MILITARY ARMOURED CARS.

"CATERPILLAR" TRAGTORS

VERY POWERFUL MACHINES

According to Mr W. A. Hyslop, managing director of the Te\irist Motor Co., Ltd., of Hastings, who is ! at,.- present in G'hristchurch, and who possesses a fund of uni,qno information concerning the military use of automobilesj tho "arnfbred c^irs now in use in France possess many excellencies, bub speed, is not one of them. Mr Hyslop expressed tho opinion that the irmoied. cars to which they cable messages refer are of a. typei\ 'known as 'Caterpillar" tractors made by an American company. This firm | ! has for some time been, ■declining orders for farn; tractors, on the.score, of having to fulfil large contracts for ihe; British War Office, and when Mr McLean, engineer to the Tourist Motor Company, recently -, mad© a visit of inspection to _all the large manufacturing plants in America, he Wits told at the firm's works that 80 Tractors a month, were being "despatched to Europe to the ordei--0:" the Allies. British illustrated periodicals of reecnt date gave photographs of these tractors in use at Salonika and elsewhere, and tho cabled description of the motors used by Sir Douglas Hdg's armies seemed to leave little doubt that they were ct identical '■pattern. In these circumstances the description of these strange vehicles which Mr Hyslop wos :ible to give is of topical interest. .METHOD OF PROOIREvSSIpN.

The. basic principle of the "Caterpillar"-, tractor is that it negotiates difficult country by laying '.te own Jme of raiLs v and running oveivthem. The driving gear consists of a couple ot endless bands of jointed steel plates, 2 fret wide, presenting a surface to the ground about 5 feet Jong. This endles baud runs over a couple of large-toothed- wheels, the rear one being the driver, while' the weight of tho tractor is taken en each side- by a series of four-flanged wheels, bearing upon rails on tho inner tiiirfaces of the endless band, hi effect, therefore, tho machine runs or.' a pair of four-wheeled bogeys, travelling on the set of lails carried on the inner side of the jointed plates, which grip the ground. The- "Caterpillar" running gear is well to the rear of the chassis, and in.front is a single, pilot wheel. This is not used lor steering, and neeci. not necessarily be in contact with the ground .at all. It is merely there to prevent the nose ol the car dipping down too far when descending a steep grade.

CLIMB ALMOST ANY GRADE

Th.3 engine is an exceptionally large four-cylinder one of 7inv bore and 9im stroke. For farming purposes it can bo run on distillate, but in military, service it is fed on tho,best of petrol. It develops 75. horse-power— .American rating—and consumes a gallon of petrol ;.n hour. Tt is perched in the front part of the chassis, as in tho ordinary touring oar of commerce, and is set very high, with an. enormous radiator. Thero are two speeds forward and one reverse. Tho top gear gives a speed of six miles an hour, and the second and reverse 'are each good for about two and a-half miles an hour. The car will climb almost any grade short of perpendicular, will pull through loose sand, clamber over trenches, amble serenely through barbed wire entanglements, and break its way through fences. There is one of these tractors in use m Hastings' to-day, which haS hauled GO tons of road r.ietal in. one train.1

DIGGING AND FILLING .TRENCHES.

In addition to "its enormous tractive powers and its adaptability^ to any sort of country, ihe "Caterpillar" lias distinct military uses in cno matte?- ot digging trenches. It will dig a trench "in its stride," and. with equal facility, without another set of tools attached, it will fill up a trench already dug. / Regarding the method of armoring the cars, oi course, nothing can be said. The tractor weighs 9£ ton* without armor, and a dozen tons, or so of armor would orUy improve its tractive ea.pacjty. The platform on tho fhasfiis'is a large and roon:y one, and should provide accommodation for one or two fair-siaed machine-guns, with adequate squads of nien to serve them.

Mr Hyslop stated that one- of these tractors had just been delivered in New Zealand to the order of his firm, and he, personally, considered that it would be considerably more useful at tho front, now that the day for using this class of tractor had definitely arrived in France. The cost of the machine was £2000^, -and if three othei' donors . would provide £500 sach, his firm would be prepared to allow the tractor to be sent to France as New Zealand's gift.