Someone was always the first. Inventors, whose creations have become firmly established in human life so much that sometimes it is even difficult to imagine - but what about without it? The history of this invention begins in 1904, when the manager of Richard Hornsby & Sons received a patent for a caterpillar track, which consisted of individual links.
The next logical step for the company was the development of a miracle mechanism, a tractor, which largely outstripped all competitors and became the prototype of modern tracked vehicles. Work on the tractor began in 1909, commissioned by Northern Light Power & Coal Co. This machine was built immediately for specific tasks and needs: the transportation of coal in rough terrain near the city of Dawson in the Yukon.
It should be noted that this is not the first experience of creating such machines in the company of Richard Hornsby, but no one has ever done such a colossus.
So the residents and the Dowsen power plant were demanding coal. If in summer delivery was possible by river, in winter the deliveries practically stopped. Sixty difficult kilometers required an unusual solution. And it was designed, built and worked. In practice, it was a locomotive that did not need rails.
The tractor-steam locomotive weighed forty tons, and with eight trailers (twelve-odd tons each) about one hundred and forty. The power of the tractor's steam engine was equal to eighty hp. The maximum speed (no load) was forty km / h. Moreover, the machine worked on coal, which it transported itself. For one "run" this land train transported about sixty tons of coal. Not bad at all for the beginning of the last century, is it?
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After the miracle tractor was delivered to the place of operation, it turned out that the weather conditions in England and Alaska differ quite significantly. Therefore, it was decided to retrofit the device with a closed cabin to protect against frost and crew and the steam engine itself. Nevertheless, the creation of Richard Hornsby and Sons worked faithfully until 1927. If we consider that gasoline began to be sold on dispensers there only in the 60s of the twentieth century, then there are no analogues of this incredible invention.
The further fate of the caterpillar giant was as follows. In 1927, the Silby family bought it, took a wonderful photo against it and … And then the remnants of this mechanism surface only in 2005 in the garage of “Seven Hills Golf Course Pt. McNeil BC . According to the employee, the undercarriage stood there for two decades. It is currently on display at the Reynolds-Albert Museum in Vetaskivin, Alberta, Canada.