crash, Blaskher’s family fortunes dwindled, but they still had some notable assets in the area. He died on 23rd April 1957, aged 78 and is buried in Union Cemetery, Brewton.
Between 1915 and 1930, he filed patents for an improved rail tie (1915), an improved airplane (1918), a safety device for an airplane (1930), and this armored automobile. The automobile was filed first in the United states in September 1916, which was then followed by a filing in Canada in July 1917.
Blacksher’s stabilized improved aircraft with additional propellers in the wings to prevent corkscrewing during a nose dive.
Source: Canadian Patent CA193744 of 1918 Erasmus Blacksher pictured around 1900.
Source: Grimes Blacksher’s Italian-style house in Brewton, Alabama, built in 1911, was known as ‘Marinia’.
Source: The Brewton Standard. ‘Marinia’ pictured in 2015.
Source: The Brewton Standard.
Design
Layout
The design of Blacksher’s armored car was a combination of both conventional and unconventional. Conventional in form, unconventional in function and design. Based around a simple four wheeled chassis, the drawing does not show anything more than a simple rectangular vehicular frame and four wheels. However, he was clear in the patent that it should have had some form of steering, although omitted any details of it. There is no mention of any form of propulsion, but, as it was an automobile, it had to be powered by some form of motor or engine. Just as there is no mention of the form of propulsion, there is also no mention of where such an engine might have been placed or what sort of drive train might have been involved. The only hint are the air vents on the roof.
Blacksher’s Armored automobile.
Source: US Patent US1229869
Note: Image has been digitally cleaned.
With a body shape encompassing and completely enclosing the chassis and these 4 main wheels, the vehicle, in plan view, had a distinctive pill-shape with parallel sides and a “rounded contour… modeled as closely as consistent with the shell of a tortoise”. This was the key feature of the patent, which Blacksher described as a “protective casing”. The only large features on this shell was a large rectangular door on the side. Only one side is shown, but another one on the other side would have been a convenient feature for the design.
This armored shell was supported by a series of springs placed all around the body of the vehicle in order to allow for movement of the body and yielding when hit by enemy fire. Each corner of the chassis had a spring connected to the shell, with two more on each side for a total of 8 large springs.
Only the very top of the vehicle was flat in profile, where the upwards curving sides met. Centrally, within the roof of the vehicle, was a fully revolving turret in the shape of “an inverted cup” with a conical or tapering top. The bottom lip of the turret armor was overlapped by the armored body so there were no gaps for bullets to get through. One or more turrets could be added as needed, but Blacksher showed a design with just this single centrally-positioned turret.
Plan view of Blacksher’s Armored Automobile showing the vehicle frame distinct and separate from the armored body and attached by springs.
Source: US Patent US1229869
Note image has been digitally cleaned.
Turret
The turret was meant to be supported on wheels mounted to a ring within the turret itself and ran along an annular track. Rotated by a gear wheel, the turret is shown in the drawing to be armed with a single gun. On one side of the turret (it is unclear whether it is in front or behind it) are a couple of funnels, presumably to draw air inside.
Close-up of the overlap between the turret and the outside of the hull armor, as well as the cranking handle to control rotation.
Source: US Patent US1229869
Note image has been digitally cleaned.
These would therefore appear to be what Blacksher described as “air chutes” which were to be “… of light metal so that, if struck by a bullet or the like, they will be pierced without damaging the same so far as their function of ventilation is concerned”. Unfortunately, the positioning and height of them is such that they would likely interfere with the traversing of the main gun.
A third projection is also visible, this time from the apex of the roof of the turret. This projection was a mirrored periscope for observation purposes rather than something for ventilation.
Cross-sectional view of Blacksher’s design showing the deep ‘cup’ shape of the turret and its unusual roofline.
Source: US Patent US1229869
Note image has been digitally cleaned.
Automotive
The armored body of the vehicle was carried separate to the vehicle itself by means of 6 wheels, with two on each side slightly inwards of the chassis wheels, and one more on the front and back. Arranged around the outside of the armored body were also 6 rollers (3 at each end). These were fitted with springs as well and could move vertically to accommodate undulations in the ground. Arranged in this way, the vehicle would not ground out when traversing rough ground.
Views of the additional rollers and their springs positioned around the edge of the armored body.
Source: US Patent US1229869
Note image has been digitally cleaned.
No engine or even steering system was shown in the plan view, leaving just a plain and simple rectangular frame for the vehicle. In effect, what Blacksher provided therefore was not a specific chassis design but a template on which to mount such an armored body.
In other words, this patent was concerned with the provision of an armored body and turret which could potentially be made and then fitted over a regular truck chassis. This idea would match the location of those air-chutes on the roof, as they would indicate an engine potentially underneath them, suggesting a conventional style of truck layout inside.
Armament
No armament is directly indicated in terms of what gun or guns and of what type or size should be mounted. Instead, Blacksher simply provided an impression of the vehicle mounting a single gun inside this turret.
A cross-sectional view of the vehicle and turret provided another view of the gun and an indication that it was not to be a machine gun but potentially a small cannon mounted to a framework and supported from the floor of the ‘cup’ in which the turret was formed.
Source: US Patent US1229869
Amended by the author
Employment and Conclusion
Although Blacksher’s vehicle was never built, it could, at first glance, be supposed to be some idea for service in WW1. Designed in 1916, this would certainly be a possibility, but there is another option as well and one hinted at by the presence of the cacti in the background of his illustration – the US southern border with Mexico.
In 1910, Mexico fell into a civil war, and due to the insecurity which resulted, US armed forces were deployed to the border area to help provide security and prevent Mexican forces from crossing over. There were numerous skirmishes between American and various Mexican rebel groups, and in 1916, these culminated in the famous raid by Pancho Villa into New Mexico, where he attacked the town of Columbus in March. Despite being repulsed by a US Cavalry force, the city was virtually destroyed. It was not the last raid either, as Villa’s forces searched for supplies. In April 1916, they crossed into Texas and raided the towns of Glenn Springs and Boquillas.
Incensed at this incursion, the US Army crossed over into Mexico under the command of General J. Pershing, as part of what was known as the ‘Punitive Expedition’. Operations over the border to secure it continued through 1918, and, although Villa was never caught by US forces, this conflict was a small taste of a mobile hit and run kind of warfare which was becoming possible thanks not only to horses but to trucks – some of which were staring to be armored.
Jeffery Armored Car (Armored Car No.1) deployed to the Mexican-American border by the US Army in 1916 and armed with a pair of machine guns.
Source: Zaloga. White Armored Car (Armored Car No. 2) deployed to the Mexican-American border by the US Army in 1916.
Source: Zaloga.
It is not hard to see, in light of this conflict on the border, what sort of inspirations might have attracted Blacksher. All the design needed normal truck, a simple armored body and a degree of mobility to fight border banditry. Indeed, in this terrain, perhaps more than the ground of the Western Front in France and Belgium, these armored cars were more capable of off-road movement. At the time Blacksher submitted his patent, the US armed forces were not even involved in WW1, but they were engaged in this operation in the south.
US forces would eventually go to war in Europe and Blacksher got his draft papers completed in 1918. The war ended before he got called up and never got the chance to either see war directly for himself, or see his invention or something similar in action.
Blacksher Armored Automobile. Illustration by hansclaw.Blacksher Armored Automobile. Illustration by hansclaw.
Sources
Blackshear, P. (1954). Blacksheariana. Perry Lynnfield Blackshear, Atlanta, Georgira, USA.
Canadian Patent CA180017, Armoured Automobile, filed 20th July 1917, granted 30th October 1917.
Canadian Patent CA193774, Aeroplane. Filed 9th December 1918, granted 11th November 1919.
French Patent FR501168, Aeroplane, filed 30th June 1919, granted 19th January 1920, published 6th April 1920.
Grimes, L. 2011. Images of America; Brewton and East Brewton. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, USA.
Swiss Patent CH93150, Luftfahrzeug mit vom motor aus autreibbaren stabilisation propellern, filed 13th June 1919, granted 16th February 1922.
The Brewton Standard, Blacksher’s Haunter Legend lives on. 3rd October 2018. https://www.brewtonstandard.com/2018/10/03/blackshers-haunted-legend-lives-on/
The Brewton Standard. More about the Blacksher’s, 7th April 2004. https://www.brewtonstandard.com/2004/04/07/more-about-the-blackshers/
US Census 1920, enumeration district 87, Supervisor’s District 2, Sheet 4A.
US Census 1930, enumeration district 27-6, Supervisor District 10, Sheet 23A.
US Draft Registration Card, Erasmus Manford Blacksher, 12th September 1918.
US Patent US1229869, Armored Automobile, filed 26th September 1916, granted 12th June 1917.
US Patent US1147321, Combination cement-tie and rail-clamping means, filed 25th January 1915, granted 20th July 1915.
US Patent US1789033, Safety Appliance for Airplanes, filed 18th February 1930, granted 13th January 1931.
Zaloga, S. Early US Armour: 1915-1940. Osprey Publishing, UK.
At the start of 1918, WW1 was by no means waning in terms of combat or intensity. The war had, to that point, been characterized in the public mindset by the slaughter in Belgium and France. This picture was one of trench lines of men just a few hundred meters apart, unable to make the breakthrough they needed thanks to defenses in depth, barbed wire, and the firepower of the modern machine gun. Tanks, as unveiled on the battlefield in September 1916, had begun to make a real difference in the war. The armies of Germany, Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were tired by 1918. Russia had dropped out of the war, but the United States, a relatively youthful imperial power, was coming to the war in its place, having declared war in April 1917. Despite this, the US forces headed for Europe did not get to see combat for over a year, first seeing action at Cantigny in May 1918. That year was the first year the US forces got their first tanks too, but those did not get used until the last few weeks of the shooting war, in September 1918. There was therefore a gap between the first tanks of 1916, America’s war entry, and their first tank use. A few inventors and designers came to this American tank void. Some of them had an engineering background, or a military background, or both. One of them, Frank Lauterbur, designed machines relating to the mixing and baking of bread dough – he too designed a tank. A tank more like a rolling pin than one of 1916, but undoubtedly an armored rolling weapon of war.
Mr. X.
The man behind this machine was Francis ‘Frank’ Xavier Lauterbur from the town of Sidney, Ohio, USA. Lauterbur was born in August 1887 at Fort Laramaie in Ohio, to Paul (b.1855, d.1932) and Margarettia ‘Margaret’ (neé Hillans) Lauterbur (b.1859, d.1925). This meant that, when he filed his patent for his ‘Tractor’ on 6th February 1918, he was around 31 years old, putting him at the upper end of the age group liable for conscription to go and fight in the war.*
(*The first conscription under the Selective Service Act of 1917 was 5th June 1917 for all men aged between 21 and 31 – he would have been 29 or 30 years old at the time).
Lauterbur died in October 1932, aged just 45 years old, leaving his wife Wilhelmina (b.1900, d. 1970). Between 1918 and when he passed away in 1932, Lauterbur left a legacy of over 50 patents for machines relating to the mixing of dough, involving variously beaters and clutches, variable speed rotating members, sieves and sifting, weighing and blending. Whilst the flour mixing or bread industry might not seem like a likely source from which a tank might originate, the mechanisms designed for transmitting torque to a mixer, belts, pulleys, and drive are not small things in engineering terms. Such knowledge and skills in engineering relatively mundane or non-military equipment certainly would have left Lauterbur with more than a passing knowledge of technology when he designed this vehicle. His intention was to produce a “small ‘tank’ for military purposes and adapted to operate either as a unicycle or as a tractor”.
Composite image digitally manipulated from US Patent US1313095 to show the complete frontal view of Lauterbur’s design.Composited image digitally manipulated from US Patent US1313095 to show the complete frontal view of Lauterbur’s design as a 4-wheel vehicle.
The Rolling Pin
The design was to be built around the concept of a rolling cylinder, like a rolling pin. This cylinder would be either a pair of what he called “tractor wheels” or, in extended form, made from four or more of these wheels. They were not tractor wheels in the sense of a normal farmer’s tractor, but wide hollow wheels running around the outside of the cylinder on low-friction bearings and to the surface of which were a series of 3 circumferential rows of spikes. These spikes formed the tractive element of the wheels, as they would be stabbed into the ground during travel to provide purchase on whatever surface it was passing over.
This would also, therefore, mean the vehicle would cause potential damage to roads or other fixed infrastructure on route towards a battle, something which would be a problem for any conventional forces which may be following.
The vehicle itself was this simple cylinder about which the wheels rotated and the rounded ends both featured a single hinged door with a horizontal slot in it from which the crew could see out. A further such slot was located in the center of the cylinder, facing forwards, and was situated directly between the center two of the tractor wheels.
Atop the machine was a single large periscope reminiscent of an alpine horn more than anything from a submarine and which formed the primary means of observation for the vehicle. Whilst this would provide a theoretical 360º of view for the man operating it, it would obviously also limit observation by other members of the crew to those three slots already mentioned. Within those slots too were to be machine guns, forming the primary armament, so they would already be quite occupied with combat as well as being a good distance from the man at the bottom of the telescope, presumably the commander, to tell them what was going on, making internal communications and direction more difficult. Assuming one commander using that periscope and one man per machine gun, this would be 4 men and, adding in a dedicated driver, would mean not less than 5 men would be required to operate such a machine.
Behind the rolling pin was a trailing wheel arrangement to provide support. This wheel was fastened to a tail coming from the back of the cylinder but attached to a pair of separately rotating collars, narrower than the wheels but wider than the cylinder. These collars could therefore rotate freely without blocking the weapons or observation devices, forming a hollow in the tail to clear the periscope and allow controlled rotation of the tail around the machine.
Mobility
The engine for propelling this machine was to be located low down in the central part of it, which was also roughly where the periscope was as well. Drive was transmitted via a shaft to a large gear wheel, which was connected in turn to a smaller gear wheel via a drive chain around a small rim projecting from the large gear to the small one and holding them a fixed distance apart. This connection on the shaft of the large gear was also a pivot point around which the smaller gear could move via rotation of this arm. Thus, the drive shaft could still be rotating in the same direction and could still be driving the big gear and small gear in turn, but with the arm pivoted behind the big gear, it would cause drive to imparted backwards upon the wheel. By this method, no complex gearing was needed from the shaft or gearbox and steering or rotating the vehicle on the spot could be achieved by switching from forward to rear motion on an individual wheel or side of the machine.
