The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1945-07-12
They Beat P|owshares Into Swords Workers
In a Farm Implement Factory Are Turning Out
One Of Greatest Fighting Machines Of The War
Bv ELMO SCOTT WATSON

Released by western newspaper Ctuoh.
WHEN the completed his
w tory of our struggle with
Japan finally is written, con-
siderable attention should be
given the story of how an
agricultural implement parts
manufacturer -whose prod
ucts are used every day in
every rural section of Ameri-
ca, developed one of the most
spectacular fighter vehicles
of the war.
The company is Ingerson Steel &
Disc division Of Borg-Warner cor
poration. The war weapon its en-
gineers designed and that one OF its
factories manufactures is the Beach
Buster LVT-3), the very latest de-
velopment in amphibian invasion
tanks.
The Beach-Buster made its COM
bat debut at Okinawa. Its perform
ance met with favor from high navy
and marine officers-so much so
that space in the history books OF
the future might as well be reserved
now so its story may be told.
To the Japs. the amphibian tanks
that have equipped our invasion
forces-the LVT-1. the LVT-2, the
LVT4, and now the Beach-Buster.
have proved a lethal headache. So,
while the record Of their wartime
usefulness cannot be completed until
final victory. a sidelight on their de-
velopment and manufacture is in or
der now. 1t is a recital Of which
every American. and particularly
every farmer, can be proud.
AS early as 1888 the problem Of
designing an amphibian tractor. Ca
pable of taking relief deep into the
mangrove swamps Of the Florida
Everglades, vas assigned to Donald
Roebling, a year-around resident of
Clearwater, by his father.
Young Roebling sprang from a
line of inventors, his grandfather.
Col. Washington Roebling. being the
designer of the famous Brooklyn
bridge. And he and his father had
seen with their own eyes the devas-
tation. human misery and helpless
ness that had been left in the wake
of the 1888 Florida hurricane.
Roebling knew that only a vehicle
that operated equally well on land
and water could do the job that was
needed. For six years he expert
mented at Clearwater with models.
He designed and tested hulls and
tractor treads, power plants and
gear ratios. And finally. the first
Roebling amphibian, the LVT-1 or
Alligator, rolled from his machine
shop at Clearwater.
That vehicle later was demon
strated to the navy off the Virginia
coast at a time when our military
forces were occupied in peacetime
war maneuvers. British military Of
fcials eyed the performance of the
LVT-1 with keen interest. for they
we're already at war.
Early in the fall Of 194l, c. S.
Davis. president, and Roy c. Inger-
soil. vice president of Borg-Warner,
were called by the navy to Washing
ton. They agreed to study design
and suggest improvements of the
Roebling amphibian tank. for even
then we were close to
The result of that agreement was
typically American. Not a marine
expert but an automotive engineer.
Ben A. Swennes, was charged with
responsibility in the job. He began
experiments and design in the Borg
Warner laboratories at Rockford,
III. An Ingersoll factory at Kala-
mazoo, Mich, contracted to build so
of the Alligators for the navy. And
folks along historic Rock river.
which winds through downtown
Rockford, began to stay awake
nights because of that fellow Sven
ness strange goings-on!
While Swennes was applying auto
motive principles to a sea-going job
and, as he himself now admits, in
cooperating unorthodox designs that