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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 Mus�e de l'Arm�e 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 phototh�que !!!!!



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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 phototh�que !!!!!

Any progress?



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