The steering system for the machine involved a simple small gear on a pivoting arm, allowing forward motion to be turned into reversing motion by rotating the arm rather than reversing the direction of rotation of the driveshaft.
Source: US Patent US1313095
This small arrangement by which an arm could be rotated around a center-pivot point was a key feature of the design not only for steering via these gears, but also for obstacle climbing. This function was achieved with a much bigger rotating arm, namely the ‘arm’ which was the tail of the machine. More than simply a trailing wheel for stabilization, this whole arm (or in the case of a wide machine, multiple arms) could be rotated. As soon as this tail was rotated, the entirety of the vehicle would be borne on its wheels in the manner of what Lauterbur described perhaps erroneously as a “unicycle”. With the tail rotating, the fact that it was hollow allowed it to go over and around the periscope without striking it and then continue its rotation to the front of the vehicle.
Elevation of Lauterbur’s tractor showing how the trailing wheel could be moved from front to rear and vice versa. Image has been digitally altered by the author.
Source: US Patent US1313095
With the tail wheels moved forwards, the action allowed the vehicle to exert pressure down onto an obstacle to improve the climbing and crossing ability of the machine. Likewise, it would also allow the vehicle to rapidly change direction.
Combination plan and elevation view of the vehicle using four ‘tractor wheels’ showing the location of the periscope and three tails and how they are connected.
Source: US Patent US1313095
Conclusion
Lauterbur certainly put some of his knowledge of gearing systems to work within the design. Multiple overlapping rotating elements, pivots, arms, and wheels all worked together to produce a vehicle for war. Given the shape, the size, and the inherent weight, it is hard to consider how the vehicle could be powered by a single motor in a single wheel, but maybe he was more interested in the gearing and process of movement than the engine, which, afteral,l gets only a brief mention. One small engine in each wheel might have been possible but would only have served to make control harder and this was the biggest failing of the design – control.
The commander, assuming it was he using the periscope, would be directly in the way of the forward machine gunner and the driver at the same time. If he was to use the machine gun, then he would clearly not be able to operate it effectively and, if the driver was using the periscope, then the commander would have little or no vision.
The control issue gets worse the bigger the vehicle gets. Those side machine gunners would only get further from the driver and/or commander as the vehicle got bigger, the weight would increase and the width occupied by the vehicle would increase dramatically as well. All of these problems would only be magnified by the even more obvious lack of space inside the machine. Every single wheel had gearing, and there were multiple moving surfaces and gears along the entire width of the vehicle. Any fighting position would be right next to open gearing and moving machinery, creating a significant hazard for their safety. For the hapless crew in the middle, a veritable obstacle course was presented when needing to exit the vehicle by the side hatches in the event of an emergency, such as catching fire or becoming trapped.
Whatever value the vehicle might have had or offered in terms of improving the steering or moving ability of a cylindrical machine of war was outweighed by the volume of problems, technical, human, practical, and military ranged against it. Lauterbur’s machine was never built, but he appears to have done well for himself with his technical expertise better suited to the bread industry than the war. Had he not passed away before WW2, it is interesting to consider what else such a fertile mind might have created for the next great conflict.
Lauterbur’s Tractor. An illustration by AMX-13.
Specifications: Lauterbur’s Tractor
Crew
est. 5, Commander, Driver, 3 x machine gunners
Armament
machine guns
Speed
unknown
Armor
unknown
Engine
unknown
Sources
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115392006/frank-x_-lauterbur
Ohio County births 1841-2003
US Census 1900, S.D. 3, E.D. 92, Sheet 7
US Census 1930, S.D. 11, E.D. 75-4, Sheet 4A
US Patent US1313095, ‘Tractor’, filed 6th February 1919, granted 12th August 1919.
Lyon’s electric Gyro-Cruiser by Pavel Alexe. Illustration funded through our Patreon campaign.
United States of America (1916)
Landship – None Built
“Suppose Great Britain’s giant navy could now come up out of the sea into the plains of northern France and, mounting itself upon wheels, dash in single line formation at express train speed upon one single, unsuspecting and strategic point of Germany’s hundreds of miles of battle front”
—Lyon, E., February 1916
February 1916 marked one year since the formal British programme to resolve the problem of getting men across no-man’s land under cover of armor had begun. There were ideas for a variety of machines, including wheeled ones, but it was the tracks, first from Crompton and then by Tritton, which would win over ideas of wheeled armor on the battlefields of WW1.
None of this work would have been known to the common man in the street in February 1916, but the official embodiments of trying to use technology, armor, and guns to close on and destroy the enemy were equally in the common consciousness as well. The majority of these ideas would focus on wheels and the use of wheels was also seriously limited by their fundamental design. A wheel, by design, has a tiny area in contact with the ground. This can be improved by making the wheel wider and/or adding more wheels, but even a vehicle with multiple wheels will struggle to cross obstacles such as trenches and ramparts, as the climbing ability is approximately limited to a function depending on the height of the wheel. If, however, the wheel could be made not only wider but also substantially larger, then a wheeled vehicle might, perhaps, have been a solution?
Certainly, this was a regular train of thought for numerous designers of the period. One such example can be found in the pages of the February 1916 edition of the Electrical Experimenter, a popular periodical of the era. Featuring a gloriously bright and optimistic front cover of a giant machine happily crushing and/or variously shooting at the enemy, this was an eye-catching machine, resembling a giant armored motorbike more than a weapon of war. The design and ideas of the design certainly had some engineering skill within them, but the entirety of the idea was completely and utterly wrong. The tanks which appeared to the world in September 1916 would shake ideas of armor warfare in the common mind to the core and ideas like this giant wheeled contraption would, in less than a year, be little more than a rather silly and naive footnote.
Eric R. Lyon A.B. wrote several articles for the magazine. This gyro-cruiser in February 1916, and ‘Minic Atoms and their experimental formation’ was published in June 1916. He also designed a one-man electrically-operated submarine in 1917, which was at least of sensible proportions. As far as is known, he never tried to patent the design.
Front cover of the February 1916 edition of the Electrical Experimenter. Note that the flag shown on the fire control mast appears to be that of the British Merchant Navy, the reason for which is unclear. Source: Electrical Experimenter magazine, February 1916.
Layout
The basic shape of the machine was that of a motorbike, albeit one more akin to a Penny Farthing-style bicycle with a huge front wheel and smaller trailing wheel behind. Mounted onto these wheels was a huge body, with the bulk of it at the front, formed in a manner similar to that of the rounded front hull of a warship. This enormous triangular section at the front was rounded and bulbous at the base with vertical sides which then stepped-out to become even wider and formed a stepped platform onto which a series of turrets were arranged. In the center of this section was a raised platform above the level of those turrets, with a giant ‘crown’ turret on top. On top of this was a rangefinder and the entire design was overlooked by a gigantic mast arrangement projecting vertically from the back to a height well above the crown turret.
All of the machinery involved in the vehicle was contained inside and within the area occupied by the giant front wheel. The vehicle was to measure 160 feet (48.77 m) high to the rangefinder and 180 feet (54.86 m) to the top of the mast at the back. At 230 feet (70.10 m) long, the vehicle was at least proportional in its dimensions in terms of height to length, but the width was ‘just’ 86 feet (26.21 m) from side to side, meaning a rather narrow, very high, and extremely long machine. As might be suspected by a machine of such gargantuan proportions, it was going to be eye-wateringly heavy too, at 20,000 US tons (18,143.70 tonnes).
The vehicle was to operate on a pair of wheels simply because the maximum road width on which it might operate would limit the size of the wheels used. Placing wheels side by side would inherently create a wider track-width for them on the road, meaning one or more would have to be off-road all the time. Making it so that the single-width wheels were the whole ground-contact presence of the vehicle would therefore mean that a substantially larger vehicle could be used on a standard road than which could otherwise be achieved.
Side elevation of Lyon’s giant Gyro-Cruiser. Source: Electrical Experimenter Magazine, February 1916.
This also meant the wheels used could be anywhere on a road from 25 to 50 feet (7.72 to 15.24 m) wide and to ensure it would not go over the width of the road, limiting the wheel width to a far more modest 25 feet (7.72 m).
A total of 6 ‘small’ turrets surrounded the platform at the top of the hull, each fitted with a pair of large guns and surmounted by a massive turret known as the ‘crown’ turret on top of the raised section between them. This ‘crown’ turret would measure 40 feet (12.19 m) in diameter and, on top of this huge turret, was a domed cupola. This cupola or mini-turret could independently rotate and housed a wide stereoscopic-type range finder. In front of the crown turret and not shown in the drawings was to be a huge spotlight for the illumination of the enemy.
It is noteworthy that the design, as drawn and explained inside the magazine and the artwork on the cover of the magazine, were different. In the cover artwork, just 6 turrets are shown, with a single large turret at the front and the crown turret on top. A close look at the layout drawing, however, shows that there would be no space for this single central front turret, as it would be in the space occupied by the large front wheel.
Front Wheel
The front wheel is worthy of attention in its own right, not least due to its preposterous dimensions and construction. Measuring some 108 feet (32.92 m) in diameter, this was not a wheel in the conventional sense, like that of a bicycle or motorbike, rotating around a central axle. In fact, there was no axle at all. The wheel was toroidal in shape, with a heavily armored steel tyre weighing 500 US tons (453.59 tonnes) in its own right. At 25 feet (7.62 m) wide, the wheel was certainly going to help spread the load of the vehicle, but it alone was going to weigh around 10% of the total mass, at 2,000 US tons (1,814,37 tonnes). This meant that, aside from the armor, another 1,500 US tons (1,360.78 tonnes) of material made up the structure of it.
This was because the wheel was not simply a wheel, but was also the stabilization mechanism for the vehicle and formed a colossal gyroscope. The wheel itself was to be hollow and allowed for the addition of giant hollow iron balls some 15 feet (4.57 m) in diameter which were faced with non-magnetic steel. Twelve such balls, each weighing 40 US tons (36.29 tonnes), would float freely within the liquid inside the wheel, held off from contact with the sides by magnetic forces and their own buoyancy of around 10 US tons (9.07 tonnes) per ball.
Cross-section of the giant gyroscopic wheel with its beveled and heavily armored outer face removed, showing the inner and outer liner of alternating magnetic coils and iron bands. The balls inside were hollow iron balls 15 feet (4.57 m) in diameter faced with nonmagnetic steel and which sat floating within the fluid filling of this toroidal wheel. Each ball was estimated to weigh some 40 US tons (36.29 tonnes) and produce 10 tons (9.07 tonnes) of buoyancy within the fluid.
With an outer diameter of 108’ (32.92 m) and an inner diameter of 50 feet (15.24 m), the volume of the torus is calculated using the formula V=(πr2)(2πR) to equal 5,353 m3. Deducting the volume of the dozen iron spheres (49.97 m3 each / 599.69 m3 total) leaves 4,753.31 m3 of space inside and this void was to be filled with fluid. The fluid initially selected was water. This volume of water would have weighed 4,753 tonnes. With 12 balls at 40 US tons (36.29 tonnes) and the armored tyre at 500 US tons (453.59 tonnes), this would have meant a total mass of 5,642 tonnes, nearly 3 times what was being proposed by Lyons in his guestimate of 2,000 US tons (1,814.37 tonnes). That gets worse when he suggests an alternative fluid filling for the wheel which…
“will be water, although hot, liquid-fusing metals may be later employed, or mercury…”
—Lyons, E., (February 1916)
Mercury, on top of being extremely toxic, is a liquid metal at room temperature and also 13.5 times denser (13.5 grams per milliliter) than water (1 gram per milliliter). That would mean a space of 4,753.31 m3 filled with mercury, would, aside from being a rolling ecological disaster waiting to happen, weigh 64,169 tonnes, more than 3 times the estimated complete weight for the vehicle!
The wheel, as already stated, was not to run on an axle. The space inside the wheel would be occupied by the powerplant. Instead, the wheel would be ‘attached’ to the body by a series of ball bearings running in a radial groove on the wheel so that it could rotate with the minimum of friction.
Power Plant
Little is mentioned of the power plant for the design, although a drawing in cross section was provided in the article. Located within the hull and surrounded by the wheel rotating around it, the form of power was primarily a large diesel engine producing 60,000 hp. Attached to this was a large electrical generator which could provide 40,000 hp, as well to drive the wheel via 2-speed multi-polar motors, each of which was 70 feet (71.34 m) in diameter. Drive of the wheel was provided electrically, as the torroid of the wheel was ringed in, banded by sections of magnets and non-magnetic metal, whereby the ring of the wheel was moved by the motors. This presumably would also function as the braking system for the wheel, although this was not mentioned by Lyons.
Rear Wheel
At the rear of this machine was the ‘small’ wheel, measuring just 60 feet (18.29 m) in diameter. This wheel not only assisted in balancing the machine, but also provided the steering for the machine. It was fixed to the rear part of the body, operating on a normal fixed type axle and relied upon this rear part of the vehicle to be able to move independently of the front part. Like the front wheel, this wheel was also to be clad in heavy steel armor plating and was to be bevel shaped.
Due to the weight and size of the wheel, steering of this tail section and wheel would have to be done in some means, such as hydraulic pumps or electric motors.
In cross-section, the scale of Lyon’s folly is obvious with a huge, heavy, and overly narrow vehicle overly laded with heavy firepower. Towing over its surroundings, like this 50 foot (15.24 m) tree or comparatively ant-sized soldier (next to the base of the wheel), the vehicle was a giant target for even the most skillless of an enemy. Source: Electrical Experimenter, February 1916.
Performance
As usual with some of these giant vehicle ideas, the designer got a little carried away with overly optimistic performance figures and Lyon here is no exception. Lyon estimated a top speed of 60 mph (96.56 km/h) which, for a vehicle weighing several thousand tons, would be as remarkable as it is improbable on land.
Lyon calculated that rotating the giant wheel just 15 or 16 times a minute was sufficient and this is borne out by checking his math. With a diameter of 32.92 m, the radius would be 16.45 m. The circumference (2πr) of the giant wheel would therefore be 103.4 m. At 15 revolutions per minute, this means 15 x 103.4 m = 1,551 m, 1.55 km per minute, or 15 x 60 x 103.4 m per hour = 93,060 meters per hour; or 93.1 km/h, which is roughly 57.8 mph.
