Is it Thursday again? Good! Here’s another Historical Thursday for all you wonderful Fixers. In the early 20th century, numerous ideas were thrown about as to the best way to travel on snow. Before arriving at the design of the current snowmobile, it was once thought that a screw-propelled vehicle would be the easiest way to traverse cold, barren landscapes.
A sort of conversion kit was created that attached two large cylinders (screws) to the bottom of a tractor or car so it could glide as easily as Legolas atop a snowbank. The first of these creations was a Fordson tractor, dubbed the Snow Devil. It was easily maneuverable and could travel up to 8 miles an hour, even in deep, powdery snow. Here’s a 80 year-old silent film (dubbed over with awful music, YouTube style) to highlight the machine’s advantages.
A company called Snow Motors, Inc was created to market and sell these kits worldwide. In January 1926, Time Magazine did a special report on their product:
The new car will consist of a Ford tractor power-plant mounted on two revolving cylinders instead of wheels—something on the order of a steam roller. The machine has already proved its usefulness in deep snow previously unnavigable. One such machine has done the work which formerly required three teams. In Oregon a stage line uses a snow motor in its two daily round trips over the Mackenzie Pass between Eugene and Bend. Orders are already in hand from Canada, Norway, Sweden, Alaska.
There were even reports of the Canadian RCMP replacing many of their iconic horses with the Snow Motor. But despite the ingenuity of the machine, no information is known as to if they became popular or even what happened to the company.
Thanks to Tim for the idea!
Information and pictures courtesy of: Google Patents,Time Magazine and Wikipedia
As always, if YOU have an idea for a Historical Thursday, let me know at: thereifixedit@gmail.com
-
-
Copy & paste this:
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-483xl95pmUiaY.gif\")
neato
That guy driving is having way too much fun. I’d love to have one of these!
That Guy was my Great Grandfather!
suuuurrreee he was
Your mom is a screw-propelled vehicle.
thats what she said
Sorry, this is “There I Fixed It” you’re looking for “The Art of Trolling.”
http://artoftrolling.com/
Oh Snap Dragon!
Remember guys, in IE, the quick command to respond is Alt-F4
nice one, Zipper
It’s all well if there is ONLY snow. When the snow is thin, or where the ground is uneven or rocky, the machine cannot propel itself anymore.
Thus the half-track solution.
There. You don’t need one.
Let me have it instead
Weee !
Someone didn’t watch the whole film
Which is why I should get it instead!
I really want one. At the end of the movie, you even get to see it mounted on a car. However, I could have done without the footage of that poor horse toward the beginning.
Movie shows it on an uneven grass field at the end.
As it is, why didn’t this catch on. It doesn’t tear into the snow like a Full or Half-Track might. What are the down side (Other then the screws are bigger then tracks and might be harder to manufacture replacments [seeming as how most older snowcats are not standardized, and as such, the owners tend to make their own tracks])
No there were bigger drives that were to knock down trees in pre-soviet russia
the reason why was because of a fundamental flaw in the design. It was great for compressible or pushable surfaces like snow, a relatively soft field, or even water (I’ve seen a variant used on amphibious systems) but hard surfaces would tear it apart, which took away some of it’s utility capabilities. (remember, the dirty thirties were starting, and people were looking for all around effectiveness than a couple features)
watch the whole video, It go’s rights through dirt just fine. As long as it has friction underneath its screws it will move forward just not as well on smooth inclines. But even on flat rock it will move just fine.
How many bad guys did James Bond’s dad mow down with this?
19. including the guys on the roof.
Probably pretty inefficient, but way cool. They don’t even mention the advantage this system has over even today’s snow machines: if made light enough and with large enough drums, this would even operate on water! I don’t understand why this is not still in use for operation on frozen lakes and rivers.
If I recall correctly (been a long time since I read about it), while this actually is more efficient and less “stick-able” than modern snow machines, the gearing was a nightmare to keep up. Further, you kind of had to have a Fordson tractor of a particular model– the snow screws were a kit added to an existing Fordson tractor. If you had some other tractor– even some other Fordson, then you were out of luck.
And as others have noted, if you ever actually did come across a patch of exposed soil or gravel, you were just as stuck as if you’d driven into a river.
If you watched the whole promotional film you would see that a sedan was also mounted on it, not just the tractor. The film also showed it running through an open field , no snow, it also works pretty well on gravel. Dry pavement kind of tears up the drums though, but have you ever seen a snowmobile on dry pavement, it’s not a pretty sight.
get sharped carbide for the screw and it will work on all terain.
A similar vehicle was used to cross the Bering Strait. But it’s a pretty niche application.
Anyway, “normal” snowmobiles work on water.
If you don’t drop your speed…
Bigger screws and wider threads might make it amphibious also. Last time I saw this, was on a Russian vehical
Really? Liquid water? I’d like to see that.
LOL!!! now all we have to do is make jetskis work on land!
Cool.
Not if you stop.
