The Harrison times., 1916-12-23


centimeter howitzer are merely instru-
mentS for delivering blows he says.
The essential difference between bat
ties of prehistoric times and those of
today lie in the manner of delivering
blows. SmOkeIess powder has merely
heightened the arm of the fighter. He
strikes and kills at a distance Of miles.
Because armies are still composed
essentially of many individuals fight
| ing ships may be more tittingly termed
war machines. A battleship is n real
machine. The men on board are mere
| ly 50 many intelligenCeS that control
the steam engine, the turrets, the great
fare is still waged, not by a few ma
chimes as on the sea, but by organized
millions o. men.
"Why is there no land battleship,
something comparable with our own
Pennsylvania, something which will
concentrate within one volume the
oIllhlIB power VI all dTuly
Engineering Possibility.
There is no good engineering rea-
son why an enormous wheeled struc-
ture heavily armOred and capable Of
travelling at high speed, should not
wage the battles of the future. Tech
nically it is far easier task to de-
sign and build a superdreadnaugh
than wheeled destroyer to run on
solid ground. The ocean is a vast
level expanse. There are no hills and
valleys. Waste IS in the same den
Sity everywhere. But land varies from
the hardest rock to the sOftest quag-
mire Here we have the reason, why
we still oppose armies against each
other instead of machines.
"Undeniabe as these difficulties are,
it seems to me that they could be over
come by boldly designing a machine
Of such dimensions and of such en-
ergy that it could travel over a country
road. A hill 80 feet high would be to
that machine what siX-inCh ridge of
clay would be to an automobile; a
swamp would no more hinder its course
than half foot of mud would stop
touring car. Even over rough inland
country it would rush more swiftly
than any touring car on a poor road.
The impact Of heavy mass moving
with the velocity of an express train
would be irresistible Indeed, in its
speed would lie It's destructive pos
Sibilties. 1t could NOW down every
thing before it with the relentlesSness
Of steam roller. Guns would not be
required to rOut an enemy. An army
would be as helpless in offering resist
ance as flock of geese in the path of
an automobile.
picture to yourself a self-propelled
machine, comprising three wheels and
a heavily-armored body or car. There
are two wheels, $50 to 200 feet in di-
ameter in front and a single smaller
steering wheel to the rear. The en-
tire structure is short SO that the turn-
ing radius will be small.
"NO doubt you are familiar with the
military maSts Of our American bat
tleships. They are latticed towers not
unlike cages. They are thus construct.
ed so that the whole sections Of the
lattice work may be shot away; but
the remaining portions will still sup
port the mast.
$50 | would build the wheels of my
war machine. Why not armor them
instead? They would weigh too much
thousands Of tons. But the hub
would armor, and heavily. There the
spokes would be concentrated so
thickly that they might be shot away
in great numbers and the wheel still
stand.
"The two front wheels Of this war
machine would have to be spaced
about POO feet apart. They would
have a tread about 20 feet wide. [
would make them of steel in plates
four inches thick, bolted together in
sections.
Car Comparatively Small.
"Since the machine is to destroy by
virtue Of It's inherent energy and not
by means Of guns, 1t would have a
comparatively small cara car which
would not rise above the tops Of the
front wheels, which would be heavily
armored and which would serve prl-
marily as housing for the engines.
The crew would be small--not more
than perhaps thirty men.
IL am fully aware that the problem
Of obtaining engines which will give |
this war machine speed Of 100 miles |
an hour Is not easily solved But IL |
thousands Of horse power con be devel- |
oped by the engines of pitching and |
rolling DattlpShlDs n 10 not ,,,o,,o,,