Steam tank
| Steam tank | |
|---|---|
|
|
| General properties | |
| crew | 8th |
| length | 10.60 m |
| width | 3.80 m |
| height | 3.20 m |
| Dimensions | 50,800 kg |
| Armor and armament | |
| Armor | 13 mm |
| Main armament | flamethrower |
| Secondary armament | 4 machine guns caliber 7.62 mm |
| agility | |
| drive | 2 steam engines 500 HP |
| Top speed | 6 km / h |
| Power / weight | 9.8 hp / t |
| Range | 80 km |
The Steam Tank (on dt. Steamtank ) was an early American tanks -Design of 1918, the British Mark IV was similar, but was driven by steam.
history
The steam tank was designed by an officer in the United States Army Corps of Engineers . The project was started by General John A. Johnston with the help of the Endicott and Johnson Shoe Company and funded by the Boston bankers Phelan and Ratchesky with $ 60,000. The expertise was contributed by the Stanley Motor Carriage Company of Watertown, Massachusetts, which manufactured steam automobiles. The machines and boilers from two rail cars were used. Earlier combat vehicles used steam because gasoline engines weren't quite powerful enough. The steam tank was designed as a carrier for flamethrowers and these were originally also intended to be powered by steam. A gasoline engine was later installed to generate the pressure for the flame thrower, with the two two-cylinder steam engines still serving to drive a chain each.
Only one vehicle was completed and presented in several parades in Boston in April 1918, whereby it was left in front of the audience once. The prototype - it had been christened America - was shipped to France for tests in June with great sympathy and moral support.
technology
The top speed was 6 km / h and there were two forward and two reverse gears. The steam engines used kerosene as fuel.
The flamethrower in the front cabin had a range of 30 meters; the mouth was mounted in a rotating tower on the roof. In addition, four machine guns of the 7.62 mm caliber were mounted in two side turrets. The vehicle was 10.6 meters long, 3.8 meters wide and 3.2 meters high and weighed 50 tons.
The crew of eight men consisted of a commander, a driver, the flamethrower operator, a mechanic and four machine-gunmen.
The design had some serious problems. The cooling was inadequate and the vehicle was very vulnerable due to the two steam boilers and the large amount of fuel used to operate the steam engines, the gasoline engine and the flamethrower.
There was another project of a steam-powered tank that used three wheels instead of chains.
