Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1916-09-29
BATTLE ENGINES ARE TRACTORS
Deadly Machines Used by the British
Were Built in Peoria, III. - Crawl on
Ground Like Caterpillar.

The British "tanks,' the armored
motor cars used in recent assaults on
German trenches in Northern France
so successfully as to attract Worldwide
attention. were built for the most part
in Peoria, ILL.,, in the form of caterpil-
lar tractors designed to meet some OF
the difficult problems in modern farm
ing. Except for their armor, their ma
chine guns and their crews thousands
are in use today in the United States
in labor less heroic occupation than
war.
II. II. Baker, vice president of the
Holt Manufacturing company, explained
here that it was machines made by his
company at Peoria, ILL.,, that had hur-
died German trenches, walked through
forests and crawled over shell craters
in the face of intense gunfre.
owe have sold about 900 caterpil-
lar tractors to the British government, -
he said. "Some of our men at Alder
shot, England recently were notified
that the British intended to arm some
of the tractors and use them for work
other than the usual towing of big guns
"Thcsc tractors can go ahead ovei
almost anything or through almost any
thing. They can straddlc a trench, &c
through a swamp, roll over logs, on
climb through shell cratcrs like car
of iuggernaut. 1t looks uncanny to sec
them crawl along the ground just like
huge caterpillar
MIR. Baker said the tractors sent t.
England weigh about $4,000 pounds
each, develop 100 horsepower and arc
built of steel. The tractor crawls OF
two belts. or steel rails, in short sec
tons, operating over a cogged mechan
ism that actually lays them down will
their belt attachment as the tracto
moves ahead and picks them up again
so that the car runs on its own self
made track continuously.
In the ordinary tractor about sever
feet of belt and rails hug the ground
Mr.. Baker said that the machine woul'
bridge any trench not wider than tn
length of track it laid on the grount
at one time. The Chow" might hit tn
far side of the trench far below tn
ton and the "stern' undouhtedl
would sink n little, but the tenacity o
the tractor, he declared, would enable
to climb out. He suggested that tn
! British probably had heightened tn
track, giving the tractors greater powe
to surmount obstacles.
1t is understood the tnltcd state
war department is experimenting wit
armored tractors somewhat like thos
now in use on the British battle line.
A London despatch says credit fo
the new travelling land forts which hav
| been used during the past few days o
the British front belong to two mel
Lieut.. Col. f. d. Swinton of the INTEL
gencc department of the general sta
and Mai. Stern. Lieut.. Col. SwintO
will be remembered as one of the of
Ger "eye Witnesses who wrote n,
Y counts of the early days around YprC
for British newspapers. Maj. Stern
a business man, who has for some tim
o been in the employ of the government
V The Daily Mail describes the new MOI
o sters as follows: M
l. "Thcse low lying, dust colored to
toises have no resemblance to mote
J. cars. They are in fact steel land shil
Q of immense power and wonderful q
n pacity. In practise they can elm
+ walls, push through dense woods, cro
l. trenches and maneuver in and out {
e craters. One of the most renarkab
v facts about them is the secrecy wit
n which the making of their thousands {
parts was yelled in the midland tow
= of their birth. The army likes ther
Il but it is not placing too much reliano
d on what is for the present only an e
G pertinent.