The motors would have had 2 speed settings, with the low speed setting for operating on steep slopes uphill or downhill and the high speed for flat hard ground.
Armament
A big vehicle is a tempting repository for the designer to install as much armament as possible and, indeed, Lyon did just that. This vehicle would truly be the giant battleship mounting a full set of no less than twelve 17-inch (431.8 mm) guns, this ludicrous armament was arranged in pairs across the six small turrets.
Each of the side turrets was clearly drawn in the cross-section, showing a pair of these guns. The ‘crown’ turret on top of the hull, however, was not armed with these huge guns. Instead, it was to use a single machine gun, not firing bullets, but something much larger. This ‘machine gun’ was effectively an enlarged version of the classical style of ‘Gatling’ gun with multiple barrels rotating and firing in turn, except that, instead of rifle-caliber barrels rotating, this weapon was to use 6-inch (152.4 mm) caliber rifles. Fired electrically, a single man would be able to operate the gun although how it, or the 17-inch (431.8 mm) were to be fed with ammunition was not addressed.
Aiming for the guns was to be addressed by means of the fire controller, working from the top of the mast in coordination with the commander in the ‘crown’ turret and the use of the rangefinder. This rangefinder was 160 feet (48.77 m) above the ground, more than high enough to see over trees and obstacles. The reason for this height is not speculated upon, but probably, coincidentally, it was almost precisely the same height as the top of the nave on a cathedral, like Beauvais in France, at 47.5 m. If nothing else, this comparison provides an indication of the ridiculous proportions for this vehicle.
Around the lower part of the hull were what appears to be some weapons as well. These are not described at all in the document. Despite this, two projections which appear to be guns project directly from the front, one about half way up the hull and the other just at the top of the rounded part of the lower hull. Three more circular features are also apparent in this lower section, around from the front to the sides of the vehicle. They may also be weapons ports but, once more, cannot be confirmed.
In the rounded lower part of the hull are what appear to be weapon ports. Source: Electrical Experimenter Magazine, February 1916.
Armor
No armor other than ‘thick’ or ‘heavy’ is mentioned, but given that the big front wheel itself was to have 500 US tons of protection (probably for the best if it was filled with mercury), then heavy armor would be needed elsewhere. This enormous machine would be a target even the semi-literate half conscious enemy gunner might hit with zero effort, so if it was not to be destroyed very easily, then it would have needed substantial armor plating. Given all of the naval sized ammunition it would have to carry, it would also have to have a magazine of some sort. On a warship, if it was compromised, it could flood the magazine with sea water to prevent explosion. No such possibility would exist for this vehicle, so the designer would either have to accept the possibility of several thousand tons of mercury being blasted all over northern
France when his vehicle’s armor got breached, or else have provided substantially thicker armor than would otherwise be acceptable – several inches at least.
Crew
Other than a command staff of some sort operating a bridge inside the crown turret, there appears to have been little if any consideration of a crew. Whatever that crew may have been would not have been small. With 12 main guns, multiple smaller guns, a command team, probably some mechanics, drivers, spotters, ammunition handlers, etcetera to add into the count, at least a hundred men are likely to have been needed.
Conclusion
It is hard to take the design seriously or even semi-seriously. Even Lyon must have accepted, like others, that such gargantuan vehicles might make attractive and eye-catching cover art, but not practical vehicles.
For the cost in material of a warship or three, hundreds of men needed for the vehicle, and the vast problems which would come with even just trying to move the vehicle to where it might be used without crushing everything on its way into oblivion, the investment would simply be redundant. The vehicle was a huge target and the guns were positioned far too high up to be usefully depressed to actually fight the enemy it was rolling over/past. The stabilization might have been viable for a machine in theoretical terms using a gyroscope. In fact, in this regard, the design was rather clever, but the scale is devoid of and detached from reality. It is not even clear if the vehicle would be able to remain in any state other than one of perpetual motion or risk toppling over. In light of the total impracticality of the concept, it seems likely this idea was just a desperate attempt to try and envisage a means by which technology, armor, guns, and mechanical traction could somehow break the deadlock of trench warfare.
The correct answer would be unveiled several months later and this idea, like so many others, were quite rightly consigned to the dustbin of bad ideas.
Lyon’s electric Gyro-Cruiser by Pavel Alexe. Illustration funded through our Patreon campaign.
Specifications: Lyon’s Electric Gyro-Cruiser
Armament
12 x 17-inch (432 mm) guns, 1 x rotating 6-inch (152 mm) gun
Length
230 feet (70.10 m)
Height
160 feet (48.77 m) to the range finder. 180 feet (54.86 m) to top of fire control mast body
Width of wheel
25 feet (7.62 m)
Total width
86 feet (26.21 m)
Sources
Lyon, E. (1916). The Electric Gyro-Cruiser. Electrical Experimenter Magazine, February 1916.
Secor, H. (1917). A one-man electric submarine. Electrical Experimenter Magazine, May 1917.
Roy / Lzarnopyski Infantry Fort. Illustration by Pavel Alexe.
United States of America/Austro-Hungarian Empire (1919)
Infantry Fort – None Built
World War One was, by 1918, the largest and most costly war in terms of lives in the history of mankind. Starting in 1914, the war finally ended officially in June 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, although, with the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, all active combat between the Allies and Central Powers ended. The United States had been late to the war, only joining on the side of the Allies in April 1917. For the period of the war which remained, the US built its own derived version of the Renault FT, changed to suit imperial units, and later, the heavy tank Mk. VIII, which was the product of a joint British / American development.
In the meantime, various inventions and designs were being submitted to the US Government and Army or just espoused in the media. These presented military vehicles of varying degrees of practicality and reality. Probably the last such vehicle to be submitted during the active phase of WW1 was filed with the US Patent office just 2 days prior to the Armistice of 11th November – this was the Infantry Fort of George Roy.
The Men
George Roy described himself as a subject of the Austrian Emperor and submitted the patent in his own name, as the inventor, along with a second man, Piotr Lzarnopyski. Roy assigned half the value of the design to Lzarnopyski, presumably because Lzarnopyski helped pay the required filing fees, as his name appears nowhere else on the patent application or drawing. Both men were identified as residing in Chicago, Illinois, and no nationality was given for Lzarnopyski, although the name is likely Polish in origin. Sadly, neither man appears to have applied for other patents before or subsequent to this one, so very little additional information can be gained on who they were or how they came to the design submitted in their names.
The Design
The intent behind the design was to provide a mobile tracked platform from which soldiers could deliver firepower upon the enemy, as well as be elevated and protected by armor when being transported.
The overall shape is one of a large flattened triangle, with the reverse angle of the triangle formed into a series of steps up which soldiers were to climb from a small projecting platform at the rear. Three steps would bring a soldier to the top fighting platform of the vehicle, from where he could fire from behind cover.
Layout
The triangular body of the vehicle was dominated by the large angled front glacis, which curved very slightly across its width, providing a well-shaped surface to deflect enemy bullets. In the recess of the curve of the glacis was a small curved firing step or platform on the front. At the top of the vehicle, where the glacis met the roof, the roof itself was just the flattened peak of the triangle, forming the top of a wall from behind which men could shoot.
The plan view of Roy’s design is dominated by the features on the left of the small platform and large curved front glacis. Note the use of two small anchors on the right right of the image. Source: US Patent US1299620 amended by the author.
Behind this was a series of short steps down to a platform at the tail. Within the triangle, formed by the glacis and these steps, was the body of the vehicle, with a single rectangular door on each side. The tracks were arranged in a triangular pattern, with the top flattened. This matched the shape of the body of the vehicle. The track itself appears from the patent to have used pronounced square section timber spuds attached to the links and was pulled around via a sprocket, which was the rearmost of the two wheels at the top flattened part of the track. This drive sprocket was rotated by a simple chain drive from the engine, which was mounted onto a floor frame inside the body of the vehicle. Eight toothed road wheels were arranged evenly spaced on the bottom, against the ground portion of the track, spreading the load of the vehicle on the ground. No return rollers, jockey wheels, guide beams, or similar supports are shown to support the track either on the way up from the front or on the way back down at the back.
The track itself is full width, i.e. there is only this single track rather than one on each side. Power to drive the track does not get delivered via a sprocket on the left or right but via one arranged towards the center of the width of the track.
The flattened triangular arrangement of tracks taken from US Patent US1299620, with the vehicle parts edited out to highlight the track and engine. Source: US Patent US1299620 amended by the author.
Armor
The front of the vehicle was formed from one enormous and continuous glacis, from just above ground level all the way to the top of the tank, forming a door-stop shape. This angled plate would serve to deflect incoming enemy bullets and, whilst there is no armor thickness mentioned – the protection was only ever mentioned to serve against bullets. Thus, a thickness of not more than 8 mm might have been needed to provide the sort of bullet deflection Roy was intending. The steps were meant to be made from bullet-resistant armor plates, as this would allow men or stores to be carried inside the vehicle in safety.
Seen from the front the enemy can only see the enormous glacis plate and the bottom of the full-width track. Source: US Patent US1299620 amended by the author.
The entire body surrounded the tracks at the front, covering them from enemy fire and likewise at the rear. The sides of the vehicle were protected as well, as this armored covering extended down to the same level as the glacis at the front.
Side view of the vehicle, with the sides shown completely enclosing the sides. The only feature that is drawn is the side door. Source: US Patent US1299620 amended by the author.
Utility
Roy envisaged the vehicle in use as effectively a mobile armored wall, rather than a fort, despite the name he applied to it. With no sides or rear protection for the men using this as a firing platform, all of the firepower and armor was directed only to its front. Seen from any other direction, it would only serve to provide a series of easy and well elevated human targets for an opposing force to pick off.
Seen from the rear, all there is to Roy’s design is the steps and a full-width hinged door below the top step. A small space inside could store additional ammunition. Source: US Patent US1299620 amended by the author.
The vehicle was clearly intended to either operate in the attack as a platform, or forming some defensive line with other vehicles, as it could be anchored to the ground by means of a simple anchor operated from the small platform at the rear.
The very simple ground anchor for the vehicle. Two of these were drawn with one on each side of the rear platform. Source: US Patent US1299620 amended by the author.The British Pedrail tracked shield of 1915. A poor idea that never saw service and yet was still better than Roy’s design in almost every regard, as it was a smaller, cheaper, and simpler machine providing more cover for soldiers behind it. Source: UK National Archives.
Engine
No form of propulsion was mentioned, other than the single comment describing the vehicle, where Roy stated it was to have a “motor driven track”. Driven from a single, high-mounted sprocket roughly central in the width of the single track, it is unclear how or even if the machine could be steered.
The engine is located slightly off-center, to the right side of the vehicle. Source: US Patent 1,299,620 amended by the author.
Crew
Roy provided no information at all about any potential crew for the vehicle and, as it was not armed, presumably just a single person would be required to drive it. There is no indication as to where a driver might go, as there are no vision slits or windows provided from which someone inside could see out.
Practicality
On the topic of practicality, there really was none. The design provided zero protection for the men using it as a firestep from either the sides, rear, or above. Any crew would certainly have struggled to control such a vehicle with no clear idea as to how to steer the machine. It seems Roy intended it to be able to go only forwards.
For a period earlier in the war, this kind of naive tracked shield, for want of a better term, might have been forgivable, but the design was submitted in 1918 – more than 2 years after the first tanks had seen combat and long after images were to be found easily in newspapers around the world. There is simply nothing at all offered by this design that was not or could not be delivered better by a tank or something even simpler. Even the tracked Pedrail Shield of 1915 surpassed this idea, as it was simpler and provided better protection. Unsurprisingly, offering nothing at all to anyone, this design never progressed past the patent office.
Roy / Lzarnopyski Infantry Fort. Illustration by Pavel Alexe.
Roy/Lzarnopyski Infantry Fort specifications
Crew
1? (driver)
Propulsion
engine of unknown type
Armament
none
Armor
bulletproof
For information about abbreviations check the Lexical Index
Sources
US Patent 1,299,620 Infantry Fort, filed 9th November 1918, granted 8th April 1919.
The Ford 3-man Light Tank in its complete form. Illustration by Andrei 'Octo10' Kirushkin, funded by our Patreon campaign.
United States of America (1918)
Light Tank – 1 Built
The USA was a mess in WW1. War had broken out in Europe between the major world powers, killing hundreds of thousands and spreading to a front from the North Sea to Switzerland, also covering Northern Italy, the Balkans, Africa, and beyond. Yet, in the 3 years of war before the United States joined in, it had done little to prepare and certainly had not taken heed from the unleashing of tanks by the British in 1916 that a new epoch of warfare had begun. Thus, when it did finally enter the war in April 1917 on the side of the Entente, it did so with no tanks at all. In fact, no US-built tanks would ever see service in WW1, and the only tanks they used would be ones provided by the British and French. US development work was slow and even something as seemingly simple as just license building the Renault FT proved expensive and difficult to accomplish.
The Ford Motor Company had become involved too. Producer of the Model T, the world’s most common motor vehicle of the era, their production lines were well suited to mass production of vehicles for war and they tried their hand at their own tiny tank in the form of the 3-ton ‘Special Tractor’, which became known as the M.1918. This tank became available prior to the American-built version of the French FT, known as the M.1917. Whilst this US-built FT was still languishing unfinished in development purgatory, the Ford Company revealed one more attempt at a tank, this time a slightly bigger version of the FT for 3 men as a light tank, the unimaginatively named Ford 3-man Light Tank.
Design Philosophy
The vehicle itself was more than a little odd. It is not entirely clear why Ford chose to try and redesign the FT to enlarge it just a little, nor who was even asking for it. It is known that the US Army was disappointed with the tiny and mostly useless Ford 3-ton tank. Armed with just a single machine gun, that 3-ton vehicle had armor vulnerable to even small arms fire and lacked a turret. It was objectively worse than the French Renault FT by almost every measure and the most notable was the lack of firepower.
Side view of the Ford 3-ton tank, providing a clear view of the sprung double roller suspension unit and tail skids used to help cross a trench. Source: US National Archives Reference 165WW-313-A-13
Even if the 3-ton had been fitted with a 37 mm gun in place of the machine gun, it lacked a turret to make the best use of that firepower, whereas the Renault FT could at least deliver fire all around. That French vehicle came in two types, a machine gun version and a light cannon version with a 37 mm gun. The M.1917 was to follow the same layout, so it makes a little logic that the Army might want both a cannon and a machine gun in one package. Trying to achieve this modest goal came at a price and the resultant design was a bigger, rather crude-looking FT-style vehicle trying to embody the good FT bits with the new requirement.
