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ARTILLERY MOTORIZATION
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Language:
English
Abstract
Motorization, as developed during the war, is stated as the greatest single advance in military engineering since the fourteenth century. Excepting about 66 per cent of the 77-mm. guns in the combat division, all mobile weapons of the United States artillery are motorized and complete motorization has been approved. The history of artillery motorization is sketched and a tabulation given of the general mechanical development in artillery motor equipment to May, 1919. Caterpillar vehicle characteristics are next considered in detail, followed by ten specifically stated problems of design which are then discussed. Five primary factors affecting quantity production, successful construction and effective design, in applying the caterpillar tractor to military purposes, are then stated and commented upon. A table shows specifications of engines used by the Ordnance Department and three general specifications for replacing present engine equipment are made. Ways and means of modifying present equipment are presented and the findings of the Westervelt Board that studied armament, calibers and types of materiel, kinds and proportion of ammunition and artillery transport methods are given in an appendix.