Hi folks,

I found this rather unusual item over on Pathe.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/horseless-artillery/query/WW1+artillery

Cheers

Al

Its interesting that with so many such things its hard to immediately ditch the previous setup in its entirety. Horse or not, reins are clearly the most efficient method of steering

Dang, if that ain't the most interesting thing I've seen all week. Never even heard of it before. It would make a cool model, that's for sure, paired up to a 13 pdr and two limbers.

And it's definitely a tractor, you can see the radiator at the front and what appears to be a tank (fuel??) on the vehicle's right side inthe head-on view. The turntable & steering method are very cool and quite instinctive. Probably wouldn't =have lasted 20 minutes in the Flanders mud, but very cool, to be sure. The zig-zag traction enhancers on the outer row of tread blocks is interesting as well.

Hi Paul and Joe,

A pretty unusual one for sure.

Cheers

Al

The "Mechanical Horse" of WWI - very interesting.

When you consider that we are very close to building a "Mechanical dog/mule" to carry 100+ lbs. of extra ammo and supplies for a platoon, one is left thinking that once again, there is nothing new under the sun.

Learned just yesterday of a lite monorail used to resupply the trenches in WW I. It's claim to fame was that the rail was up in the air five to six feet on 4" dia. poles driven into the ground. It was therefore very easy to install and repair over rough, broken or shell shot ground.

Another item of extreme interest is that this "Mechanical Horse: had NEUTRAL steering - it could turn in place by driving one wheel forward and one wheel in reverse at the same time. A benefit (for Tanks) that would not be seen again until the 1950s/60s!

How all this information was communicated through the use of only the two rains would be an interesting study in itself.

Hi Michael,

Yes, the steering is seriously clever, the reins as a mode of steering just fascinating.

Al

Looks like my next steampunk project!

It looks like "band on drum" brake steering of some sort. When the driver wants it to stand still he gives the reins a flick forward to activate the brake?

The neutral turn is interesting as he is raising one arm to get one wheel to reverse whilst keeping the other lowered to get the other to go forward (or is it the other way round?).

That is one seriously interesting machine. They really brought out some incredibly innovative stuff in WW1.

Nice find Alan!

Who'd a thunk it?

World War I ?????

I like the steampunk comment though I am gonna have to think about just what the lady driving it will be wearing!

OK keep it clean!