The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-02-26
BY Rene Baehs.

The great war has enormously
stimulated human ingenuity. It has
| accelerated the progress Of invention
| along military lines, and already has
produced q number OF wholly new
| contriyances which, IL they had
been described in an imaginative
novel years ago-the tank monsters,
for example-would have been re-
garded as interesting, but NONSENSE
cal and utterly impossible.
Our allies look to US for novel and
valuable ideas, uttliZabie for fghting
purposes. They have great faith IN
Yankee ingenuity. Shall we disap-
point them? 1t isn't likely. Our In
ventors, now that we have entered
the war, are getting very busy, and
already they have turned out some
remarkable things.
Most interesting OF the new inven-
tons is a ''supertank," invented by a
scientist in Cedar Rapids. la. This
fuIfls in many ways the calcula-
lions OF scientists that a machine
can be constructed which will in
finitely excel the already wonderful
performances OF the tanks in bat
tie. 1t is most significant that III. @.
Wells, that remarkable prophet OF
scientific invention, in his latest
book, ITALY, France and Great Brit
ain at War" after a close inspection
OF the battle front, should have
predicted the construction OF a
supertank, which would ride ruth
IessIy over trenches. armies, forth
fications and cities. shooting down
all opposition with monster guns,
while itself practically invuineraole
to attack.
Tanks" writes Mr.. Wells, ARE
quite possible that viii carry 20-inch
or 25-inch guns, besides minor
Such tanks may be I'M
desirable; the production may ex-
coed the Industrial resources Of any
empire to produce: but there is no
inherent impossibility in such things. 1
There are not even the same limtta-
tons as to draught and docking ac-
that set bounds TO the
size Of battleships.
The machine will be perhaps as
big as a destroyer and more heavily
armed and equipped. 1t win swim
over and through the soil at pace
Of ten or twelve miles an hour. In !
front or it will be the corn land |
neat woods, orchards, pasture, gard /
ems. villages and towns. 1t will ad- I
vance upon Its belly with a sWaytng 4
motion, devouring the ground be-
meath IL. Behind 1t masses OF soil \
md rock Jumps Of turf, splintered
wood, bits Of houses, occasional
streaks Of red will drop from its
rack, and it will leave a wake six
Dr. seven times as wide as a high
-oad, from which all soil, all cultiva-
ion, all semblance to cultivated or
land will have disap-
Deared."
our Cedar Rapids inventor has
designed a tank OF great size and
enormous speed, mounted upon
single wheel and held in an upright
position by groscopic attachments,
which would crush through armies
md fortifications just as Wells sug-
rests.
While the inventor at present only
,lans a machine twenty-five feet in
height, he points out that It Is cap
.bIe OF almost Imitless expansion in
lie and speed.
The gyro-tank Is the development
# a principle often seen In toys
he gyroscopic toys. The gyroscopic
Wheel top maintains Its equilibrium
It whatever angle 1t may be placed
While in operation. The principle OF
he gyroscope is well known and
understood. 1t had been
in helping to overcome the
'olling motion of ships at sea. The
yyroscope in the hull Of the ship en-