The French Renault FT light tank. Armed with either a single machine gun or 37 mm cannon, the tank was characterized by the large front wheel raised off the ground, a horizontal beam with the road wheels, and a low rear idler with the track’s return run carried in a curve across the top. At the rear is a large skid to assist in crossing a gap.American M.1917 tank – the American version of the French FT. This example is at the Canadian War Museum. Source: JustSomePics via Wiki
Design
The general arrangement of the Ford 3-man Light Tank was to follow roughly the same lines as the Renault FT. The driver sat at the front, with a turret located above and behind him and, behind that, the engine. On each side was a track unit consisting of a large raised front idler, a series of road wheels under a protective cover, and a smaller rear drive sprocket. The center of the body was square, with vertical sides and a flat top on which was mounted a multi-sided frusto-conical turret consisting of 7 or 8 sections riveted or bolted together and surmounted by a large domed roof. At the rear of the tank, the engine bay had vertical sides and angled top plates over the engine, just like the M.1917, with a spine running lengthwise down the top of this section. At the rear was a large curved skid acting as a tail to help the tank cross ditches.
Front ¾ view of the Ford 3-man tank from a contemporary publication where the original background was edited out. Source: Pinterest
Crew
As the name suggested, the tank was to have a crew of three. The Renault FT, M.1917, and Ford 3-ton all had two crewmen, with one of the crew having to do two tasks, as either commander/gunner or driver/commander. Clearly, it would be preferable and more efficient to divide tasks so the driver could concentrate on driving and the commander on command, which makes the design of the 3-man Light Tank all the more inexplicable. Here, the crew arrangement had a driver, located in the front left of the hull, in a small rectangular section jutting out of the body. Next to him was a small section which can be seen in photographs, with a circular port on the front. That was for mounting a machine gun in a ball mount and also featured a small vision slit in the side for the gunner.
The turret, however, with a large circular opening for the gun mounting, would be occupied by the commander, who would have to not only command but also control the primary armament as well. It has been suggested in some books that the primary armament was to be a cannon and a machine gun but, with only the commander in the turret, he would not be able to operate two guns at the same time. The alternative to all this was that the gunner was not in the hull but was, in fact, in the turret all along, to control the gun from there. This would leave the hull gun to the control of the driver. Whichever way it worked, one crew member was still going to have to do more than one job, unless the gunner was just to hop back and forth between hull and turret armament, in which case, of course, the hull gun was pointless and the gunner could just use the turret machine gun.
The most likely arrangement for the crew in the vehicle was simply that, gunner and driver in the hull and the commander performing the same functions as he would in the cannon-armed FT. This was certainly a major redesign and reworking of the FT idea just to cram in a third man and a limited traverse machine gun. Adding weight to this idea of crew positioning is that both the rectangular driver’s piece and the projecting section next to it for the ball-mounted machine gun could be raised to allow greater ventilation and vision when on a road march. Presumably, the large rounded top of the turret could also open or was provided with a hatch but, without photographs of this area, this cannot be established. Surviving photographs of the wooden mock-up also show a large rectangular forward-opening hatch on the glacis plate, presumably intended to serve as the access for the hull crew.
Armament
The goal all along was to increase the firepower over that of the Renault FT/M.1917. Due to their small size, those tanks could only carry either a machine gun or a short-barrelled 37 mm cannon.
The machine gun selected would possibly have been the 0.30 caliber Marlin M.1917 machine gun, although this had already been discontinued even on the tiny Ford 3-ton in favor of the 0.30 caliber Browning, or the Browning. Nonetheless, the Marlin was fitted to some M.1917 light tanks, so it is possible that this gun was to be the front ball mount.
0.30 caliber Marlin machine gun fitted into a mount identical to that used on the Ford 3-ton, prepared here for fitting to the US version of the French Renault FT, the M.1917. Note the aluminum cooling fins on the barrel and bag to catch the spare brass. Source: Hunnicutt
The Renault FT and M.1917 also had the option of fitting the short-barrelled 37 mm. This single-shot Puteaux SA 18 cannon on the FT could be loaded and fired quickly and easily despite the small fighting space thanks to the small and light ammunition. These 37 mm x 94 rimmed rounds were a 500 gram Armor Piercing High Explosive round (Mle. 1892) traveling at 388 m/s, and a plain 560 gram High Explosive (Mle. 1916) round traveling at 365 m/s. This provided the tank with the ability to support the infantry by taking out enemy machine guns, as well as limited anti-armor capability, which would be useful for breaching small earthworks or gunshields, etcetera.
Interior view of a 37 mm gun, as postulated for the Ford 3-man. shown here in the housing used in the US version of the French Renault FT, the M.1917. Note how compact this gun is. Source: Hunnicutt
If this gun was the one being planned for the Ford 3-man or if it was a larger gun, like a 6-pounder, is unclear. Certainly, the larger turret would have allowed for a larger gun breech inside, and the later M.1921 Medium Tank A used a very similar style turret face opening for a gun, which may be an indication for what the final gun mount would have looked like. The M.19211 Medium A used the model 1920 6 pounder tank gun, which was accepted for service in January 1920. Thus, in mid to late 1919, when this Ford 3-man Light Tank was being prepared, this gun would not have been ready for use.
Gimbal mount for the 6 pounder (57 mm) gun on the M.1921 Medium Tank A. Noteworthy is that, even in 1921, there still was no cannon and machine-gun mounting in use, supporting the premise that the Ford 3-man would only have a cannon in the turret. Source: PinterestInside view of the Model 1920 6 pounder (57 mm) tank gun, as used on the M.1921 Medium Tank A. Source: US National Archives
Armor and Dimensions
The Renault FT was a 6.5 tonnes, 5 m long, 1.74 m wide, 2.14 m tall light tank. With 16 mm thick armor on the well-angled front and vertical sides, along with 22 mm thick armor on the turret, the tank was well protected against anti-tank rifle fire at point-blank on all but the sides straight on. Despite this, the FT is not considered a particularly well-armored tank, even though this is the same sort of thickness as utilized on the British heavy tanks of the period. The thickness of the armor was really dictated by the need to protect against German anti-tank rifle fire, concentrated machine-gun fire, or the ‘reversed’ German rifle bullet.
Front view of the wooden mock-up of the Ford 3-man light tank, showing the distinctly Renault FT-shaped turret and the twin front position for the crew. Source: DodgeGarage.comSide view of the wooden mock-up of the Ford 3-man light tank, showing the distinctly Renault FT-shaped turret (substantially shorter than that of the vehicle when actually built) and the twin front position for the crew. Source: DodgeGarage.com
Considering that the Ford 3-man Light Tank was meant to be an improvement over the Renault FT, it is surprising therefore that the armor was between 0.37” (9.4 mm) to 0.6” (15.24 mm) thick at its thickest, regardless of whether it was on the well-angled front or vertical sides. What this means is that the Ford 3-man, in a tank the same length and a little wider, taller and heavier, had armor thinner than even the thinnest part of the front or sides of the Renault FT. If the armor on the FT had been made that way to protect against German anti-tank rifle fire, then clearly the armor of the Ford 3-man was inadequate.
Suspension
The general suspension principle for the Ford 3-man was similar to the French Renault FT with the large raised front idler and rear sprocket. This was not the only feature copied from an earlier design. The common axle used by the front idlers, exposed outside the front of the tank, was a legacy of the Ford 3-ton.
Of the few photographs of the vehicle, one taken in the Ford plant of the unfinished vehicle shows the track run sagging down at the top, seemingly supported by simply what appears to be a raised section on the mud cover rather than rollers. The later side view of the tank taken outside shows the track raised and taut, held up by a pair of small return rollers instead.
The wooden mock-up also differs somewhat from the vehicle that was actually completed in that the pair of return rollers were not fixed rigidly to the hull, but were actually intended to be on an inverted spring leaf suspension unit in the same style as used on the Ford 3-ton tank.
One of the rare photos of the Ford 3-man, shown here in an Official Ordnance Corps image probably taken at the Ford factory. This also shows the Ford 3-ton in the background. Source: Pinterest
Also visible in the outdoor photo is the cover over the road wheels, which is similar to that used on the Ford 3-ton, in that the wheels underneath are not rigidly fastened to this cover but instead appear to be in four pairs of wheels, with two pairs likely connected to either end of a leaf spring suspension unit under the cover. The Ford 3-ton had already switched to just this type of sprung bogie system under a side mud cover, so it is likely that this system was retained for this tank as well. An odd feature on the top of this mud cover is an ‘M’-shaped ridge of steel, the purpose of which is not known, but could be speculated as an attempt to either prevent the accumulation of mud or to help prevent wire or other debris from being drawn along the top of the mud cover into the sprocket.
Side view of the Ford 3-man Light Tank, showing the Renault FT heritage and the new, bigger rear end for the exhaust. Note how much taller the finished turret is than the original wooden mock-up with the Renault FT turret. Source: Crismon
The tracks were at least something new to the design, or at least partially new. The tracks from the Renault FT and M.1917 were, like those of the Ford 3-ton, relatively simple flat plates with a raised spud on one edge to gain traction on soft ground. The Ford 3-man’s tracks were a little different, featuring what appears to be a spud pressed into the track plate, which also featured a small hole into which the tooth of the track sprocket would fit. The track links still used the same system of a plate riveted to a shoe underneath, into which the teeth of the sprocket could mesh. The addition of this hole would allow the teeth to be larger and improve the purchase of the track during motion. Seemingly unconnected and a case of convergent evolution on the subject of tank tracks, the Italian version of the Renault FT, which was also in progress at this time, known as the FIAT 3000, had a very similar style.
FIAT 3000 – the Italian improved Renault FT, showing the similarity in the track links on this tank to the Ford 3-man, despite seemingly no connection between the designs or designers. Source: Pinterest
Engine
The Ford 3-ton had used a pair of Ford Model T petrol engines, with one engine powering each track, creating a task for the driver, who had to constantly adjust and balance the engines to keep the vehicle straight. This new vehicle would adopt the more powerful Hudson 6 cylinder petrol engine delivering 60 hp.
This engine was connected to a pair of modified Ford transmissions and then, by gearing, to a drive shaft to the drive sprockets.
Whereas the Ford 3-ton required one engine for each side with its own gearbox and could operate them singly to provide a turning moment, this vehicle was an improvement. The gearing system could operate either just a single transmission or both together to produce a 3 speed system with 2 forward gears and a single reverse gear.
A new ventilation and engine cooling system was also installed and the spine on the rear of the engine deck clearly still shows the influence of the Renault FT for the air intake. Cooling for the engine was provided by means of a water-filled radiator and fan, with the air for cooling and combustion drawn in through that spine and the exhaust all vented out of a large grille behind it.
Rear ¾ view of the Ford 3-man light tank, showing the extended engine bay and the distinctive double skid tail, as used on the Ford 3-ton. Source: DodgeGarage.comAnother view of the Ford 3-man light tank, showing a small vision slit next to the front right crew position. The lineage from the Renault FT is undeniable. Source: DodgeGarage.com
Production Outcome
The vehicle was still unfinished when the fighting part of WW1 ended and, yet, even while it was in development, the US Army Ordnance Department were seemingly so impressed with this rather crude vehicle that they still ordered 1,000 of them. With an order for 15,000 Ford 3-ton tanks and 1,000 of these, the war was potentially very lucrative for the Ford Company. With the end of the war and just 15 Ford 3-tons and this partially finished 3-man, however, any such ideas of a financial tank-building windfall was over for Ford. The vehicle was, at some point, tested to some degree by the Ordnance Department in 1919 and was found wanting. Just like the Ford 3-ton, this tank was too rear heavy and the design was not adopted. It is believed that the tank was later scrapped.
Conclusion
The Ford 3-man light tank is an oddity. A ton of effort and redesign work for little benefit. Redesigning the successful Renault FT just so it could include a third man and then to squander that opportunity by placing him in the front to operate just a single machine gun when he would really be more usefully employed in a bigger turret with the firepower concentrated there. With the Renault FT in mass production and being copied in the form of the American M.1917, what role could this vehicle actually perform? Larger, heavier and barely better armed, and yet with less armor, the vehicle stands out as a classic example of trying to improve on a design which was already close to perfection, and an effort which did not achieve success but instead failed utterly. The vehicle was simply worse in every way to the Renault FT with the sole benefit of another machine gun, a large price to pay for a completely new tank and presumably the reason why this vehicle managed just a simple example before being abandoned.
The Ford 3-man Light Tank in its complete form. Illustration by Andrei ‘Octo10’ Kirushkin, funded by our Patreon campaign.
Sources
Aberdeen Proving Ground Series: Tank Data 1. WE Inc., USA
Alexander, J. (2015). Briefly Famous. Self Published, USA
Crismon, F. (1992). US Military Tracked Vehicles. Crestline Press, USA
Ford Model T.net. https://www.fordmodelt.net/specifications.htm
Hunnicutt, R. (1995). Stuart – A History of the American Light Tank Vol.1. Presidio Press, USA
Jarret, G., & Icks, R. (1971). Portrait of Power. Normount Publishing, USA
Jones, R., Rarey, G., & Icks, R. (1969). The fighting Tanks 1916-1933. WE Inc., USA
Mroz, A. (2009). American Military Vehicles of WW1. McFarland and Co. Inc., USA
Ford 3-man light tank specifications
Dimensions
16’ (4.88 m) long excluding tail
6 ½’ (1.98 m) wide
7’ 9” (2.36 m) high
Total weight, battle ready
7.5 tons
Crew
3
Propulsion
Hudson 6-cylinder petrol producing 60 hp
Armor
0.37” (9.4 mm) to 0.60” (15.24 mm)
For information about abbreviations check the Lexical Index
United States of America (1916)
Mock-up Training Tank – 1 Built
America was not involved in the bloody slaughter on the first years of war on the Western Front not arriving until the summer of 1917. Political pressure in the United States had very much sought to avoid becoming embroiled in the war which most Americans met on a daily basis in newspaper headlines. The US military was also fairly ill-prepared for a major European land war. When, in September 1916, a new mechanical weapon of war known as the ‘tank’ was unleashed by the British in France, it could only have served to reinforce a view of being grossly ill-prepared for a modern war.
