A demo film of the Armstead Snow Motors Company concept ‘Snow Vehicle’ – powered by a Fordson tractor, and a Chevrolet automobile.
This is silent film shot in 1924. I wonder why this concept never caught on.
Found by Jim Davis.
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That is really cool. It would make winter driving a lot safer if used in modern cars.
The problem is PAVEMENT.
Unless you have solid snow and ICE on the streets it will tear them up.
Rubber treads were a better choice and could be used on pavement.
I see numerous problems. One, if a foot gets caught in there, it’s DEFINITELY gone. Could be solved a number of different ways, but the presented design does have that inherent problem.
The second problem has to do with drastically varying terrain. The hills in the video are relatively gentle in their slopes, but if presented with a huge crest, I would imagine this type of locomotion would have more trouble than, say, a snowmobile that always applies force parallel to the direction of travel.
Lastly, frozen lakes and rivers are a huge issue in the midwest. This method of locomotion relies on some form of displacement of the terrain (ie., snow) to create the grooves through which it travels. The thickness of the ice would probably have to be greater than the amount that creates enough friction between the skids of a snowmobile and the ice, or the disruption could possibly shatter the ice.
Mac Guy is pretty much right.
I saw this a while back and came across the reasons it didn’t take off.
The big reason being uneven terrain. It would bog down quickly because of lack of traction going over a bump.
The other reason was the Artic Cat. Using a modified Caterpillar system, the Artic Cat type system could both float on snow and cross uneven terrain.
The one this this screw system could do which no one else could was cross ice flows. A properly built system could cross ice flows and float on the water in-between.
Useful, but not much demand.
The biggest reason is probably nobody wanted to pay the licensing. Treads are just as dangerous to the operator, and also have lubrication, maintenance, and breakage issues. As for uneven terrain, without seeing it perform, it would be pure speculation. Why wouldn’t it ride over an obstruction or hump?
True, it would be bad on roads, but artic cats never go on the highway anyway.
Good idea not adopted.
Search for ZIL screw drive on you tube too.
They look VERY painful to ride on in rough terrain.
Poor horse!
Wow, engineering on this baby’s older than I am! Wouldn’t take a genius to throw together a modernized version. I’d do it with four motors and off road holonomic wheels. Now that would go in any direction with any rotation – easy to roll out of a jam on your own power.
There is a modern one here > http://tiny.cc/BvhvS
Actually the Russians had one of these awhile ago:
we’re not called the Great Lakes State for nothing! well damn, to think we used to be the leader in Tech here in Michigan!!
ooohhh those were the days!
#11 somehow, “screw-tank” is a name that might mislead you…
This same vehicle has been featured on DU several times. Do we really need to see it again?
Strange… I’ve been an editor here for three years and I’ve never seen it.
Looked too much like riding a lobster. Too many Captain Nemo jokes would ensue.
The design is wrong. Use one cylinder and 2 spheres near the back. And shoot ice-melter
out the front.
Then chase surprised skiers.
Wish I knew more about snow driving.
I would have thought that the WWII Germans and Soviets would have considered this, and perfected it, for the eastern front tank battles. If it had any merit, they sure could have, and would have used it.
I didn’t know about these machines until I saw the video today. I did know about a U.S. government swamp buggy meant to provide fast transport that worked on the same principle. It was on TV some years/decades back. I don’t know what became of the project.
I think the issue is hard surfaces. Unless you have to deal with water/muck I’d think wide tracks would work better because they get along with hard stony or paved surfaces much better.
Tracks and hovercraft are two options that may have helped keep this idea from going big time.
Modern “Occupational Health and Safety” Rules here in Australia would totally prohibit these contraptions, albeit they do look like a lot of dangerous fun!
The open chain and sprocket drives, the complete lack of Roll-Over Protection and the operator not wearing any sort of seat-belt and helmet would alarm any safety inspector. However, the operator wearing a nice white shirt and tie would make a nice touch nowadays!!!
Although you wouldn’t want the tie caught in those chains and sprockets.
Within limits, a modern snowmobile would be a much better device, unless you wanted to float on a lake….
Simpler, too….
7:04 the guy drives it into the fence and breaks it.
Video editing technology sure has come a long way.
It wouldn’t catch on as the screws waste so much energy with sideways traction. A tracked vehicle wastes energy in mechanical friction, much of which would also be present here.
That sideways friction would place quite a lot of strain trying to pull the vehicle apart. While this would be much less on slippery surfaces such as snow or ice, swamps and grass might be a much greater problem. The kit could end up costing more than the few times a year someone might use one.
Those saboteur bastards at Caterpillar buried this concept, like GM and the engine that runs on water!
#21
I don’t know about floating, but you can drive a snow mobile across a lake. Top gear did it at one point, they raced it against some crazy icelandic jeep.
#25
That Top Gear segment was wicked! Who woulda thunk you could power a snowmobile over water.
My problem with this snow screw concept is that it seems awfully energy inefficient. To move the vehicle a few feet forward, the cylinders make a lot of revolutions. Tracked vehicles’ wheels turn a lot less to go the same distance forward. The drive gears at the rear of each spinning screw-tread are huge, compared to the drive shaft gear from the power transfer on the tractor. That means that the tractor is probably really gunning it. This thing probably drank fuel a lot faster than an equivalent tracked vehicle.
forget the 19 centry chain drive, How about hydrostatic drive? What do you think.