Fantastiska fordon från fordom

[Ravajack]

Dynasphere kallas denna gigantiska enhjuling från 1935. Provkördes då
på anrika Brooklands, världens första specialbyggda racerbana (där f ö
det aktuella Scalextricavsnittet av James May's Toy Stories spelades in.



Skapelsen skapade även stor uppmärksamhet i dåtidens populärpress,
bl a i pojkarnas hobbytidning framför alla andra, Meccano Magazine:





Meccano-systemet skapades i Liverpool i början av 1900-talet av den engelske bokhållaren Frank Hornby. Senare produkter av Hornbys entreprenörshand var bl a Dinky Toys och Hornby Railways/
Hornby Trains. Även Scalextric är idag en del av Hornby Hobbies-koncernen, där även Airfix och Humbrol ingår.

För den som känner sig hågad att grotta ned sig en smula extra i den tekniska kulturhistorien,
finns samtliga nummer av Meccano Magazine (1916-1981) att tillgå för närmare studium här.

[Jormungandr]

Drömmen om jättehjulingen är inte död, den har bara sovit lite...

[Svänn]

Borde kunna bli en riktigt omtumlande upplevelse om "hjullagret" låser sig....

[snugged]

tro hur dom tänkte när dom trodde att det här skulle funka på slagfätet...

[Ravajack]

Armstead Snow Motor
In the 1920s the Armstead Snow Motor was developed. When this was used to convert a Fordson tractor into a screw-propelled vehicle with a single pair of cylinders; the combination became known as the Fordson Snow Devil. A film was made to show the capabilities of the vehicle as well as a Chevrolet car fitted with an Armstead Snow Motor.[6] The film clearly shows that the vehicle copes well in snow. Steering was effected by having each cylinder receive power from a separate clutch which, depending on the position of the steering gear, engages and disengages; this results in a vehicle that is relatively manoeuvrable. The promotional film shows the Armstead snow motor hauling 20 tons of logs.

In January 1926, Time magazine reported:
”Having used the motor car for almost every other conceivable purpose, leading Detroit automobile makers have now organized a company entitled "Snow Motors Inc.," to put out a machine which will negotiate the deepest snowdrifts at six to eight miles an hour. The new car will consist of a Ford tractor power-plant mounted on two revolving cylinders instead of wheels—something on the order of a steam roller. The machine has already proved its usefulness in deep snow previously unnavigable. One such machine has done the work which formerly required three teams. In Oregon a stage line uses a snow motor in its two daily round trips over the Mackenzie Pass between Eugene and Bend. Orders are already in hand from Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Alaska. The Hudson Bay Co. has ordered a supply to maintain communications with its most northern fur-trading stations. The Royal Northwest Mounted Police have also gone into the market for snow motors, and may cease to be horsemen and become chauffeurs, to the deep regret of cinema people. A number of prominent motor makers have also been interested in the proposition from the angle of adapting the snow motors equipment to their ordinary models. Hudson, Dodge and Chevrolet are mentioned especially as interested in practical possibilities along this line”.

En av dessa maskiner har faktiskt överlevt till våra dagar och finns hos gruvmuseet i Butte, Montana:

[snugged]

det var bättre förr, den där rockade!
en sån skulle farsan behöva i norrland.

[samlad_dalmas]

Från Wikipedia:
"The Tsar Tank, also known as the Netopyr' (Нетопырь, Pipistrellus bat) or Lebedenko Tank, was an unusual Russian armored vehicle developed in 1916–1917 by N.Lebedenko, Nikolai Zhukovsky, Boris Stechkin, and Alexander Mikulin. The project was scrapped after initial tests deemed the vehicle to be underpowered and vulnerable to artillery fire.
It differed from modern tanks in that it didn't use caterpillar tracks—rather, it used a tricycle design. The two front spoked wheels were nearly 9 meters (27 feet) in diameter; the back wheel was smaller, only 1.5 meters (5 feet) high, triple wheel, to ensure maneuverability. The upper cannon turret reached nearly 8 meters high. The hull was 12 meters wide with two more cannons in the sponsons. Additional weapons were also planned under the belly. Each wheel was powered by a 250hp Sunbeam engine.[1]
The vehicle received its nickname because its model, when carried by the back wheel, resembled a bat hanging asleep.
The huge wheels were intended to cross significant obstacles. However, due to miscalculations of the weight, the back wheel was prone to be stuck in soft ground and ditches, and the front wheels were sometimes insufficient to pull it out. This led to a fiasco of tests before the high commission in August 1915. The tank remained in the location where it was tested, some 60 kilometers from Moscow until 1923 when it was finally taken apart for scrap."

[Jormungandr]

Stod om den i förrförra numret av illustrerad vetenskap. i slutet bland knäppa gamla uppfinningar

[Ravajack]

The Tsar Tank

Finns även som plastmodell:

[Ravajack]

Manuellt trampad vattenvariant. Passar åldersgrupperna 12, 32, 52 och 72 år. Plats finns även
för mackor, förfriskningar (öl & läsk) samt en omgång torra kläder. Kan det bli så mycket bättre?