When the first images of tanks appeared in November 1916, they were a sensation in the newspapers and newsreels of the day, capturing the public imagination. There was, of course, a serious problem in America – they did not have any. Not only did they not have any, they also did not understand the technology which was at work or have an understanding of the conditions in which a machine would have to operate. The one thing which was easy to understand was the fact of this machine being tracked and there were several American tracked vehicle manufacturers at the time.
The result was several rather hastily conceived vehicles playing ‘tank’ built around these tracked tractor chassis’ used in films, for military training, or for parades. One of the first, a rather crude box-shaped vehicle, came from C. L. Best in California in 1917 and was quickly replaced with a much sleeker vehicle with a large fully rotating turret. Rather than give the tank a direct name of its own, it simply inherited the name of the tractor on which it operated, the Tracklayer Best 75.
The Tractor
The C. L. Best Tracklayer 75 weighed in at a whopping 28,000 pounds (14 US tons / 12.7 tonnes), making it 1,500 lbs. (680 kg) heavier than the larger and more powerful 120 hp Holt tractor and 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kg) heavier than its primary competitor, the Holt 75 (23,000 lbs / 10,432 kg). Shaped in the manner of a tricycle with a single tyreless wheel at the front for steering, with a pair of track units at the back for propulsion and an engine located near the front, towards that steering wheel, the layout was common across a number of tractors of the era. It should be noted that the company founder, Clarence Leo Best, owned a patent for elements of this arrangement since 1914. Holt also owned a series of patents and accused each other of stealing their ideas. A string of litigation and acrimonious lawsuits between them followed.
The Best tractor had started life in 1912 as the C. L. Best 70 hp. Tracklayer but became the ‘75’ in 1913. Powered by a giant 4 cylinder (independently cast cylinders) ‘valve-in-head’ engine with a bore of 7 ¾” (197 mm) and stroke of 9” (229 mm) producing 40 drawbar hp at 450 rpm. The Best 75 was capable of 1.5 mph (2.4 km/h) in first gear and 2.375 mph (3.8 km/h) in second gear along with 1.625 mph (2.6 km/h) in reverse. The fluid load was 6 Imperial gallons (27.3 liters) of petrol mixed with 66 Imperial gallons (300 liters) of paraffin, 7 Imperial gallons (31.8 liters) of oil, and used 27 Imperial gallons (122.7 liters) of water for cooling.
Up until 1916, these tractors were built at the company’s plant at Elmhurst California, until manufacturing shifted to San Leandro, also in California. Production ceased in 1919 and, by the time of the merger in the early 1920s with Holt, some 734 C. L. Best Tracklayer 70 and 75 tractors had been made.
C.L. Best Tracklayer 75. Source: Haddock
In the months following the unleashing of the tank in September 1916 and even after the first photographs of it appeared in November that year, numerous imitations were created. Some were simple wooden boxes or frames covered with canvas for use as training aids or for promotional purposes. After all, what better way could there be to promote sales for tracked vehicles than a ‘tank’? The company C. L. Best managed to put together a quick ‘tank’ using one of their tractors. It was made with a large boxy-shaped body surmounted by a large fixed conning tower. The vehicle, displaying the name ‘Best 75 Tracklayer’ had worked surprisingly well for the company, appearing in some military exercises with the California National Guard, crushing down barbed wire entanglements. However, it was shockingly crude in appearance. Despite the success of the machine in the first months of 1917 or rather because of that success, C. L. Best replaced that crude body with a much sleeker and curvier body with a fully rotating turret. That second version would manage even more publicity for the tractor company, but also be used as a recruiting tool by the Army.
The original Best 75 Tracklayer ‘tank’. Source: Crismon
The new body of the vehicle, now sporting the reorganized words to switch from ‘Best 75 Tracklayer’ to ‘Tracklayer Best 75’ on the side, was ready by April 1917. It once more took part in mock battles with the California National Guard and Coast Artillery Corps on sand dunes by a beach under the watchful eyes of onlookers.
“The monster plowed its way through all obstacles, clambering easily through dense underbrush, crashing through barbed wire entanglements and crushing wooden houses with all the startling efficiency of the British type that bewildered the Germans in France”
The Day Book, 25th April 1917
The Day Book of 25th April 1917 reported the vehicle under the skin of this leviathan as a 14-ton ‘Caterpillar’, which would make it a Holt-made vehicle, even though the vehicle was clearly sporting the name Tracklayer C.L.B. 75 on the lower parts of both sides at the front and on each side in big letters. That is because despite the vehicle looking like the more famous Holt 75 tracked tractor, it was the rival C. L. Best tracked tractor instead underneath. The weight, quoted as 14 tons, was exactly the weight of the unarmored C. L. Best Tracklayer 75, a ton heavier than the Holt 75, which no doubt added to the confusion over-identification.
Design
The design was rather elegant in its simplicity. Looking like a giant shoe, the body was semi-circular in cross-section, with the central axis of the semicircle running longitudinally down the line of the vehicle, giving it the form of a half-cylinder. The bottom edges of this half-cylinder were attached to small outriggers from the chassis of the tractor and came to a point at the front. There, a large curved attachment was fitted, notionally for cutting wire, and bearing an uncanny resemblance to the wire cutter fitted to the Holt 75 mock-up used in the film Patria. Each half of this curved nose part of the tank was made from 4 large sections, each fastened with ‘rivets’. This is more likely to have been sheet metal over a wooden frame imitating such fixings. Small ripples and creases visible on the vehicle in some photos would indicate the shell to be made from just thin sheet metal as well. In each of these front side sections was a small semi-circular piece projecting out and pointing forwards. Each of the main sides of the vehicle was made from 9 pieces, with the first and third sections from the front also having a loophole for observation. On top of the vehicle, directly above the tracked section, was a circular turret with 8 circular openings and 12 small ovaloid ones below them. Two of the circular openings mounted the ‘guns’ at opposite ends of the turret, facing away from each other. The turret roof was a simple cone covering the whole of the top of the turret. The rear of the vehicle was angled down sharply to the frame of the tractor at the back. Two notable features which can also be seen projecting from the roofline are exhausts for the engine. Sitting in front of the turret, these would serve to produce smoke directly in front of the turret and obscured any view of the ground for the men inside.
Armor and Armament
Given that the vehicle was misidentified as Caterpillar rather than reading the actual name on the side, the claim of armor cladding made from “a lighter weight model of the armor plate used in real war” appears simple exaggeration for the reader’s benefit. The vehicle was, in fact, completely unarmored. For the size of the vehicle, any armor of value would have added several tonnes to the weight and seriously affected the albeit already low speed. Given that
The Day Book reported it weighed 14 tons and Motor Age magazine reported it at 15 tons, and that its unarmed weight was already 14 tons, clearly no protection was carried.
The same is true of the armament. The Day Book (1917) also claimed that it was fitted with a pair of “rapid fire one-pound guns … mounted in the conning tower which revolved to sweep the entire field”. Different photographs on different dates and locations confirm that this ‘conning tower’ did indeed turn, but the armament consisted of just wooden props. This is confirmed in the same article on the vehicle from The Day Book, where it says 3 men were needed in the turret to operate “the ‘one pounders’ ” – the quotation marks added to the description indicated that they were known to be fake but were to imitate real guns. The vehicle, therefore, was unarmed.
Low-quality photographs of the April 1917 exercise in which the vehicle took part, smashing a wooden house (top) and then joining in an ‘attack’ (bottom). Source: The Day Book 25th April 1917A clearer version of the second image from above, as seen in Bache 1917. For whatever reason, the infantry is leading the ‘attack’, with the ‘tank’ behind them on the other side of the wire. Source: Bache.
Crew
Just like the Holt 75 and other vehicles based on this type of tracked tractor, visibility was a serious problem. Even unarmored, the driver would have difficulty seeing ahead to the left due to the position of the engine blocking his view, as he was positioned approximately halfway back along the length of the track units, on the left-hand side. Confusingly, there is a cut-away drawing of the vehicle showing the driver in the turret, courtesy of Popular Science Magazine July 1917. No other crew positions are visible in that drawing, but it also curiously labels the two small features on the front, either side of the nose of the vehicle, as air intake louvers. The radiator for the tractor was indeed directly next to these areas, but it certainly would not need these two tiny louvers for air. The whole underneath of the vehicle was completely open and unarmored anyway, meaning as much air as could be needed could be drawn up from underneath. This meant that those upper features were useless for cooling air. If, of course, they were needed for air, then the logical positioning would be to turn them to face backward, so as not to direct bullets that struck them into the vehicle. In the account of the design given in ‘The Day Book’ of 25th April 1917, although it did claim the vehicle to be armored when it was not, it did give a listing for the crew. There, there is an explanation for the two features on the vehicle’s front, as it says the driver had to be assisted by a pair of lookouts at the front. With no other features from which to observe, this would mean one man stood on alongside the radiator at the front, looking out of the ‘vent’ hole and providing guidance to the driver sitting in the rear and operating more as a steersman than a true driver.
Cutaway view of the Tracklayer Best 75 showing the driver in the turret. Source: Popular Science Magazine July 1917
This would mean 3 men were required to drive the vehicle and another 3 would be sat inside the turret to operate the guns. These latter 3 persons may or may not have been able to set off small blank charges to simulate fire but, as this was done on the first version, it is likely that the second one too could ‘fire’ in this manner as well.
Tracklayer Best 75 crushing a wooden house during maneuvers in California. Source: ZalogaLooking more like TikTok from Return to Oz than an actual fighting machine, the Tracklayer Best 75 is still an imposing sight during this mock battle. Source: Pinterest
Image of the Tracklayer Best 75 from Literary Digest, 21st April 1917, and a wider but shorter view of the same image from Bache 1917.
Final Use
The use of this vehicle during exercises seems to have been relatively short-lived, as there was only so much such a slow vehicle could offer in the way of ‘combat’ training for the men.
However, it did not immediately disappear and was seen leading parades into at least May 1917 in California. There, displaying posters, it was used to help recruit young men and women for the war effort, as the United States had entered the war at the start of April. Its appearance in April exercises and then parades provided some reassurance to both the men being sent to fight and presumably their families, that the USA was not going to go to war without its own tanks. They would be wrong on that account, and it was not until September 1918, just two months before the war ended, that the US finally got tanks of its own into combat – notably not ones of American design. The Tracklayer Best 75 served no part in that development or process, it received no orders and presumably was quickly returned to tractor duties, with its tank-disguise removed when it was no longer needed.
Two views of the C. L. Best Tracklayer 75 from newspapers at the time. It is the same syndicated photo, but the quality varies and the background has been erased for their publication. Sources: Butte Daily Post 22/5/17 (left) and The West Virginian 4/6/17 (right)
Promotional card featuring the Tracklayer Best 75. Source: Wisconsin Historical SocietyTraklayer “Best” 75 mock-up. Illustrated by Yuvnashva, funded by our Patreon campaign
Sources
Bache, R. (1917). Our Forts on Wheels. Modern Mechanix Magazine, June 1917.
Bache, R. (1917). Our Forts on Wheels. Illustrated World, June 1917.
British Pathe Video. ‘American Tanks in Action (1917).
Butte Daily Post 22nd May 1917. Big ‘Tank’ inspires youths with patriotism ambles down street through surprised traffic’ Crismon, F. (1992). US Military Tracked Vehicles. Crestline Publishing, USA
Haddock, K. (2001). Classic Caterpillar Crawlers. MBI Publishing, USA
LeGros. (1918). Traction on Bad Roads. Reprinted 2021 FWD Publishing, USA
The Day Book. (25th April 1917). Yankee Tank in Action Amazes.
The West Virginian, 4th June 1917. Big ‘tank’ inspires youths with patriotism.
US Patent US1084062 Autotractor filed 23rd June 1912, granted 13the January 1914 Wisconsin Historical Society https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/ Young, J., Buddy, J. (1989). Endless Tracks in the Woods. Crestline Publishing, USA
The Best 75 Tracklayer was little more than a tractor covered in wood. It did, nonetheless, see use as a training mockup. Illustration by Yuvnashva Sharma, funded by our Patreon campaign.
United States of America (1916)
Mock-up Training Tank – 1 Built
In the weeks and months following the tank being unleashed on the battlefields of France by the British in September 1916, the tanks generated enormous amounts of public interest and fascination. It was not until November 1916 that photographs were available from which the public could finally understand that some of the descriptions and artistic renderings which had been circulated were wrong.
Even then, the technology of what went into the tank was secret. However, the dominant feature was not the armor or the guns, but the tracks. The USA had no tanks at the time, but it had tracked vehicle makers and, with sales of Holt tractors during the war and persistent commentary of Holt being the machines of which British tanks were based, the publicity for Holt was enormous. Holt was a maker of tractors for agricultural, commercial, and military use. A competitor of Holt was the C. L. Best company in California. They also had a heavy tractor with tracks, just like Holt, and were eager to promote themselves. A new war with armies suddenly wanting tracked vehicles was a potentially very lucrative win and, not wishing to be left out either on the credit as inspiring the British tank or for any forthcoming sales, C. L. Best produced their own ‘tank’. Based on their tractor, this vehicle was one of the first ‘tank-shaped’ objects ever made in the United States. Whilst it was not armored, it is historically important for that reason. The vehicle was not a success but it also has possibly the oldest surviving footage of a US ‘tank’ to its accomplishments as well.
The Tractor
The C. L. Best Tracklayer 75 weighed in at a whopping 28,000 pounds (14 US tons / 12.7 tonnes), making it 1,500 lbs. (680 kg) heavier than the larger and more powerful 120 hp Holt tractor and 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kg) heavier than its primary competitor, the Holt 75 (23,000 lbs / 10,432 kg). Shaped in the manner of a tricycle with a single tyreless wheel at the front for steering, a pair of track units at the back for propulsion, and an engine located near the front towards that steering wheel, the layout was common across a number of tractors of the era. It should be noted that the company founder, Clarence Leo Best, owned a patent for elements of this arrangement since 1914, but Holt also owned a series of patents and accused each other of stealing their ideas. A string of litigation and acrimonious lawsuits between them followed.
