Omaha daily bee., 1916-09-19
Caterpillar Cars Built in Peoria
for Agricultural Purposes
Used for "Joy Riding"
Over Trenches.
NOTHING CAN STOP THEM
Pull Up Trees by Roots and Go
on Over Logs and All
Obstacles.
WALK THROUGH FORESTS

tanks the armored motor cars used
in recent assaults on German
trenches in northern France so sue
cesstully as to attract worldwide at
tentlon, were built, for the most part
in Peoria, ILL.,, in the form of caterpil-
lar tractors, designed many years be-
fore 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
i'll the United States in plowing, dig
ging bitches, and other labors less
heroic than war.
NJ. NJ. Baker, vice president of the
Holt Manufacturing company, ex-
planned here today that it was ma
chimes made by his company at its
Peoria plant that had hurdled
through German trenches, walked
through forests, and crawled over
shell craters in the face of intense
gun fire.
Did Not Arm Them.
1--WE have sold about 1000 cater
pillar tractors to the British govern
ment," said Mr.. Baker. I'VE have
had nothing to do with putting armor
on them or placing machine guns, but
some of our men at Aldershot,
England, recently were notified that
ting British government intended to
armor some of the tractors and use
them for work other than the usual
towing of big guns.
Germany had some of these trac-
tors before the war began, and, al
though | do not understand just how
it occurred, | believe she may have
gotten others since then. We have
sent some to France and some to
Russia. So far as know, up until
the recent appearance of the motor
cars the tractors were used only to
tow big guns. | understand that
Germany had about forty of them in
his--apefls-befeFe@ Liegey--early-.ira--tlas
war, and recent photographs show
that the British are using some OF
them now for the same purpose"
Can Go Over Anything.
Mr.. Baker said he did not know
how many of the tractors sent to
England had been armored and put
in service, nor did he know what
equipment the British war office had
placed upon cars to be used in this
work.
1T is true" said Mr.. Baker, "that
these tractors can go ahead over al
most anything or through almost
anything. They can straddle trench,
go through swamp, roll over logs
or climb through shell craters like a
car of Juggernaut. 1t looks uncanny
to see them crawl along the ground,
Just like huge caterpillar. In thick
forest, il they encountered trees they
could not brush out of their way,
they could easily be used to uproot
them and clear their own paths"
Mr.. Baker said the tractors sent to
England weigh about $4,000 pounds
each, develop 100 horse power and
are built of steel. The caterpillar fea-
ture, he explained, is of the utmost
importance. Speaking broadly, the
tractor crawls on two belts, with cor
rugated 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.
Easy to Turn.
"These rails are in short sections
jointed and operate over a cogged
mechanism that actually lays, them
down with their belt attachments as
the tractor moves ahead, and picks
them up again, so that the car runs
on its own self-made track continu-
ously. The short joints in the rails
make it easy to turn to right or left.
The body is supported by trucks with
five wheels, something like small
railroad trucks. These wheels never
touch the ground, but run upon the
steel rails. In the ordinary tractor
about sevent feet of belt and rails are
on the ground at one time"
The width of the track used on
the machines sent to England" Mr..
Baker said, was twenty-four inches.
He declared that the ground pressure
is about three pounds per square inch
where a thirtylinch track is used, or
less than that Of the foot of either
man bnrca