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A tractor crawler is a vehicle with tracks instead of wheels. The tracks spreads the weight of the vehicle across a larger area, resulting in a lower ground pressure compared to wheels. This makes them very well suited for use on soft ground and mud. U.S. M60 Patton tank. ...
A driving wheel on a steam locomotive. ...
Pressure (symbol: p) is the force per unit area acting on a surface in a direction perpendicular to that surface. ...
In computer gaming, a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon or Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash style computer games and social instant messaging chat rooms. ...
History A long line of patents disputes who the "originator" was of this concept.
Lombard Alvin O. Lombard of Waterville, ME was issued a patent in 1901 for what appears to be a regular railroad steam locomotive with sled steerage on front and crawlers in rear for hauling logs in the Northeastern USA and Canada. Lombard began commercial production which lasted until around 1917 when focus switched entirely to gasoline powered machines. A locomotive (from lat. ...
Gasoline (or petrol) is a petroleum-derived liquid mixture consisting primarily of hydrocarbons, used as fuel in internal combustion engines. ...
Hornsby/Holt/Phoenix After Lombard began operations, Hornsby in England manufactured at least a few full length "track steer" machines, and their patent was later purchased by Holt in 1913, allowing Holt to be popularly known as the "inventor" of crawler tractors. Since the "tank" was a British concept it is more likely the Hornsby, which had been built and unsuccessfully pitched to their military, was the inspiration. Some claim it also was for the description of "caterpillar".
In a patent dispute involving rival crawler builder Best, testimony was brought in from people including Lombard, that Holt had inspected a Lombard log hauler shipped out to a western state by people who would later build the Phoenix log hauler in Eau Claire, WI, under license from Lombard. The Phoenix Centipeed typically had a fancier wood cab, steering wheel tipped forward at a 45 degree angle and vertical instead of horizontal cylinders. A piston and cylinder from a steam engine A cylinder in an internal combustion engine is the space within which a piston travels. ...
Linn In the meantime a gasoline powered motor home was built by Lombard for Holman Harry (Flannery) Linn of Old Town, ME to pull the equipment wagon of his dog & pony show, resembling a trolley car only with wheels in front and Lombard crawlers in rear. Linn had experimented with gasoline and steam powered vehicles and six wheel drive before this, and at some point entered Lombard's employment as a demonstrator, mechanic and sales agent. This resulted in a question of proprietorship of patent rights after a single rear tracked gasoline powered road engine of tricycle arrangement was built to replace the larger motor home in 1909 on account of problems with the old picturesque wooden bridges. This dispute resulted in Linn departing Maine and relocating to Morris, NY, to build an improved, contour following flexible lag tread or crawler with independent suspension of halftrack type, gasoline and later diesel powered. Although several were delivered for military use between 1917 and 1946, Linn never received any large military orders. Most of the production between 1917 and 1952, approximately 2500 units, was sold directly to highway departments and contractors. Steel tracks and payload capacity allowed these machines to work in terrain that would shred or cause to spin the poorer quality rubber tires that existed before the mid 1930's. Recreational Vehicle (RV) is a broad term used to describe a large enclosed piece of equipment with wheels designed to be moved from place to place for people to temporarily live in and be protected from the elements while away from their permanent domicile. ...
This article refers to the mass transit vehicle running on rails. ...
An Independent Suspension is an automobile suspension system that allows the wheels on an axle to move independent of each other. ...
M3 half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. ...
Diesel or Diesel fuel is a specific fractional distillate of fuel oil (mostly petroleum) that is used as fuel in a diesel engine invented by German engineer Rudolf Diesel. ...
Linn was a pioneer in snow removal before the practice was embraced in rural areas, with a nine foot steel v-plow and sixteen foot adjustable leveling wings on either side. Once the highway system became paved, snowplowing could be done by four wheel drive trucks equipped by improving tire designs, and the Linn became an off highway vehicle, for logging, mining, dam construction, arctic exploration, etc. A small sidewalk clearing plow in Ottawa, Canada A snowplow (or snow plow) is a vehicle or device used for removing snow from roadways, driveways, runways, and other surfaces. ...
Four wheel drive or 4x4, is a type of four wheeled vehicle drivetrain configuration that enables all four wheels to receive power from the engine simultaneously in order to provide maximum traction. ...
Loggers on break, c. ...
The El Chino Mine located near Silver City, New Mexico is an open-pit copper mine This article is about mineral extraction. ...
Sloan Once steel cleats became unpopular on paved roads, in 1938 a limited experiment began to bridge the gap between truck and tractor, a "convertible vehicle" patented by Phillip Sloan, the C5 Catruk, suffered design flaws and limited production before it was finally abandoned.
Fate of pioneer companies Lombard gasoline production was more limited as they never managed to diversify use away from log hauling, it is believed a diesel built in 1934 was their last unit.
Phoenix, Eau Claire, WI, appears to have built at least one gasoline powered machine before fading into history.
Holt and Best ended up merging. Holt had copyrighted the "caterpillar" when it came into common use. The new corporation Caterpillar Inc. took that name about 1925, and remains in business today. Caterpillar Inc. ...
Examples - The crawler tractor was the basis of the first designs of tank.
- Crawlers equipped with a shovellike blade are called bulldozers, and used for construction and earthmoving projects.
- Crawler design have been intermittently popular for farm use.
- The space shuttle is transported to its launch site by a very large Crawler-Transporter.
- The largest crawler in the world is the German bagger 288 excavator.
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