The Idea is, that one man, armed with a machine gun, fastly can drive through a battlefield.
Back in the WW I this little machine would have been very frightend battlemachine.
The picture shows an English Wheel tank. The Germans also invented some Wheeltanks, but this tanks were only prototypes, because they would have been not wery effectiv in a a battlefield withe the new "real" tanks (like the British "Mark tanks" or the German "A7V")
War Tank on One Wheel OPERATED BY ONE MAN
Suddenly, through the drifting smoke of a hard-fought battle, rush weird, one-man fighting tanks. They have the appearance of disk wheels and roll like hoops across the battlefield. Pouring out machine-gun fire, they leap over trenches, vaulting across on strange steel crutches to pursue the disorganized enemy.
Such is the startling vision foreseen by a New York inventor. He has just obtained a patent upon a unicycle-type tank which he believes will revolutionize battlefield tactics.
Housed inside the armored body, the operator will steer the single main wheel by means of two small auxiliary wheels at the rear. A turn of the handlebar lifts one stabilizing wheel and lowers the other, shifting the balance of the machine and turning it to one side or the other. An internal gear mechanism, operated by a motor inside the body, drives the wheel ahead at remarkable speed.
By a simple process of inverting the streamlined pants on the stabilizing wheels, so they form balancing floats, and attaching propelling fins to the main wheel, the tank can be turned into an amphibian capable of plunging into a stream and rolling to the other side.
One of the oddest features of the revolutionary machine is formed by the steel-tube crutches that project ahead on either side like medieval lances. As the tank rushes upon a trench or obstruction, the operator will drop the tubes so they dig into the earth and the whole machine will vault through the air to the other side. An open-type form of the vehicle, which is shown on our cover, has also been devised by the inventor. Without the armored body or the crutches, it is designed for highway use.
In various parts of the world, recently, engineers have been reviving the idea of the unicycle. Attracted by the economy and compactness of a one-wheeled vehicle, they have been attacking anew the problems of balance and propulsion which have been the stumbling blocks in the path of the inventors.
In England, an Italian inventor has just demonstrated a single-passenger unicycle in which he claims to have reached speeds of 100 miles an hour and to have made 280 miles on a gallon of gasoline. In the near future, he plans to bring the machine to the United States and demonstrate its adaptability to American highways. Perfected after more than ten years of experiment, this odd machine rests solely upon one huge pneumatic tire encircling the driver, and dispenses entirely with exterior steering apparatus. The metal rim within the tire supports the frame and driver’s seat and is rotated by a motor of one and three-fourths horsepower. To guide the vehicle to left or right, a steering wheel tilts the central frame with respect to the wheel, shifting the driver’s weight and thus steering the hoop. Models of various sizes are contemplated, the diameter of the hoop being suited to the height of the driver, so that a tall man, according to the inventor, would use a larger unicycle than a short man.
They tried this on mythbusters and I don't think they ever got it going. Nice post though
AntwortenLöschenThat idea is just crazy!!
AntwortenLöschengeneral grievous!
AntwortenLöschenthis could easily be mistaken for a 21st century concept. well done!
AntwortenLöschen@scottD that's exactly what i was thinking!!!
AntwortenLöschenHa I learn so much from your blog...
AntwortenLöschenI when I first saw the title I was thinking of a monocycle tho...
That thing looks awesome!
Reminds me of that one South park episode!
AntwortenLöschenThis is totally awesome steampunkish.
AntwortenLöschenFrightening in WWI? Frightening NOW!
AntwortenLöschenThat is the weirdest goddam thing.
AntwortenLöschenI definitely think this thing would at least do a good job at scaring the crap out of your enemies.
AntwortenLöschenI love the steampunky look of it! People would've been terrified if one of these came rollin' down a hill.
AntwortenLöschendude I want one of those right NOW!
AntwortenLöschenthat thing looks freakin' awesome.
holy crap, I saw this in south park but I didn't think that this has actually been invented back in the day
AntwortenLöschenHahah I can imagine flying around in one of those on the battle field.
AntwortenLöschenThe thought of a person trying to use something like this on the battlefield is absolutely hilarious.
AntwortenLöschenSo this is where south park got the idea :P Anyways looks really vulnerable to enemy fire from the side; and a soldier in such a crammed steel space with a heavy machine gun inside would be deaf in a matter of hours.. Nice find!