The Best tractor had started life in 1912 as the C. L. Best 70 hp. Tracklayer, but became the ‘75’ in 1913. Powered by a giant 4 cylinder (independently cast cylinders) ‘valve-in-head’ engine with a bore of 7 ¾” (197 mm) and stroke of 9” (229 mm), it produced 40 drawbar hp at 450 rpm. The Best 75 was capable of 1.5 mph (2.4 km/h) in first gear and 2.375 mph (3.8 km/h) in second gear, along with 1.625 mph (2.6 km/h) in reverse. The fluid-load was 6 Imperial gallons (27.3 liters) of petrol mixed with 66 Imperial gallons ( 300 liters) of paraffin, 7 Imperial gallons (31.8 liters) of oil, and used 27 Imperial gallons (122.7 liters) of water for cooling.
Up until 1916, these tractors were built at the company’s plant at Elmhurst, California, until manufacturing shifted to San Leandro, also in California. Production ceased in 1919 and, by the time of the merger with Holt in the early 1920s, some 734 C. L. Best Tracklayer 70 and 75 tractors had been made.
C.L. Best Tracklayer 75. Source: Haddock
In the months following the unleashing of the tank in September 1916 and even after the first photographs of it appeared in November that year, numerous imitations were created. Some were simple wooden boxes or frames covered with canvas for use as training aids or for promotional purposes. After all, what better way could there be to promote sales for tracked vehicles than a ‘tank’? The company C. L. Best managed to put together a quick ‘tank’ using one of their tractors. It was made with a large boxy-shaped body surmounted by a large fixed conning tower at about the level of the driving station, which would indicate the men basically sat on the canopy over the tractor, within its wooden walls.
The original ‘Best’ 75 Tracklayer ‘tank’. Source: Crismon
Design
The design was what might be expected from a tractor turned into a ‘tank’ at very short notice. There was no way to turn a vehicle like the Best 75 into a tank to match the images of British tanks which had been released in November 1916. With literally no other tanks from which to take design cues, the result was not much more than a giant box.
Almost childlike in its simplicity, the sides of the body tapered slightly to the roofline and curved out from about halfway up the body to go down over the tops of the tracks. The front had a pronounced step, transitioning from the tapered upper sides towards the front. In this step was a small circular loophole. The front of the vehicle was big and flat, with a large rectangular flat front angled slightly backward, with a large ‘gun’ sticking out. Around the bottom half of the vehicle, across the front, was a simple rounded front extending beyond the front steering wheel.
The roof over the engine section of the tractor was completely flat, with just the two exhausts from the engine sticking out. Behind these was a raised fixed cabin. This had a pair of large rectangular openings in the front and another on each side. In the back of the cab was a circular opening in which another ‘gun’ was located. The rear of the hull sloped down from the roof to a large bulge, the purpose of which is unknown, and thence to the back of the machine.
The location of the cabin was unfortunate, as it was directly behind the exhausts. Any smoke coming from them would not only obscure the view ahead, but also allow fumes inside, to the detriment of the occupants.
The Best Tracklayer 75 in a still from the footage of it during maneuvers. The hooked device on the front is clear, as is the very angular and crude body. Source: Pinterest
The ‘Tracklayer Best 75’ which followed the ‘Best Tracklayer 75’ received a good deal of attention in the media at the time and took part in some military exercises in California. Here, it can be seen crushing a wooden house during maneuvers. Source: Zaloga
One thing which is clear from the vehicle, however, is the ‘guns’. They were clearly not just simple wooden or metal tubes or mock-ups, but could also pretend to ‘fire’. A simple black powder charge or something similar would function as a blank to simulate it firing. This can be seen in remarkable footage from British Pathe of the vehicle during exercise in early 1917. However, despite this mock gunfire ability, the vehicle was unarmed.
No written record of how many men it took to crew the vehicle is known, but the vehicle which followed it did have a discussion of crewing. The Day Book of 25th April 1917 revealed that as well as the single driver, presumably sitting in the normal position above the tracks towards the rear on the right-hand side, a pair of ‘lookouts’ were also used. The pair of loopholes on the front of the vehicle could serve as a lookout for the driver, for whom there would be no view of the road ahead. In order to operate the ‘guns’, even during a mock battle, probably another 3 men would have been needed as well.
Best Tracklayer 75 crushing through a wall, providing a good view of the hooked wire cutter on the front. Source: Landships forum
Use and End
The vehicle did not see much use for exercises. It was clearly a very crude rendition of a ‘tank’ for the purposes of training and disappeared around March 1917. When it reappeared, it had a different form, rounded and rather sleek, with a single fully rotating turret. The vehicle had dubious value as a training tool, being so big, so slow, and so different from real tanks. It went no further than its mock-up and survives today as only a short length of film and a few photographs.
The first type of C. L. Best Tracklayer 75 tank seen crossing a barbed-wire entanglement during a mock battle in California. Source: NARA Ref: 165-WW-313-B-9The first type of C. L. Best Tracklayer 75 tank seen crossing a barbed-wire entanglement during a mock battle in California. Source: NARA Ref: 165-WW0313-B-8The Best 75 Tracklayer was little more than a tractor covered in wood. It did, nonetheless, see use as a training mockup. Illustration by Yuvnashva Sharma, funded by our Patreon campaign.
United States of America (1916-1917)
Tank Mock-up – 1 Built
Tanks first came to the public consciousness with the British unleashing them at Flers-Courcelette on 15th September 1916. It was some time before pictures of them started to appear in the media and, in the meantime, various artistic renderings of this new weapon of war came out as well. Being tracked and with a complicated development, many claimants put themselves forwards as being the inventors or, at least, the inspiration for the design. The most obvious of these was the American firm of Holt with their ‘Caterpillar’ vehicle. Indeed, the name Caterpillar is now synonymous with tanks and other tracked vehicles in general, but they were not the vehicle on which the British based their tanks in WW1, despite numerous books and television programs repeating this again and again over the decades. There were, in fact, numerous tracked armored and unarmored Caterpillar vehicles used in WW1, and one which received widespread attention was the G-9. If the attention it garnered from the media of the time was impressive, then its ignominious fate did not. Since WW1, it has largely vanished into obscurity. Even the movie ‘Patria’ in which it featured has disappeared from the public consciousness. The Caterpillar G-9 was one of the first American ‘tanks’, a rather poor vehicle built at a time of little or no knowledge of armored vehicle development, but undoubtedly an important one in the history of US vehicle development.
The ‘Tank’
The body of the vehicle was rather crude. Consisting of a slab-sided superstructure that taped slightly towards the roofline, with multiple loopholes or vision slots in the side. At the front, the shape of the body followed the shape of the tractor underneath, curving around the circular mount for the leading wheel and then angling upwards to a large rectangular hatch on the front. At the rear, the slab sides, as well as taping towards the roof, also taped in slightly at the back and there was another large rectangular hatch. Poking out from the rear hatch was a tube for a fake gun and presumably the same from the front hatch. However, with the tractor radiator directly behind it, the option for even a movie extra to stand there and play make-belief is doubtful.
In the film and in some of the photos of it being observed by the US troops, it can clearly be seen to have a pair of turrets, one right at the front of the cab, directly over where the engine was, and a second directly over the rear. Some photos, however, only show a single turret in that second position, with the front one missing.
Given that the structure, other than the tractor underneath, was made of just wood, it is easy to assume that the front turret either fell off, became damaged, or was otherwise removed from the vehicle shortly after filming. Popular Science June 1917 reported that examination by the US military took place straight after filming had finished and this front turret was in a terrible position. Not only would the turret be directly over the engine and all its heat and noise, but it would also obscure any field of observation or fire from the rear turret. On top of that was the small matter of the exhaust. Images of the G-9 with just a single turret show clearly the exhaust from the vehicle exiting the roof right where turret 1 had been, implying that turret 1 simply sat over the exhaust for the film, something likely to have caused exhaust fumes to come back into the vehicle.
Scene from the final battle in Patria with the ‘tank’ advancing. Source: American Falls Press 28th September 1917
The height of the vehicle seems to be a function of the tractor underneath having a large canopy over the top. Building a framework for the ‘armor’ on top of this canopy would also allow someone sitting on top of it to operate the rear turret, making it move for the camera. If this was a real attempt at a design, then this extra height was utterly unnecessary and would only serve to make it a bigger target and more top-heavy. Underneath the turret/turrets and the ‘armor’ was a standard Holt 75 tracked tractor.
Armor
The Holt 75 tractor normally weighed 10,432 kg (23,000 lbs.), but was reported as being a ‘13 ton’ (US short tons) at the time of its crash in 1917. Thirteen US short tons is 11,793 kg, meaning an added weight from the ‘tank’ body and turret of just 1,360 kg. This confirms that the body was not truly armored. Were the vehicle to actually carry real and effective armor, such as something not less than 8 mm thick, it would have added substantial mass to the tractor, in the region of 10 – 20 tonnes. This meant that the 75 hp engine would not have been very effective. The maximum loading capacity of the tractor was just 21,350 lbs. (9,684 kg), so it is doubtful that, without a substantial change in the design of the G-9, any worthwhile armor could be carried on the vehicle.
The Holt ‘Caterpillar’
The Holt tractors, sold under the name ‘Caterpillar’, were effective and reliable tracked tractors. Indeed, the Holt design had been, to a degree, one of the reasons behind the impetus behind some of the British push for tracked vehicles in 1915 by men like Robert Macfie. It had some shortcomings too, such as poor speed and an underpowered engine. Even without any armor added, the machine was slow. Cladding several tonnes of extra weight would raise the center of gravity, making it unstable and even slower or utterly immobile, as well as making it hard for the driver to see where he was going.
As a farm vehicle or tractor for hauling guns, these were less problematic but not ignorable. The driver, sitting at the back on the right-hand side, had to try and see forwards over all these obstructions. Even when the vehicle was open and unarmored, his view was obscured by the engine to his front left. With armor, he stood no chance of seeing out of a small slot in the front. Instead, he would have to be guided by at least one other man, probably sat or stood right next to the noisy and hot engine. At least two men were therefore needed to control a vehicle with terrible visibility and, with the problems of communication between them caused by the engine, this was not a recipe for success.
Holt had been successful even before the ‘tank’ appeared, having sold the US Army 63 of its Model 60 tractors with a 60 hp engine. The Model 75, however, was an order of magnitude more successful than the Model 60, staying in production until 1924 at the plant at Peoria, Illinois. Some 442 Holt Model 75s were even manufactured by Messrs. Ruston and Hornsby Ltd. in Lincoln, England. Combined, 4,620 Model 75s were made, of which more than 2,000 entered military service.
Automotive
In 1916, at the time of the Patria movie, the Holt 75s available would have been US-built examples using the Holt M-7 7 ½” (190 mm) bore, 8 inch (203 mm) stroke ‘valve-in-head’ engine delivering 75 hp, originally known as the Holt 60-75 (A-NVS), if they were made since production began in the Stockton plant in 1913. Some 16 Peoria-built tractors made between 1914 and 1915 used the Holt M-5 ‘Ellhead valve layout’ (T-6 series) engine. Due to problems, this was quickly changed to the Holt 75 (T-8 series) engine being fitted at the Stockton plant in California. Given that the film was also shot in California, it is most probable that the Holt used was a Stockton-made one rather than a Peoria-made example.
The engine was considered perfectly adequate for its normal duties and remained the standard engine until 1921 when it was improved with a new radiator. The T-8 series Holt-75 engine was a 4 cylinder water-cooled unit that ran on paraffin with a capacity of 22.9 liters (1,400 cubic inches), delivering 75 hp at 550 rpm. This power was carried to the drive sprockets moving the tracks via a multiple disc clutch made from 5 plates made from bronze and cast iron, along with a simple reversing gearbox. The gearbox provided for 2 forward and a single reverse gear. Forward speed was limited to 2.13 mph (3.4 km/h) in 1st gear, 3.5 mph (5.6 km/h) in second (top) gear, and 2.13 mph (3.4 km/h) in reverse. The fuel tank held 53.5 Imperial gallons (243.2 liters) which, along with 5 Imperial Gallons (22.7 liters) of oil, and 67 Imperial gallons (304.6 liters) of water, provided the fluids required for the engine to operate.
The Holt tractor itself used cast iron wheels running on heat-treated axles on Hyatt roller bearings. The track itself was connected by case hardened steel pins linking pressed steel plates 24” wide (607 mm), although 30” (762 mm) wide tracks could be fitted. All of the links had pressed corrugations 1.5” (38 mm) deep acting as spuds for traction in soft ground. The load was carried on four double-coil helical springs springing the track along its 80” (2.03 m) ground contact length.
The steering was managed via a single wheel at the front, controlled via a long steering control shaft from the steering wheel and driver’s position. This was located roughly in line with the center of the track units. The steering wheel controlled a non-reversible worm and wheel gear.
Side elevation of the Holt 75 hp tractor. Source: LeGros
Armament
An article in Popular Science June 1917 makes it clear that both the body and guns were made of wood, but also that there was a wire cutter built for the front of the vehicle. The G-9, therefore, was completely unarmed, although it is possible that pyrotechnics, like blanks, could be used to simulate gunfire.
The Movie
With the tanks of Britain and, later, France seeing combat and appearing in the press, it is no shock that, when William Randolph Hearst made a war movie in 1916, he would need a ‘tank’ of his own. Hearst was a very wealthy man and a media tycoon owning numerous newspapers and an animation studio called ‘International Film Service’ (I.F.S.). In 1916, filming of the first episodes began at Wharton Studios in Ithaca, New York, on a movie for I.F.S., all funded by Hearst and very much pushing a political agenda of military preparedness.
To an audience of 1917, the script had lashing of patriotism of dedicated Americans organizing for collective defense against a foreign foe, which culminated in a pitched battle in which, obviously, the ‘good’ side would prevail. In the modern world, it is impossible to see the film without cringing at the blatant jingoism as well as the overt racism of the movie, with stereotyped Japanese villains. However, what is unacceptable now was simply grist for the mill of the overall desire of many for the US to enter the war. It is perhaps odd then that the Japanese were the ‘enemy’, given that, in 1916, Japan was aligned with British interests and actively opposed German ones having already fought the Germans over Tsingtao in 1914. Nonetheless, the rather cartoonish plot involved a secret Japanese cabal of spies in league with nefarious Mexican interests gathering arms and gold in preparation for war in the US. This is perhaps the only time such an alliance has ever been contemplated on film. The Mexican angle was the more reasonable topic of the time, given the invasion of the US in March 1916 by Pancho Villa. Villa’s raid had sacked the city of Columbus, New Mexico, sparking a punitive retaliatory expedition by the Americans.
