California's Conception of a "Tank 



It was designed for aid in recruiting 



PATTERNED somewhat after 

 the famous British tanks pic- 

 tured and described in the 

 May issue of Popular Science 

 Monthly, the California-made 

 tank shown herewith is like its 

 famous prototype in only one par- 

 ticular, that of a track-laying pro- 

 pelling means. There the similarity 

 ceases, for it has not the large 

 upswept track-laying framework in 

 front that has made possible the 

 almost incredible hill-climbing feats 

 of the British tank. Instead it has 

 two track-laying members of the 

 kind used on farm tractors and a 

 small guiding wheel in front. 



Formidable as it looks in armor . A 



and with the guns sticking out of its m 



turret, a heavy rain would render it use- 

 less in actual service. The small wheel 

 in front would bury itself in soft ground 

 on a shell crater, which its foreign rival 

 could negotiate with ease. The large bear- 

 ing area of the caterpillar shoes makes it 

 possible for the British tank to traverse 

 soft, muddy ground. The pressure is said 

 to be less than three 

 pounds to the square 

 inch with the cater- 

 pillars thirty inches 

 wide and with 

 about fifteen 

 or twenty 



yj 



company of infantry using the track-laying tank 

 sham battle on the outskirts of San Francisco 



feet of length in contact with the ground 

 all of the time. 



Obviously, then, the truck illustrated 



would be a failure in the land of shell 



craters between the trenches in warfare as 



carried on to-day. However, it served a 



useful end in acquainting our California 



infantry with its adaptability as a war 



instrument and in arousing the martial 



spirit. The regular army used the tank for 



recruiting purposes. It is here 



shown in a sham battle in 



rough country in the 



,~*^ vicinity of San 



EXHAUST PIP%S ^'- Francisco. 



/4 



Because of the small wheel in front, the tank could not travel in a land of shell craters and muddy 

 ground. It is, therefore, not in the fighting class, however formidable* it may appear 



67 



