A DESERT SHIFT

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 73, 30 March 1929, Page 16

A DESERT SHIFT

GIANT MOTOR TRACTOR

Dr. Christopher Bkehoff, a German, is building a giant motor deaert "liner" which is intended to transport passengers and goods across the Sahara, just as a modern liner doea on the seven seas. Tho vessel is to be 130 ft long, standing 42ft high, with a breadth of 26ft; and the general arrangement of tho machine closely resembles that of a passenger steamship, with the exception that it runs on wheels. These wheels (says a contributor to the "Newcastle Weekly Chronicle") are of a tremendous size. They measure 39ft across. Though not of the caterpillar type, such as those employed on small cars, which have recently braved desert journeys, their construction includes an ingenious compensating mechanism which will enable them to stick closely to 'the loose ground which they will traverse. In this way the vessel itself will always be kept at a comfortable level, and the passengers will experience no greater inconvenience than if they were in an ordinary motor-car on an 1 average road. Inside the desert-ship are four decks. Tho-first comprises the. control cabin— the ship's ".'bridge"—the . wireless cabin, cabins for the captain and the mates, and four cabins de luxe, as well as an office, luggage-rooms, washrooms, and a sheltered promenade aft. The second and third decks are occupied by the reading-room, smoking-room, din-ing-room, kitchen, cabins, and more lug-gage-rooms. Tho engine-room, the helmsman's cabin, and a repair-room, accompany the stores for .merchandise —the ship's ho]d-HJn the fourth or lowest deck. Here are also kept the water reservoirs and the fue] tanks. A novel and useful feature of the ship will be a "cooling-room," in which alow temperature will always be maintained by artificial means for the convenience of passengers overcome by tho heat of the burning desert sun. In all 150 persons, including passengers and crew, and 200 tons of merchandise will be the capacity of the new ship, while enough fuel can bo carried in addition which will be sufficient for a journey of from 10,000 to 12,000 miles without replenishing. The vessel is to be driven by two Diesel ship engines of 450 horse-power each, one of which is to be kept in reserve. .Electrical power and light are supplied by two dynamos, and the steering is effected by means of an hydraulic apparatus.