The shooting of the first episodes of the film took place on the site of Greystone Manor, which is now part of Cornell University. It starred Irene Castle (as Patria Channing) in her screen debut, along with established actors Milton Sills (as Captain Donald Parr), and Warner Oland (as Baron Huroki), an actor most famous later for his portrayal of Fu Man Chu and Charlie Chan.
Patria was a massive work made in no less than 15 separate episodes, costing a phenomenal US$85,000 (over US$2 million in 2021 values). The first 10 episodes were directed by Theodore and Leopold (Ted and Leo) Wharton, but the film was a little too jingoistic even for the day, particularly in its anti-Japanese portrayal.
After the first 10 episodes had been shot, allegedly, President Woodrow Wilson intervened with an appeal to the wealthy Mr. Hearst, requesting that the anti-Japanese sentiment be toned down. The result was that the leading villain, Baron Huroki, was changed from a Japanese character to that of ‘Manuel Morales’. However, the motion picture press coverage of the film at the time makes no mention of such an intervention and Huroki is both clearly villainous, Japanese, and referred to as Baron Huroki. Interplayed with this fiendish Japanese fifth columnist (although the term was not even coined at the time) plot was a criminal Mexican connection on the southern US border playing on the problems there at the time.
The wafer-thin plot of Hurki was contrasting with the glowing, alluring, and wealthy Elaine ‘Patria’ Channing (‘Patria’ means homeland in Latin, i.e. Elaine as the personification of the noble country defiled) working with handsome and dashing Secret Service agent Captain Parr. Together, these two would try to thwart the insidious threat to national security from the invaders and insurrectionists in the form of Huroki, the Japanese, and the Mexican soldiers.
Advertising Poster for the serial-movie Patria. Irene Castle is billed as ‘Mrs. Vernon Castle’ (her husband, Vernon Castle, was a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps on the Western Front at the time). The man next to her is Milton Sills. Source: IMDB
The final 5 episodes were to culminate in stopping the invading Mexicans at the border. The filming for these episodes was moved from New York to the West Coast and were shot in Los Angeles by director Jacques Jaccard. No doubt, California offered a better landscape to match ‘Mexico’ or the Southern USA than New York did.
The film was published for release on 1st January 1917 and premiered on 6th January. It did not receive general release until 14th January 1917 in the USA. By the time of the final episodes being released, the political situation was changing. This culminated in the US declaring war on 6th April 1917, making it an ally with one of the main villains of the film, rendering many of the sentiments of Patria immediately and woefully redundant.
Sadly, the original serial episodes have suffered from the ravages of time and only the first 10 episodes are known to survive. They were pieced back together in 2012 by Serial Squadron. Only limited stills of episodes 11-15 are known to survive and, unfortunately, it is in these final episodes in which the ‘tank’ appears.
Although these final scenes are missing from the film, there are both clues and a few photographs of what the ‘tank’ was that appeared. In fact, the correspondent for Moving Picture World reported that there was not a single ‘tank’ but ‘tanks’ in the final battle.
“…we have used every known appliance of modern warfare, including tanks, dirigibles, machine guns, gas bombs”. Source: Moving Picture World 24th March 1917
No footage or stills of the climactic battle are currently known to survive, although one syndicated photograph was thankfully printed in several newspapers at the time. In the photo, a twin-turreted ‘tank’ can be seen ahead of a line of US troops, heading towards what appears to be men either standing or running and with a cloud of smoke or ‘gas’ rolling across the battlefield.
Scene from the final battle in Patria with the ‘tank’ advancing. Note that it has two turrets. Source: American Falls Press 28th September 1917
Further to the single image was a long explanation of the action in the scene, which, in the days of silent movies like this one, was fairly common. An audience could read up on the action before watching it and thus be fully informed as to nuances not easy to convey in the occasional slide of words during the film.
Two excerpts from the account of the ‘battle’. Source: American Falls Press 28th September 1917
Here, in this account, it very clearly states once more that ‘tanks’, plural rather than ‘tank’ singular, were used. It even goes so far as to describe them vividly as “monstrous armadailloes [sic: armadillos]”. More than just two vehicles are actually mentioned, as the final charge is supported by “a fleet of ‘tanks’ – armored caterpillar tractors carrying machine gun crews”, yet this pluralization may simply be colorful reporting rather than strictly and literally correct.
This account of at least two vehicles is somewhat contradicted by that of Lescarboura (1919), who provides actual numbers of the extras and vehicles involved in the scene. He described the use of more than 2,700 men, including 1,200 of the California National Guard, 325 horses, multiple field guns, 25 aircraft, and just “one armored tractor or ‘tank’”. His account of just a single vehicle is backed up by the fact that there is no photo of more than one vehicle at the same time and, more importantly, by a review in Current Opinion which has the same still as before but printed more clearly. From this, it is also clear that there is just a single vehicle involved. A serious explanation of the episode’s key plot points was provided by the magazine Dramatic Mirror of the Stage and Motion Pictures, which also made clear it was just a single-vehicle.
Better quality and wider framed shot of the assault scene from Patria. Source: Current Opinion Volume 63, 1917
“PATRIA
Episode 15 ‘For the Flag’
Baron Huroki plans a night attack on Patria’s line of intrenchments, in which he hopes to surprise her troops. The Japanese advance is driven back, but an attack of liquid fire enabled them to creep up upon the trenches. In desperation, the American troops play their trump cards and send out their huge Caterpillar tank, which ploughs through the enemy’s ranks and scatters them over the border.
Amid the enthusiastic plaudits of the soldiers, Patria seeks out Donald Parr, who had been wounded in the battle, and this thrilling story of romance of war ends blissfully in love’s young dream”
Dramatic Mirror of the Stage and Motion Pictures, Volume 77, Part 1 dated 28th April 1917
The Famous Photos
There is a trio of slightly more famous or well-known images of this vehicle that appeared in the media at the time, outside of the stills from the battle scene. The shooting of Patria had finished before January, as the episodes were rolled out into cinemas and the film-prop ‘tank’ which had been made was still around afterward. In April 1917, images of the tractor appeared in various newspapers and magazines as a ‘tank’ being evaluated by US officers for potential use.
More curious than those April photos was not that the images would be repeated even into September that year or that they even appeared as rather fanciful art, but that the vehicle appears to have predated all of those and the movie.
The first outline of the vehicle appears in the November 1916 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, although it is important to note that the image is not a photograph but an artist’s impression of a tank. This is an important distinction as, although tanks were used on 15th September and news of their success captured the public’s imagination – images did not appear until 23rd October 1916. In this intervening gap, various fanciful depictions appeared and the November edition of Popular Mechanics is no different. Obviously, November is after October, but the November edition would go out in October and prior to the 23rd. Thus it missed the reveal of the real tank and was out of date almost immediately. Nonetheless, this was likely one of the first proper conceptions of what a tank actually looked like, which many Americans may have seen.
The British ‘tank’ in action according to Popular Mechanics November 1916. Note the twin turrets. Source: Popular Mechanics 1916
It is obviously not possible for the artist to have copied the vehicle from the film, as filming had not yet begun, yet the two vehicles are virtually identical, meaning they are assuredly connected. If one can imagine a wealthy man like Hearst trying to fund a great ‘patriotic’ movie at exactly the same time and not having access to an actual image of a tank but needing one in his film, it is not hard to imagine a situation where the film copied the design from this depiction. In the Popular Mechanics’ depiction, there is a clear explanatory note stating that their artist has rendered the drawing based on reliable data and on photographs of the Holt tractors which were already known to be in British use and purchased for the war. If a soldier at the time described a metal machine clad in armor and with two turrets, this drawing would indeed be a fair conclusion based on the common assumption of the turrets being mounted on the top of the tank rather than on the side as, in fact, they were on those first British machines. In the still image from the film, the vehicle can be seen still using a pair of turrets, as it is in the promotional images published in April 1917 and afterward.
Front view of the vehicle with the front wheel off the ground with a pair of soldiers and a civilian in the foreground looking on. Note that this image, like others, was issued by I.F.S. rather than an independent photographer. The top of the rear turret is also visible at the back, as is the ‘wire cutter’ on the front, which appears as nothing more than a large slightly curved blade. Source: Literary Digest New York 7th April 1917Front cover of the periodical Le Miroir (English: The Mirror) from 29th April 1917 with the caption announcing the vehicle as a ‘tank’ of the US Army. Note that this is a wider framed and uncropped view of the same image as appeared in Literary Digest earlier that month. Source: French National Library
In those April images, one thing is very clear – namely that the vehicle had a pair of turrets. Other images of the vehicle, purported to be taken during evaluation by the US Army, are also known and these feature just a single turret at the back. This change has led to speculation that there were, in fact, two different vehicles and that this is backed up by some of those film reports of multiple tanks in the final scene of Patria. However, not all of the film reviewers agreed that more than one tank was seen. It was, after all, just a prop for a single scene and those tractors were expensive.
This particular image, cropped from a slightly wider framed one, has appeared captioned as both being evaluated by the US Army at Sandy Hook, New Jersey (by Icks in 1975, quoting Wilson) and by contemporary sources as taking place in Los Angeles. Source: Clark.Wider left-framed version of the same photograph which appeared in Literary Review. Source: Alexander.The following shot showing the rear of the vehicle as it climbs a steep slope under the watchful eyes of soldiers. The vehicle can be seen leaning dangerously over to the right on this side grade. Also visible sticking out of the front is the exhaust stack for the motor, under where the lead turret used to be. Source: NARA Photo Ref: 165-WW-313-A-59.
Whatever interest the US military may have had in this beast is unclear. By the time they were allegedly looking at it, in the spring of 1917, the British tanks were already seen in the press and, unlike this ungainly machine, were fully tracked. Despite the structure being made out of wood and sheet metal (with wooden pegs inserted to imitate rivets) to simulate armor, the vehicle was still top-heavy and this helped to bring it to grief sometime in March 1917, at least a month or so before photos of it being ‘evaluated’ were shown. When the vehicle rolled over down a bank, it was utterly wrecked and thus it would have been unable to be evaluated, leaving just two possibilities. The first, that there was a second vehicle all along, or second, that the photographs were released after the crash.
Published in June 1917, this image shows the collapsed body of the G-9 tractor fallen onto its right-hand side. Note the entire side section with the word ‘CATERPILLAR’ on it has come off and is lying to the front right of the picture.Seen in the March 1917 edition of Illustrated World, the G-9 is toppled over onto its right-hand side off the road. Source: Motor Age.
Motor Age magazine, reporting on the crash in March 1917, also used the single-turret image and was clear that the photos were both taken in Los Angeles. With the different publishing dates distinct from the dates on which events happened, the reporting of multiple ‘tanks’ during filming, and the removal of one of the mocked-up turrets, it is not hard to see why it can be confusing as to whether there were two vehicles. Clearly, having crashed no later than March 1917, it could not be trialed in April or June, but the publishing dates are misleading, as they are not necessarily reporting events happening at that time, but events that had happened. I.F.S. owning the images is the first clue that option 2 is more likely the answer, as they could release the images to help promote the vehicle and, by default, their own film.
Conclusion
The design was somewhat awful. Impractically large, the tractor itself was solid and reliable and had been seen as helping to inspire some of the British tank development, but it was still not a tank by any interpretation of the word. The vehicle was simply a movie prop for Patria and not much more. The film has largely vanished from the collective consciousness and no full reel of it even exists anymore.
It might, however, be worth remembering the movie a little more. Not for its racism and xenophobia, but because it is likely to be the first ever representation of a tank recorded on film in the United States. In the post-unveiling of the tank by the British in the previous September, the world had come to see this new weapon of war as making a sea-change in the dynamics of land combat. America had clearly been languishing without. America would produce other imitations of foreign designs, eventually putting into production its own version of the French Renault FT. The G-9 design was clearly never a seriously considered tracked vehicle concept and, with the accident destroying the vehicle, it was quickly forgotten. In the century since, however, the appearance of soldiers next to it has led many to believe and claim that this was a real project considered for the US Army. Holt and Caterpillar did not suffer from this. Holt took over the firm of C.L. Best, a rival tractor firm, some years after the war, and together, the brand of Caterpillar went ahead to become a world-renowned brand in all manner of heavy plant equipment, surviving to this day.
Author’s Note: The author would like to thank the Wharton Studio Museum, New York, and Serial HQ for their help in preparing this article.
Side illustration of the Caterpillar G-9 mock-up tank that starred in the Patria movie. Illustrated by Yuvnashva Sharma, funded by our Patreon campaign.
Specifications Holt Caterpillar G-9
Crew: 2+ (driver x 2) Armor: None Armament: None Engine: Holt M-8 series paraffin engine delivering 75 hp Speed: <3.5 mph (5.6 km/h)
Sources
Alexander, J. (2015). Briefly Famous, The 1917 Caterpillar G-9 Tank and other American Tanks 1916-1918. Privately Published. AllMovie Database. Patria (1917). https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v236096 Automobile Topics (1917). Volume 45 Bache, R. (1917). Our Forts on Wheels. Modern Mechanix Magazine, June 1917. Bache, R. (1917). Our Forts on Wheels. Illustrated World, June 1917. Crismon, F. (1992). US Military Tracked Vehicles. Crestline Publishing, USA Duncan-Clark, S. (1919). History’s Greatest War: A Pictorial Narrative. E.T. Townsend Publishing, USA Haddock, K. (2001). Classic Caterpillar Crawlers. MBI Publishing, USA Icks, R. (1975). Steam Power for Tanks. AFV-G2 Magazine Vol.5 No.4 Icks, R., Jones, R., & Rarey, G. (1969). The Fighting Tanks since 1916. WE Publishing, USA IMDB. Patria (1917). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0008411/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 LeGros. (1918). Traction on Bad Roads. Reprinted 2021 FWD Publishing, USA Lescarboura, A. (1919). Behind the Motion Picture Screen. Scientific American Publishing Company, New York, USA Motor Age Magazine 29th March 1917 Moving Picture World (10th March 1917). (Scenes in Patria Episodes explained) Moving Picture World (24th March 1917). Battle Scenes in Closing Patria Episodes. Omaha Daily Bee, 27th March 1917. ‘First tank to be built in the United States. The Day Book. (25th April 1917). Yankee Tank in Action Amazes. The People’s War Book and Pictorial Atlas of the World. (1920). R.C. Barnum Co. Cleveland, F.B. Dickerson Co. Detroit, Better Farming Association of Cleveland, USA and Imperial Publishing Co., Canada Wharton Studio Museum, Filmography 1913 – 1919 https://whartonstudiomuseum.org/filmography_2/ Young, J., Buddy, J. (1989). Endless Tracks in the Woods. Crestline Publishing, USA
The Holt ''America First'' Tank. Illustrated by Yuvnashva Sharma.
