Popular Science Monthly 



Vol. 91 

 No. 3 



239 Fourth Avenue, New York City 



September, 1917 



$1.50 



Annually 



Why Not the Land Torpedo? 



Mount it on an automobile; open the throttle wide; 

 and let the machine rush to the enemy's trenches 



THE submarine torpedo is the most 

 destructive weapon of the sea. Then 

 why not a land torpedo? A cheap 

 vehicle could be made to carry a high- 

 explosive mine, a huge shrapnel, or a mis- 

 sile which would be a combination of both. 

 Where necessary, provide the vehicle with 

 caterpillar wheels and with a wire-cutter, 

 and dispatch it toward the enemy, over 

 shell craters and through entanglements 

 into the opposing trenches. There the 

 charge could be exploded, and the men and 

 property within blasted into oblivion. 

 ii The originator of this plan is Felix 

 Sabah, of Philadelphia, whose idea as he 

 has conceived it is illustrated in action. 

 The ground of "No-Man's Land" being 

 flat, ordinary gasoline automobiles of small 

 size are used. In them the charge is 

 carried, consisting of about a thousand 

 pounds of explosive, mounted on the 

 crutch-like frames. The firing wires which 

 lead back to the electric igniting coils are 

 seen in our picture projecting from the 

 rear. The outposts are telephoning the 

 order to fire. The fatal button is pressed — 

 then ghastly destruction. 



And the enemy? Has he no defense? 

 No doubt he will erect concrete barriers, 

 and blast huge craters. Caterpillar wheels, 

 however, would be a single means of over- 

 coming the craters. The use of percussion 

 caps, which would ignite the torpedo charge 

 on striking the walls, would be one way 

 of smashing through them. 



Let us not forget that once we can get 

 the torpedoes there, the rest will be easy. 

 If nothing else can be used, time-fuses 

 will set off the charge at the proper instant. 



The other military considerations in- 

 volved in the practical application of the 

 project are much more simple. There will 

 be no difficulty in constructing the light 

 type of automobile that would be required. 



In fact, the plan would provide the means 

 of giving many an antiquated automobile 

 which is about ready for the junk heap, 

 its opportunity for making its last sacrifice. 



From the shipping point in Europe, the 

 men of the "Land Torpedo Corps" could 

 each ride an automobile directly up to the 

 front, thus relieving the railroads of the 

 burden. Here the torpedo charges could 

 be mounted, tests could be made, and 

 everything could be planned for a con- 

 certed assault. 



To launch the torpedoes on this drive, 

 competent officers would have to set and 

 lock the steering gears. Throwing open a 

 clutch from the rear of the machine, the 

 automobile leaps ahead audaciously. The 

 vital parts being armored, the enemy will 

 be unable to damage it severely when the 

 machine is seen to be rushing towards 

 them at some sixty miles an hour. 



Closely resembling this land torpedo is 

 the torpedo car described on page 526 

 of the April issue of the Popular Science 

 Monthly. It too is designed to take the 

 place of artillery in preparing the way for 

 infantry attack. A torpedo carrying several 

 hundred pounds of high explosive is mount- 

 ed on a chassis. The propelling power may 

 be either gas, steam, compressed air or a 

 storage battery or electric motor. Its most 

 important feature concerns the method by 

 which it is guided and fired. This is done 

 by means of cables and wires in the hands of 

 the attacking party, which is a noteworthy 

 advantage over the land torpedo described 

 in this article. Furthermore, the torpedo 

 car, should it not reach the enemy because 

 of rough ground, can be drawn back to the 

 trench from which it was started by a simple 

 pull on the control cable. The torpedo car 

 would cost about one thousand dollars, 

 whereas the modern naval torpedo costs 

 seven thousand dollars. 



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