Shagohod!!! look it up.
Metal Gear FTW
That’s what I was thinking but couldn’t remember the name! Snake Eyes…
As soon as I saw this I went looking for that comment.
Fck that bike chase was epic.
This thing is genius! If I had the time and money, I would build one.
I guess I’m the only one that noticed the hand crank is stored in the wrong position… It is in the start position…
I like how at about 6:30 they hit the fence then cut the film…..
That was amazing! I couldn’t stop watching that old silent film! Keep up the awesome work with Historical Thursdays! –Thanks
Its the hat… Noone wears white shirt, tie and hat any more. Back then you had a starched white collar when driving tractor, building your house, or even welding. I blame the downfall of the British Empire on the lack of bowler hats, and Americans on lack of trilby hats. Good day to you *doff*
I blame Dr. Jones. He looked so dashing in a Fedora, most men gave up. He was the Bees Knees!
The Soviet military had these up into the ’70s but used to propel armored vehicles across the snow.
http://fulgerica.com/en/2007/07/04/in-soviet-russia-cars-screw-you/
*no one
the russians messed around with the twin screw prop. the downside is the lack of lateral stability, and the implimation of suspension… the russian desighn was like the Zil-29061.
another reason for the halt in production in russia could have been that in Russia, Tank ______ you!
Not so dead end a concept as you might think. Used by Russian military for concept vehicles. I once read of an expedition that used such a beast, that floated on the rotating pontoons, to cross the Bering straight.
http://fulgerica.com/en/2007/07/04/in-soviet-russia-cars-screw-you/
http://www.icechallenger.com/
The concept was revisited when lunar rover designs were being worked out for the Apollo missions.
I can’t quite figure it out, but something about the video makes me all wiggly.
Thank you for that……………….. particular thought.
(Actually, I thought it was clever).
That is the screwiest invention I’ve ever seen.
I want one.
> What are the down side
Well, fuel efficiency would be worse than a snowmobile, and it also takes up more storage space when not in use.
I still wouldn’t mind the chance to pilot one around for a few minutes, though.
> this would even operate on water!
Not with that early-twentieth-century Fordson tractor sitting on top of the cylinders, it wouldn’t. Straight to Davey Jones you go. But yeah, with today’s technology it should be possible to build one that would run on water, ice, *and* snow, which would be pretty cool. (Not as cool as a hovercraft, but that’s a high standard.)
Every object has a “center of gravity”. objects that float have a “center of bouyancy”. If the center of gravity is above the center of bouyancy, the object will be unstable. If an unstable object is also narrow, it will probably flip over.
Some quadrunners will float, but they would much rather float upside-down, and are hard to prevent from doing so.
I believe that the snow-motor in the picture would be unstable on water.
All the same, multi hull sailboats, even some mono-hull boats are far more stable upside down than upright. Thats why you never want to tip a catamaran. Provided there is proper balance, it is possible to have an inherently unstable craft be stable provided it does not tip too far from the center.
In Alberta, somewhere near Beaverlodge (Hythe?) I saw a much better kludge. It looked like (but wasn’t) a slightly oversized Messerschmidt Bubble Car on skis, with a hucking fuge aero engine c/w pusher prop on the back. It is credited with many life saving missions in the depths of the (foul) Alberta winters in the 30s, including getting flu vaccines to remote places.
It could, by all accounts, go like a brick down a well. I always wonder how they made it stop though.
I’ve seen images of that thing.
Who cares whether or not it’s practical. It’s a damn cool looking piece of machinery. By the way where is that particular tractor located?
I live up in northern Idaho and I definitely wouldn’t mind getting one of those for the winters around here. Anyone wanna help me design and build one?
That looks like a lot of fun…but I hate the cold, so I guess I’ll just go waterskipping instead (as I live in San Diego), assuming I can get a snowmobile that passes as a water vehicle.
Wait… this looks familiar…
… could it be?…
METAL GEAR?!
It’s fake, look @ factory @ 9:52
a factory… no!!! they did not have those in those days surely they did not need them to make steel for the tractors. and the like.
Poor horse
hey I just got done listening to a Podcast about this machine! its from ‘Car Stuff’ from How stuff works . com
http://podcasts.howstuffworks.com/hsw/podcasts/carstuff/2010-09-23-carstuff-screw-drive.mp3
its awesome!
The mind boggles at the kind of horrific accidents you could have slipping off that seat and into the whirling screws or exposed gears…
This be an Archimedes Screw Tractor.
I saw the eBay listing (for sale in Alaska) but it is long gone.
http://hooniverse.com/2010/06/07/the-archimedian-screw-tractor-for-when-a-tank-just-wouldnt-be-enough/
It’s a John Reindeere!
Just love the way the guy testing this machinery is dressed: like drive-testing a S-Klasse Mercedes…
Hey screw driven vehicles have a big advantage over threads like a snowmobile, screw driven vehicles can go diagonal or sideways as well as forward or back.