United States of America (1916)
Tank Mock-up – 1 Built?
Tanks first appeared on the battlefields of Europe on 15th September 1916 at Flers Courcelette, during a British attack on German trenches. Whilst their use was by no means decisive, they showed that not only did the concept of a tracked armored vehicle work but that they had significant tactical potential. The success at that battle, no matter how small or temporary, was received with glee by a war-weary population in the UK and garnered substantial media attention domestically and abroad. Keen to capitalize on the lack of official photos of the tank at a time when what these weapons even looked like was not known, the firm of Holt, which was known to be supplying tracked vehicles to the British, took action. Even though the US was not yet in the war, Holt was keen to take credit for ‘tanks’ even if his vehicles had little to do with their actual development. The result was that, within just a couple of weeks of their first use, Holt had prepared one of their 75 hp tractors with a ‘tank’ body. The vehicle was used through October 1916 in parades in Peoria, Illinois and, at some point, was painted with the slogan ‘America First’.
‘America First’ the name
It is perhaps odd that the name of this vehicle, at a time of a worldwide war in which the United States was not even involved, would be ‘America First’, a campaign slogan for non-interventionism and isolationism. Whether the motives of promoting this slogan on the vehicle were to try and promote isolationism or to promote the vehicle as the first in the world is unclear. It was certainly a slogan known and used politically at the time and would later gain more prominence. However, in 1916, in this context, the phrase might be considered as one or both of those variants. An image of the vehicle from 16th October 1916 shows no such slogan on the side but, by the end of the month, the slogan had appeared.
Design
The design of the vehicle was relatively simple, consisting of 4 parts making up a large slug-shaped body. The first part was the nose of the vehicle, which curved sharply down from the top of the roof to a rounded point at the front. It was made from 12 large curved pieces, in the center of which was a large opening through which a ‘cannon’ poked through. The gun was presumably a fake one, as the weight of a real gun had no obvious means of support, as well as the fact that it would sit directly over the radiator and engine, making serving the gun as difficult, awkward, and impractical as could be imagined. Alongside this ‘cannon’, in the front, were a pair of narrower tubes sticking out of the nose to simulate some kind of guns or flame projectors. No vision slots or holes were provided in the front for the driver.
The center section of the vehicle was effectively a large rounded boiler made from 5 curved pieces running circumferentially around the vehicle to encapsulate the tractor underneath. Each of those curved pieces was made from a single piece running up to the level just above the ‘guns’ on the front, at which point it was joined to another section. Assuming that the top section went all the way around the top of the vehicle to the same height on the opposite side, it would mean that the ‘boiler’ body was made from a total of 15 pieces. On both sides, pierced through each of the pieces making up the side apart from the very first one, were simple circular holes. No covering for the holes appears to have been provided and they had the appearance of a loophole from which soldiers would be able to fire or provide observations. The holes were right at the top corner of the pieces, slightly above the level of the guns.
Side view of the Holt vehicle from the side, clearly showing the tractor underneath and the enormous and impractical overhang at the rear. This image was repeated in multiple newspapers of the day, garnering a lot of good publicity for Holt, titled as a ‘Land Battleship’. Source: Corsicana Daily Sun, Texas November 1916 (image has been digitally cleaned)
The third section was the rear. Once more, this had two narrow ‘tubes’ sticking out of the back, roughly in line with the two smaller ones on the front and once more presumably to simulate weapons. The shape of the rear was roughly the same as the nose as well, as it curved sharply down from the roofline down to the rear and covered the back of the tractor. Unusually, a side view of the vehicle showed that the rearmost section entirely projected past the rear of the tractor underneath, making the vehicle about a third longer than it needed to have been. Two other features identifiable on the rear are the US flag flown near to the top. Below this, a small tube was sticking out of the rear. This is presumed to be an extension for the engine exhaust to carry it backward. Although this normally went vertically, there does not appear to be anything sticking out of the front of the roof of the body, above where the engine went.
The final section of the vehicle was the turret. Made from a simple low cylinder with either a flat roof or just open, at least two more ‘guns’ are seen poking out. It is unclear if the turret was purely decorative or if someone could work in that space, as this would need some form of platform made underneath.
Crew
The minimum number of people needed to operate the vehicle was two. At least one person had to sit in the tractor under that body to control the steering and propulsion. With no windows to look out of and being sat just behind the midline, inside the hull, he would have no way of seeing outside. Thus, a second person would be needed, located either in the front or in the turret, to act as a guide to direct it in motion. This second person may also have acted as the commander. This was an awful arrangement for controlling a vehicle and alone should have precluded ideas of it being useful in combat as a successful weapon.
Assuming the other ‘weapons’ were operational, then more than 2 men would be inside. Three weapons pointed forwards each would require at least one man and the same at the back for those other two. The small turret could house perhaps two men at most and there is no indication of whether a few more could be housed inside to fire out of the circular loopholes in the side. Even ignoring those loopholes, that would be at least 9 men (2 drivers, 7 gunners). Despite the large crew complement, there is no indication as to how they could get in or out of the vehicle, as no hatches are shown. This leaves the only obvious means of access being to dip under the outer edge of the body and to climb in from ground level. This was perhaps acceptable for a display machine operating in parades, but was both utterly impractical and potentially deadly if there was ever an idea that this vehicle might serve as a template for a combat-viable vehicle. After all, if, operating on slightly soft ground, the vehicle caught fire, none of the men would be able to get out.
Image of the Holt 75-based vehicle which appeared in the press mid-October 1916. Note the lack of ‘America First’ on the side. Source: Harper’s Weekly
Armor
The Holt tractors, sold under the name ‘Caterpillar’, were effective and reliable tracked tractors, but they were relatively slow and heavy. They were, after all, designed for hard work, ploughing fields, etcetera. There, power and pulling were more important than speed or comfort. Unarmored, the Holt 75 tractor normally weighed 10,432 kg (23,000 lbs.). With a 75 hp engine, this meant a power to weight ratio of just 7.2 hp/tonne. Any armor or armament on top of the vehicle’s base weight would only decrease performance further, as well as altering the center of gravity, making it less stable. To have armor of any value, such as for stopping bullets, such a vehicle would need at least 6 to 8 mm of steel. Covering such a large body in that shape would add several tonnes to the weight. Assuming the weight of any armor, crew, armament, ammunition, etcetera added to the Holt 75 to make it into a ‘tank’ could be kept to perhaps not more than 10 tonnes, then it would mean a vehicle of over 20 tonnes propelled by just the same 75 hp engine, with a power to weight ratio of 3.75 hp/tonne. Effectively, in order to carry enough armor to be useful, this vehicle would become stuck on anything other than an ideal hard surface, at which point it may as well have just been an armored car, the type of which were already in existence. The design, as presented, could never be a viable tank in that sense – it was a display vehicle only, and the ‘armor’ likely just sheet metal fastened over a wooden frame to keep weight down. The bigger problem for the design was the armor at the rear. Any vertical slope or step to climb would raise the front of the vehicle, pivoting over the track area, where the longitudinal center of gravity was, making it tip back. The projection would then dig into the ground and immobilize the vehicle, therefore seriously limiting the amount of climb possible.
Automotive
In 1916, at the time the America First vehicle was being prepared, there were two plants owned by Holt producing the 75 Model. One was at Stockton in California, and the other at Peoria, in Illinois. Given that the parades taking place with the vehicle were in Peoria, it is virtually certain that the Holt 75 used was a Peoria-built example.
The tractor was powered by the Holt M-7 7 ½” (190 mm) bore, 8 inch (203 mm) stroke ‘valve-in-head’ engine delivering 75 hp. It had been in production since 1913, originally under the name Holt 60-75 (A-NVS), followed by the slightly improved Holt M-8 series engine. This was the standard engine and virtually unchanged until the end of production of the tractor in 1924.
This engine was a 4 cylinder water-cooled unit that ran on paraffin, with a capacity of 22.9 liters (1,400 cubic inches), delivering 75 hp at 550 rpm. This power was carried to the drive sprockets moving the tracks via a multiple disc clutch made from 5 plates made from bronze and cast iron, along with a simple reversing gearbox. The gearbox provided for 2 forward and a single reverse gear. Forward speed was limited to 2.13 mph (3.4 km/h) in first gear, 3.5 mph (5.6 km/h) in second (top) gear, and 2.13 mph (3.4 km/h) in reverse. The fuel tank held 53.5 Imperial gallons (243.2 liters) which, along with 5 Imperial Gallons (22.7 liters) of oil, and 67 Imperial gallons (304.6 liters) of water, provided the fluids required for the engine to operate.
The Holt tractor itself used cast iron wheels running on heat-treated axles on Hyatt roller bearings. The track was connected by case hardened steel pins linking pressed steel plates 24” wide (607 mm), although 30” (762 mm) wide tracks could be fitted. All of the links had pressed corrugations, 1.5” (38 mm) deep, acting as spuds for traction in soft ground. The load was carried on four double-coil helical springs springing the track along its 80” (2.03 m) ground contact length.
The steering was managed via a single wheel at the front, controlled via a long steering control shaft from the steering wheel and driver’s position. This was located roughly in line with the center of the track units. The steering wheel controlled a non-reversible worm and wheel gear.
Side elevation of the Holt 75 hp tractor. Source: LeGros
In Action
A somewhat fanciful depiction of the America First tank in action appeared at the end of October 1916, a few days before any pictures of an actual tank were available. The artist made it seem like this giant slug of a vehicle was a viable weapon.
A close look at the image, however, provides some additional information on the structure. If it is correct in its representation of the vehicle, then the top of the hull was formed without a seam or joint along the top, meaning 5 large curved pieces made up the whole upper structure. Less believable are the three (or possibly four) large guns poking out of that small cylindrical turret leaving zero room inside for any crew, loading, or even a breach for the guns.
The fanciful depiction of the Holt design in action crossing an enemy trench scattering the defender with three guns crammed into the tiny turret Source: Image edited from the Ogden Standard 21st October 1916
More interestingly, perhaps, than the fanciful depictions of these weapons in use, is that the front wheel of the tractor can clearly be seen to be suspended in thin air over the trench. This was not an error of art and was either good luck from the artist or an actual representation of something the tractor was often pictured doing – driving with the front wheel off the ground. This is because, despite the engine being towards the front of the vehicle, most of the weight was at the back, over the tracks. The result was that, when ascending or descending a slope or when crossing an obstacle, the front wheel was often seen off the ground. This looked very dramatic for images showing the capability of the vehicle, but was a serious problem if the vehicle needed to turn. That small wheel was the method of steering the vehicle and, when it was not in contact with the ground, this was a problem.
https://i.imgur.com/WwLzp5K.png Front page of French periodical Le Miroir in April 1917, showing the same ‘wheel off the ground trait’ from the Holt tractor. Note that this vehicle is also based on the 75 hp Holt Caterpillar but was only a movie prop and not a serious tank design. Source: Le Miroir
Time
The first use of tanks was on 15th September 1916 and the first photos in print did not appear in the USA or anywhere else until the middle of October. This left a gap of around a month in which various drawings and pictures of tanks were published in the press based on descriptions, which were often rather laughably inaccurate. In this gap came the vehicle from Holt, which was not a serious design for use off-road and was clearly put together as quickly as possible to show off the contribution of Holt to the war. By the time photos became available in the US press, at the end of October (although not in the British press until November), showing what real tanks looked like, such a vehicle from Holt probably looked a little ridiculous, sharing no design features at all with the real thing. By November 1916, the vehicle appears to have disappeared from the parade scene, likely stripped of its body and simply reused as a tractor.
The giant bulk of the vehicle is obvious from this image, as are the tubes poking out of the front. The unusual squiggle on the front is not part of the design, but a left-over part of a newspaper headline printed over the photo when it was published. Obvious in this image is the total lack of hatches for the ‘crew’ to enter. Source: Image edited from the Ogden Standard 21st October 1916 (image has been digitally cleaned)Post-WW1, General Swinton (right) was one of the two men credited as the actual inventors of the tank (along with Sir William Tritton) and is seen here shaking hands with Benjamin Holt next to a Holt Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois, August 1918. The caption was carefully and still not technically correctly worded, saying “General Swinton made his first public acknowledgment of the fact that he derived the traction principle for the tank from a Holt Caterpillar”. Such public recognition and attention for Holt only served to continue the misconception that British tanks were based on the Holt traction system, which they were not, unlike French tanks like the CA1 and St. Chamond, or the German A7V, which were actually based on Holts. Source: NARA Re: 165-WW-425-869The Holt ”America First” Tank. Illustrated by Yuvnashva Sharma.Original Press Photo of the vehicle Source: Western News Union
Sources
Alexander, J. (2015). Briefly Famous, The 1917 Caterpillar G-9 Tank and other American Tanks 1916-1918. Privately Published.
Corsicana Daily Sun, Texas 4th November 1916
Le Miroir, 29th April 1917
LeGros. (1918). Traction on Bad Roads. Reprinted 2021 FWD Publishing, USA
Harper’s Weekly 16th October 1916
The Ogden Standard, 21st October 1916, To the rescue in a land cruiser.
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United States of America (1919)
Image of the Tracklayer Best 75 from Literary Digest, 21st April 1917, and a wider but shorter view of the same image from Bache 1917.
Two views of the C. L. Best Tracklayer 75 from newspapers at the time. It is the same syndicated photo, but the quality varies and the background has been erased for their publication. Sources: Butte Daily Post 22/5/17 (left) and The West Virginian 4/6/17 (right)
Two excerpts from the account of the ‘battle’. Source: American Falls Press 28th September 1917
