Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-19
Bristol Tanks
 Built in Peoria
HAVE ATTRACTED WoRLD WIDE
 ATTENTION IN FRANCE
DESIGNED FOR FARMS
Tractors Sent to EnIeIand Weigh About 1S,ooo Pounds Each, Develop 12o Horse Power and Are Built of Steel.

Washington, Sept. 18-The British tanks, the armed motor cars used es in northern France so successmuIly as to attraR> world wide attention. were built for the most part in Peo- ria, H., in the form of caterpillar tractors designed many years before difficult pSoblems of modern farming the war began to meet some of the difficult problems of modern farming. Except for their armor, their machine guns and their crews. thousands like them are in use today in the United States, in blowing, digging ditches, and other labors less heroic than war
 1000 Sold to British Government. , M. M. Barber, vice president of the Holt Manufacturing company, ex- plained here today that it was ma chimes made by his company at it's Peoria plant that had hurdied Ger man trenches, walked through for ests and walked over shell craters in the face of intense gunfre 'FWe have sold about 1000 caterpillar tractors to the British government" said MT. Ba- ker. I've have had nothing to do with putting armor on them, or plac- ing machine guns, but some of our men at Aldershot England recent ly were notified that the British gov S1 lHt0HuGd to arm some Of the tractors and use them for work other than the usual towing of big guns. Germany Had Some Before the War,
 Germany had some of these trac- tors before the war began and aI- though do not understand just how it occurred, l believe she may have got others since then. We have sent some to France and some to Russia. So far as l know. up until the recent appear of flan. were used only to tow big guns understand that Germany used about forty of them in this work before Ltege early in the war and recent photographs show that the British are using ronoA of them now for the same purpose"
 MT. Baker said he did not know how many of the 1000 tractors sent to England had been armored and put in service s land battleships, nor did he know what equipment the British war office had placed upon the cars 10 be used.
 s-- Can Go Over Almost Anythina.
 Tt is said" said Mr Baker. "that these tractors can go over almost anything or through almost anything. They can straddle a trench. go through swamp, roll over logs, or climb through shell craters like a car of Iuggernaut. It looks uncan- ny to see them crawl along the ground, just like a huge caterpillar In thick forest. if they encounter trees they could not brush out of their way, they could easily be used to uproot them and clear their own paths.''
 Crawls on Two Belts.
 MT. Baker said the tractors sent 10 England weight about 10000 pounds each. develop 120 horse power and are built of steel. The caterpillar fea- lure, he explained. is of the utmost importance. Speaking broadly. the tractor crawls on two belts. with cor rueated surfaces. on either side of the body. The corrugated surface is on the ground. On the inside of the belts. on each side of the body. are two lines of steel rails. making four lines in all. These rails are in short sec lions, jointed and operated over cogged mechanism which actually lays them down with their belt at tachment as the tractor moves ahead and picks them up again so that the car runs on it's own self-made track continuously The short joints in the rails make it easy to turn to right or left
 Trucks With Five Wheels.
 The body is supported by trucks with five wheels, something like small railroad trucks These wheels
 
 the steel rails. In the ordinary trac- tor about seven feet of belt and rails is on the ground at one time MT. Baker said that the machine would bridge any trench that was not wider than the length of track it laid on the ground at one time The ''bow" might hit the far side of the trench far below the top, and the stern" would undoubtedly sink a little but the tenacity of the tractor, he declar- ed, would enable it to go ahead and climb out
 Width of Track 24 Inches.
 The width of track used on the ma chimes sent to England, MT. Baker said, was 24 inches. He declared that the ground pressure is about three pounds per square inch where a thirty inch track is used or less than that of the foot of either man or horse. He suggested that the Brit ish authorities probably had lengthen- ed the track on the tractors used in trench work. giving them even great CT power to surmount obstacles
 We've been making these tractors for the British government for long tfme," said MT. Baker, "and have not talked much about it. Since their recent use in storrning trenches 1 have seen published reports that led me to believe the secret would come out anyway pretty soon, so I decided it might as well be told now
 Although he wol~l not discuss the matter it was understood the United States war department is experiment. ing with armored tractors somewhat like those now in use on the British