The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1917-01-11
Plan MAMMOTH
LAND BATTLEShIP
FOR FUTURE war
super. Tank with Wheels 200
Feet High Proposed by Phil
adeIphia Inventor.
sweep away army OBSTACLE

Would Cross Rivers ana valleys ~
Easily as an Automobile Takes
Depression in Road-Guns to
BE Smallest Part Of De-
stroyins Power.
New YOrk.-A land battleship, with
wheels 200 feet high, driven by engines
Of many thousand horse power, able to
cross the Hudson as If it were a mud
puddle and during the British tanks
as q locomotive does q hand car, Is
the prediction of Frank Shuman, the
Philadelphia inventor, whose concrete
piling and wire glasses, says the New
York Times, made him famous. Mr..
Shuman believes Il. At the next war will
bring juggernaut that could NOW
through an army as easily as through
O field of wheat. Its giant wheels
would have to turn over just IS times
to cover a mile; its giant size would
send 1t over rivers and valleys as cas-
lily as an automobile takes q foot-wide
depression in the road. ..
Mr.. Shuman says there is nothing
technically impossible about such q
machine, which would mean to land
battles what the superdreadnaught
means to war upon the seas. Guns
would be the smallest part Of the de-
strOying power of such q monster,
which by sheer force would sweep
away almost any obstacle the enemy
could oppose. In the December is
sue Of the Popular Science Monthly,
Mr.. Shuman has written description
Of what he believes such an instru-
ment Of war would be.
"A club, bow and arrow, a blum.
aerbuss, an infantryman's rifle, a A.
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. Smokeless powder has merely
heightened the arm Of the fighter. He
strikes and kills ut q distance of miles.
Because armies are still composed
essentially of many individuals fight.
ing ships may he more fittingly termed
war Machines A battleship is real
machine. The men on board are mere.
" so many intelligences that control
The steam engine, the turrets, the great
guns. and searchlights. But land war
fare is still waged, not by a few ma.
chimes, as on the sea, but by organized
millions Of men.
"Why is there no land battleship,
something comparable with our own
Pennsylvania. something which will
concentrate within one volume the
striking power of an army?
Engineering Possibility.
''There is no good engineering rea.
son why an enormous wheeled struc.
ture heavily armored and capable Of
travelling ut high speed, should not
wage the battles of the future. Tech
nically it is a far easier task to de-
sign and build superdreadnaught
than wheeled destroyer to run on
solid ground. The ocean is vast
level cxpanse. There are no hills and
valleys. Waste is in the same dem
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.
"Undeniable as these difficulties are.
it seems to me that they could be over
come by boldly designing machine
Of such dimensions and of such en-
ergy that 1t could travel over u country
road. A hill so feet high would be to
that machine what six-inch ridge of
clay would be to an automobile; q
swamp would no more hinder it's course
than half foot of mud would stop
touring car. Even over rough inland
country 1t would rush more swiftly
than any touring car on q poor road.
The impact Of u heavy mass moving
with the velocity of an express train
would be Irresistible. Indeed, in its
speed would lie it's destructive pos
sibflities. 1t could NOW down every
thing before it with the "reminiscences
of steam roller. Guns would not be
required to rout an enemy. An army
would be as helpless in offering resist
ance as Il flock of geese in the path Of
IN automobile.
picture to yourself self-rrupeiled
machine. comprising three wheels and
"ily"r:ii@rcd body or ear. There
are two wheels. 1:,D TO 200 feet in III
ametcr, in treat and 81 singh. Si.!;,lirr
steering wheel to The rear The cu-
tire structure is short so that the turn
Ing radius viii be small.
''No doubt "@u are familiar with the
military naS:S Of or American bat
tleshlps. They avr latticpd towers not
unlike cages. They are thus Construct
ed so that the whole sections of the
lattice work may be shot away; but
the Semaining 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 I
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.