Tank Development
Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor
In 1770, Richard Edgeworth invented the first caterpillar track. During the Crimean War, small steam powered tractors with caterpillar tracks were used to go over muddy terrain. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler invented the internal combustion engine. In the US, the Holt Company made a tractor with caterpillar tracks that were used to cross difficult terrains. It was suggested that they should be used for military purposes but no one liked the idea. Frederick Simms made a design called the Motor War Car in 1899. The car had a bulletproof shell, a Daimler engine, and two machine guns on revolving turrets. The British War Office rejected his invention and did not show any interests in machines like it. After the start of World War One, Richard Hornsby & Sons produced a machine called the Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor. In June 1915, the Killen-Strait Armoured Tractor was tested infront of Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George and it was successful at cutting through barb wire entanglements. Colonel Ernest Swinton and Colonel Maurice Hankey convinced Winston Churchill to start a Landships Committee to start looking at ideas of a new war machine. The Landships Committee agreed with Swinton's idea and commissioned Lieutenant W.G. Wilson and William Tritton to produce a small landship.