Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and
Speaker 1: this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas, and
Speaker 1: moments in time. The tank was the destiny of military technology.
Speaker 1: As artillery evolved became a dominant force and armed conflict
Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century, it still suffered from a severe
Speaker 1: mobility problem. In order to use such weapons outside of
Speaker 1: fortified defense locations, you had to haul them, often by
Speaker 1: animal labor, and set them up as needed, all of
Speaker 1: which made the artillery incredibly vulnerable to attack. But if
Speaker 1: heavy artillery could be made both self propelled and armored,
Speaker 1: then the battlefield will be changed forever. And so it was.
Speaker 1: The tank became a defining technology of the first in
Speaker 1: Second World Wars, and remains an important part of modern
Speaker 1: ground warfare. The evolution of the tank is in its
Speaker 1: entirety a fascinating and terrifying journey. But today I want
Speaker 1: to focus on an early proposal to the design challenges involved.
Speaker 1: Today I'm going to talk about the pet rail wheel.
Speaker 1: Imagine iron behemoths advancing across a broken battlefield, not on wheels,
Speaker 1: nor mechanical legs, but a curious combination of the two.
Speaker 1: Quote big wheels upon which the great elephant like feet
Speaker 1: were hung. Those are the words of H. G. Wells,
Speaker 1: whose n three short story The Land Ironclads, in some
Speaker 1: ways forecasted the shape of armored warfare to come. What
Speaker 1: Wells is describing here was an actual proposal for the
Speaker 1: challenges of all terrain recognized transport. While tracks would become
Speaker 1: the chosen technology for heavy vehicles on soft ground, Brahma
Speaker 1: Joseph Diplock proposed a different solution in eight in his
Speaker 1: publication A New System of Heavy Goods Transport on Common Roads.
Speaker 1: He outlined a series of sixteen stumpy feet hanging from
Speaker 1: the outside of the wheel on pivots, so that as
Speaker 1: the wheel rotates, the feet are driven down. In succession
Speaker 1: the wheel turns the feet march. The pet rail wheel
Speaker 1: is similar to the boidle or dreadnought wheel, a design
Speaker 1: which lined railway wheels with articulated rails for use on
Speaker 1: the ground. It too provided footing, but without the use
Speaker 1: of multiple marching elephant feet. The dreadnought wheel saw some use,
Speaker 1: but the pet rail wheel only took to the battlefield
Speaker 1: in Wells science fiction, before being abandoned by its creator
Speaker 1: in favor of track technology. As Richard o'gorquez points out
Speaker 1: in the book Tanks one Years of Evolution Continue, this
Speaker 1: track technology emerged out of applications in tractor designed by
Speaker 1: several individuals, but credit for its use in armed warfare,
Speaker 1: at least in the West, is often credited to Britain's
Speaker 1: Colonel Ernest Swinton, who saw it as a possible solution
Speaker 1: to transporting soldiers across rough landscape under armored protection from
Speaker 1: machine gun fire. Swinton's convictions would help bring about the
Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen debut of the first British Mark one tank prototype,
Speaker 1: dubbed Little Willie. It is frankly surprising that the pet
Speaker 1: rail wheel does not emerge more in science fiction. In
Speaker 1: the Titanic War, Machines of such works as Star Wars,
Speaker 1: The Clone Wars, Battle Tech Gundam or Warhammer forty, such
Speaker 1: as the Shadow cast by twentieth century tank Warfare and
Speaker 1: are enduring fascination with bio mimetic walking machines, But the
Speaker 1: pet rail wheel marches on popping up in various robotics
Speaker 1: designs such as a two thousand twelve design for a
Speaker 1: wall climbing robot with bio mimetic gecko feet by wu
Speaker 1: at All in Advanced Mechatronics and Memes Devices. Similar designs
Speaker 1: envisioned pet rail wheels on robots for use in planetary exploration.
Speaker 1: Perhaps the age of the pet rail wheel is yet
Speaker 1: at hand, just at a much smaller scale and on
Speaker 1: far different terrains than wells envisioned. Tune into additional installments
Speaker 1: of the artifact each week, hosted by either Joe or myself.
Speaker 1: As always, you can email us at contact. It's Stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your
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