California's Conception of a "Tank
It was designed for aid in recruiting
PATTERNED somewhat after the famous British tanks pic- tured and described in the May issue of Popular Science Monthly, the California-made tank shown herewith is like its famous prototype in only one par- ticular, that of a track-laying pro- pelling means. There the similarity ceases, for it has not the large upswept track-laying framework in front that has made possible the almost incredible hill-climbing feats of the British tank. Instead it has two track-laying members of the kind used on farm tractors and a small guiding wheel in front.
Formidable as it looks in armor . A
and with the guns sticking out of its m
turret, a heavy rain would render it use- less in actual service. The small wheel in front would bury itself in soft ground on a shell crater, which its foreign rival could negotiate with ease. The large bear- ing area of the caterpillar shoes makes it possible for the British tank to traverse soft, muddy ground. The pressure is said to be less than three pounds to the square inch with the cater- pillars thirty inches wide and with about fifteen or twenty
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� ��company of infantry using the track-laying tank sham battle on the outskirts of San Francisco
feet of length in contact with the ground all of the time.
Obviously, then, the truck illustrated
would be a failure in the land of shell
craters between the trenches in warfare as
carried on to-day. However, it served a
useful end in acquainting our California
infantry with its adaptability as a war
instrument and in arousing the martial
spirit. The regular army used the tank for
recruiting purposes. It is here
shown in a sham battle in
rough country in the
,~*^ vicinity of San
EXHAUST PIP%S ^'- Francisco.
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���Because of the small wheel in front, the tank could not travel in a land of shell craters and muddy ground. It is, therefore, not in the fighting class, however formidable* it may appear
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