AntwortenLöschenPeople back then were the hell o lot more creative as it seems. Wonder if there actually was a prototype built and if was is it still intact.
AntwortenLöschen@viljami.korianteri
AntwortenLöschenha that's exactly what i thought ;)
Wow, that really looks like a suicide machine
AntwortenLöschenDidn't they make something like that recently?
AntwortenLöschenAwesome!
AntwortenLöschenThis looks alot like something from that last battle scene in Phantom Menace...
AntwortenLöschenhaha the design is awesome! People back then had a crazy imagination :D
AntwortenLöschenlooks incredible
AntwortenLöschenThis is pure awesome and very innovative for it's time.
AntwortenLöschenSo when do we get the Army of General Grievouses to roll around on the Mono Tank
AntwortenLöschenOh wow, that's pretty cool. Reminds me of those personal transports in a similar style they were trying to popularize a couple years ago.
AntwortenLöschenholy crap...people really came up with some out there inventions...I wonder how many drugs you have to take to make one of these.
AntwortenLöschenThis would be extremely frightening to the enemies. But this neither functioned then, or now. Nowadays there are some people trying to make something like this, but ending with a extremely expensive and not-so-popular wheel.
AntwortenLöschenSo enlightening and fascinating! gotta follow u
AntwortenLöschenThere is not one thing in the world that could get me into that thing other than the option to storm out of a trench haha.
AntwortenLöschenits freaking awesome
AntwortenLöschenAhahaha. It sure had to look futuristic for the people back then.
AntwortenLöschenHow would this be a good idea?
AntwortenLöschenVery cool man, crazy interesting stuff.
AntwortenLöschenwow crazy idea
AntwortenLöschenremind me of some machine in one of south park episodes though
...cool..where do u get all this info..
AntwortenLöschenOh haha I think I read about something similar in a really old Popular Science magazine. Can you imagine if this did get invented?
AntwortenLöschenWould've made for some sick battlefield footage.
Thing is nuts man, i'm not shocked that it didn't take off in the military world though haha
AntwortenLöschenIt's like that one wheeled contraption from that anime Steamboy.
AntwortenLöschenIt reminds me of that thing on South Park that Mr. Garrison invented.
AntwortenLöschenloved this post. :) very interesting.
AntwortenLöschenIf these were real, the whole world would be different.. :)
AntwortenLöschenHahah they look so great :D
AntwortenLöschenwhat the hell? Thank you for posting these crazy things
AntwortenLöschenIt reminds me of that gyro things from southpark :P
AntwortenLöschenHow to Hack Life.
The Beta Critic; absolutely same came to my mind too :D
AntwortenLöschennice discovery.
AntwortenLöschenreally enjoying your blog.
AntwortenLöschenlol i would love to see this thing in action
AntwortenLöschenwow thats seriously so cool i want one! world war III forsure.
AntwortenLöschenHah, that's pretty ridiculous.
AntwortenLöschenStill, I'd love to see one working.
i love this kind of stuff =)
AntwortenLöschenWow thats pretty cool.
AntwortenLöschencant imagine actually working one of these on the battlefield
AntwortenLöschenThat doesn't look intimidating
AntwortenLöschenSouth Park!!!!
AntwortenLöschenCrazy stuff, I wish this kind of stuff was for real! Following for more weapon stuff :)
AntwortenLöschenamazing technology
AntwortenLöschenthat looks cool, nice tech back then
AntwortenLöschenThis looks incredible! Great find!
AntwortenLöschenLOOOOOL!!! THIS IS FUCKING AWSOME.. SERIOUSLY IF THIS GOT MADE IT WOULD OWN.. UNTIL THE OTHER SIDE HAD THEM AND THEN EVERYONE WOULD JUST START RACING..
AntwortenLöschenA ONE WHEEL GODDAMN TANK
AntwortenLöschenNow that is a weapon...
This was a good read. I wonder what made them actually think this could ever work.
AntwortenLöschenThis could be the coolest thing I've ever seen wish it were actually real
AntwortenLöschenThat would be so awesome to use
AntwortenLöschenThat's crazy :D
AntwortenLöschenVery good blog, nice posts , definitely following :)
Das in gud ! that is good and cool too! followed~!
AntwortenLöschenwhat would happen if the tank tipped over
AntwortenLöschenNice post and very nice information you have here! Keep it up!
AntwortenLöschenVery interesting article, thanks for this!
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