November 24, 1904

[Martin Antonenko]

A new type of drive with far-reaching consequences ...!


On November 24, 1904, the American inventor Benjamin Holt ...



... shows in Stockton (US state California) for the first time an agricultural tractor with caterpillar drive that he has developed ...:



Holt immediately receives the patent for this new type of drive, which he calls "Caterpillar" and is convinced that his invention will make horses and mules superfluous in agriculture in a short time.

Economically, however, his project is very difficult to get off the ground, because the Holt tractors are simply uneconomical for farmers: They cost too much, are far too heavy and the maintenance effort is enormous!

However, the military in the USA, Great Britain and France soon began to be interested in Holt's caterpillar drive - the Germans, who are otherwise so innovative in military matters, are giving the American the cold shoulder.

First, the interests of the military are focused on the actual purpose of the crawler tractor:

The Americans are experimenting with self-propelled guns ...



... the British use the "caterpillars" as a tug for heavy artillery at the beginning of the First World War ...:









But ideas soon grew in Great Britain and France as to how one can overcome the fortress-like German rift system with the help of armored vehicles in the deadlocked trench warfare on the western front.

The all-terrain caterpillar drive of the "millipedes" appears to be the ideal means for this!

Holt, who has continuously developed his caterpillar drive, begins to design "tanks" himself - with gas and electric drive - here one of his first models:



"Tank" was originally a cover term used by the British to deceive German espionage; they wanted to pretend that it was a question of mobile water tanks for supplying troops.

The Germans were promptly deceived and were nastily surprised at the first tank operation at the front!

"Tank" as a term analogous to the German word "Panzer" has become a fixed term for armored combat vehicles in the English and Russian languages. In Russia, tank drivers are called "Tankistij" (Танкисти).

The British develop the "Litte Willie" test tank on a Holt chassis ...

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... but soon turned to the Mark 1 project, as the revolving caterpillar drive seemed more promising to them.

This drive concept was developed by the English officer Ernest Dunlop Swinton ...



... developed - but ultimately it was also based on Holt's research.

Swinton and Holt became good friends because of their common interests: The next picture shows both (with models of their developments) in London in 1918 ...:



The next picture shows the directed by Lieutenant Walter Gordon Wilson ...



... built prototype of the "Mark 1" on September 17, 1915 at a demonstration at the Hatfield Park test site ...:



However, it is left to the French to develop the first armored combat vehicle on a Holt caterpillar drive in 1916: the "Char Saint Chamont" ...:


**continued next post**

 

[Martin Antonenko]

Part II


The "Char Saint Chamont" turns out to be a complete faulty construction!

For cost reasons, the French had taken over the Holt drive unchanged (without extending it, which would have cost time!).

The armored superstructure protruded far beyond the caterpillar at the front and rear - when negotiating a German trench, the tank inevitably hit the bow or the stern - and got stuck!

All 16 vehicles used got stuck in trenches during the first combat mission on May 5, 1917!







After that, the frustrated French turned to the production of the light, agile and fast "Renault FT 17" tank, which turned out to be far more successful.

When the Americans entered the war in Europe, they also relied on the "FT 17"; it says Lieut here. Col. George S. Patton, the commander of the 1st US Tank Battalion, proudly in front of "his" Renault tank in the summer of 1918 ...:



The inventor of the drive, without whom none of this would have been possible, Benjamin Holt, died on December 5th, 1920 as a very rich man.

The Fiorma "Caterpillar", which emerged from his invention, is one of the 150 largest companies in the world with a market value of 45.13 billion US dollars (2008).

However, tracked vehicles in the agricultural sector were never used on a large scale!

The exception was the Soviet Union, where "Voroshilovets", Ordzhonikidze "SChTS-NATI" and "ATZ" crawler tractors were used. There it was worth using the heavy machinery on the huge cultivated areas that had arisen after the collectivization of agriculture.





Out of sheer desperation to stop the German onslaught, the Red Army used such tugs with light armor and somehow armed even as combat vehicles in 1941 - for example in the defense of the city of Odessa, where a tractor factory was!





But these "combat vehicles" were easy prey for the German anti-tank defense - they were too slow, too immobile, too lightly armored and inadequately armed - death traps for their own crews ...:



Nach dem Krieg erlebte der Traktor mit "Caterpillar"-Antrieb in der Sowjetunion und in den mir ihr wirtschaftlich verbundenen RGW-Staaten eine Renaissance in der Landwirtschaft, auch in der DDR...:





Such vehicles remained the exception in the West! However, the caterpillar drive invented by Benjamin Holt has established itself worldwide for construction machinery (e.g. excavators and bulldozers) ...:

 

[sd0324]

My father was a Tool & Die maker for Caterpillar for years after he retired from the USMC. Good post Martin.

Steve

 

[Nap]

Interesting thread about tank tread

Cheers Martin

Nap

 

[Airkid]

Good post Martin. My maternal grandfather was tank crew in WW1. Now, tanks seem to be coming to the end of their usefulness. British MOD talking about doing away with MBTs altogether. Our likely adversaries in a future conflict are not so short-sighted.

Phil