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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> Softskin vehicles -> Mystery Tracklayer
Post Info TOPIC: Mystery Tracklayer
James H


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Mystery Tracklayer
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Anyone know what this is? I have no clues.



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compound eye


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I could be wrong but it looks like a radio controlled bomb disposal unit [experimental type in testing - no disposal arm, camera or gun fitted], just in such a grainy, low rez scan of a piddly little source image -possibly from a 1970s book - that it 'looks' a lot older than it is.



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TinCanTadpole


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I agree it looks like some sort of radio-controlled device, but I don't think it's such a low-res scan as it seems - the sharpness of the machine itself looks greater than that of the grainy surroundings, which suggests to me that it is an old pic; 1920s perhaps? The graininess would be consistent with that sort of age, I would expect better by the 30s or 40s, which would be my guess at an upper limit.

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James H


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I am grateful for your speculations, citizens. Something that crossed my mind was whether it might be connected with the Schneider Crocodile, a sort of wire-controlled explosives carrier. The second type is the last picture here. A very long shot, but could it perhaps be the first type?



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compound eye


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An interesting reference, BUT when I type in 'bomb disposal robot' on Google images like these are right at the top.

With either one small 'road wheel', two large friction drive sprockets and a front idler -

bomb.gif

Or, with two small 'road wheels', two large friction drive sprockets and a front idler -

Remotely_controlled_bomb_disposal_tool.JPG

Although neither are clearly identical to the mystery shot, the similarities are undeniable, even down to the four nuts on the wheel hubs.

I've done a lot of vintage book scanning for posting on Flickr, including lots of technical and industrial books from the 1940s-1970s and I have to say the detail versus grain pattern I see 'here' is very much like what I get from books of that period. Bomb disposal robots first made it 'big' in the 1970s when 'Wheelbarrows', as they were called, were used in places like Northern Ireland.

I'm convinced that what we're seeing is potentially a 'Wheelbarrow' prototype/testbed - why not a third different track configuration, when clearly at least two production variants exist..?



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James H


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Actually, you know, the original pic does seem to have a sort of calico texture added as if it's been photoshopped. Maybe it is a modern machine.



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TinCanTadpole


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I tried to post last night, but my broadband signal was very poor and it didn't work. What I intended to say was that Compound Eye has a good point with those pics he's found. What I took for signs of an old photo could well just be evidence of a dirty scanner bed.

James, where did you find the pic? I've looked at the old Schneider you pointed to, and this machine looks much too well developed to be a predecessor.

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compound eye


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Not so much a dirty scan bed, it just suggests a small fraction of an image scanned at between between 300-600dpi and then blown up to actual pixel size...

You tend to get these sort of regular squarish pixel splodges under those sort of conditions, i.e. if you zoom into a scanned image on Photoshop either to crop it down or spot out printing imperfections.

The fact that this image appears to be at 'actual pixel size' not only implies a crop or small source image but also suggests the terrain this mystery vehicle is negotiating is probably no more than a small mound/ditch of a few inches high/deep, rather than it being a large machine crossing a rudimentary trench or scrape.



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James H


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Once again, I appear to have overreached myself in matters of a technical nature.

Can't remember where I found the image - on another forum somewhere, but no one there could identify it. IIRC, I enlarged it a bit, but not much. It's not a crop; the pic is more or less as I found it. That's all I can tell you.



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compound eye


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The only other thing I can add is that this is surely a published photograph since it appears not to have been scanned entirely flat - look at the shadow on the right edge where the picture goes right up to the 'gutter' of the book/magazine/pamphlet it came from.



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gemsco


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This a French "crocodile" experimented during 1914-18, in France and Belgium.



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TinCanTadpole


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When I said a dirty scan bed, I meant not the pixels but the dark spots spattered around the image - reminds me a bit of what drawings I've scanned in have gained on the way.
I'm in agreement with you about it being a published photo, I'd noticed the book/mag 'spine shadow' too, but my estimate is that the machine is similar in size to the robot pics you posted (Compound Eye, I mean), about two and a half to three feet long, climbing a slope about two feet long I'd say.

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compound eye


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I think it's going to be a tough cookie to crack...

The general layout is very 'wheelbarrow',- the dinky little road wheels, two big friction drive hubs, variable tension front idler, 4 hub nuts per large wheel, rubberband tracks of a similar grip pattern, space/clearance under/between the little road wheels.

I think we need to see if 'gemsco' can qualify his one line response with anything tangible.

One thing I noticed tonight is that the ditch appears to have a small cast concrete culvert in the background...



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James H


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What gemsco alludes to is the machine in the last post here: http://63528.activeboard.com/t22790010/pre-estienne-french-thoughts-on-tanks/

There are photos of the second type, but, so far, none of the first. If this is it, then it's a bit of a find.



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gemsco


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It looks as If I do not have a pic of this engine in my files.

However, I distinctly remember having seen several pics in the Files kept by the Musée de l'Armée at Brussel. Do not expect me to remember tits reference. Sorry



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James H


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Quel dommage!



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James H


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Whoops. I was about 75 years out with this one.

"In 1989 the U.S. Army purchased 75 remote-controlled miniatures . . . known as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Robots."

Sorry.



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compound eye


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That is a very different looking machine to the first picture though... Is there a known link between the two? Same source material, some descriptive link, prototype?

I think we're fairly unanimous on it being a robot bomb disposal unit, but the similarities seem stronger with the [UK] 'wheelbarrow' rather than this latest [US] shot.



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James H


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You're quite right. I got overexcited.



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gemsco


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I eventually put my hands on my pictures of the Belgian tests of the French crocodile. It is NOT the same vehicle as initially shown. Sorry for opening the wrong tract ! gemsco



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James H


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Can we have a look at the Crocodile, Mazy?



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gemsco


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I did try to load this picture of the Crocodile. It was below one mega. But the loading took so long that I stopped it, thinking that the system was sucking all of my photothèque !!!!!



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James H


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gemsco wrote:

I did try to load this picture of the Crocodile. It was below one mega. But the loading took so long that I stopped it, thinking that the system was sucking all of my photothèque !!!!!

Any progress?



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