RUMCars Forum
General Category => Sales & Auctions => Topic started by: burford57 on March 13, 2009, 01:01:36 am
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From Brightwells Classic Vehicle Auction catalogue, March 18 2009:
Atco Safety First Trainer:
http://www.brightwells.com/3rdparty/orphanspress/classiccars/viewdetails.php?id=1130
British Anzani Astra Utility - that bloody thing just won't go away, will it?
http://www.brightwells.com/3rdparty/orphanspress/classiccars/viewdetails.php?id=1218
Carter Electric Invalid Carriage, a must-have for Stuart!
http://www.brightwells.com/3rdparty/orphanspress/classiccars/viewdetails.php?id=1173
Singer Motorwheel Tricycle - Colin K, how can you refuse?
http://www.brightwells.com/3rdparty/orphanspress/classiccars/viewdetails.php?id=1165
BSA Winged Wheel in ladies' frame for the cyclemotor enthusiasts among us:
http://www.brightwells.com/3rdparty/orphanspress/classiccars/viewdetails.php?id=1217
You can see I have too much time on my hands on nights again, can't you?
Regards and happy bidding - bonnes encheres a tous!
Nick D.
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Thanks Nick for the suggestion of a motorized Singer.
And here's one for you (might be suitable for the weather you get down your way)
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,213971.0/topicseen.html
Ford snow tractor...
About 10 Minutes long (no sound)
Built from 1917 to 1921.
I think Henry Ford himself was the driver in most of the
scenes.
(Liveleak is a video-posting website)
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I like the BSA cyclemotor, and the Ford snow tractor looks great fun
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That Fordson Snow Motor video is brilliant, thanks Colin!
Nick D.
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Great flick Colin, I remember seeing a program a few years ago about an Antarctic expedition, where a similar machine was introduced to float on water and drive through sea ice, just shows not all modern inventions use current technology.
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I saw that programme too, I KNEW that Ford looked familiar !
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At least one Fordson Snowmobile still exists in the Henry Ford museum in Michigan. It was a bit of a gimmick of its time & soon lost out to the advent of the typical crawler tractor which was found to do everything the snowmobile could do & then some & was a lot less complicated to build. To understand the principle, a 1949 County crawler conversion of a Fordson E27N might tip the scales at getting on for three tons, but the size & area of the tracks means it excerts only about 5lbs per inch ground pressure. The size & area of the snow drums are using the exact same principle. This also means in theory you could let either of them run over your foot with no ill effect becuse of the light tread of the "footprint"....
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An even more interesting idea of spreading weight was the "swimming" tanks invented by top military GENIUS AND HERO (!) General Sir Percy Hobart ("Hobo's Funnies"). See Wikipedia. A steel frame around the top of the turret and bodywork was enclosed and sealed in rubberised canvas, the tank settled into the water until the weight was displaced, and they worked brilliantly.
Americans (sorry Jim et al !) say that they were a complete disaster on D Day, where 79 of the 80 US ones sank. However the instructions were very clear that they must be launched from less than 3 miles off-shore, at defined water depth, wind and tide speeds, and were forbidden from going diagonally across the current; all those used in accordance with the instructions landed safely. I have seen film of them, and the tanks are almost totally submerged. If/when swamped, they take about 20 secs to evacuate, but 3 secs to sink! Any volunteers?
I have friends in a Hants/Dorset Morris side called The Hobos, in honour of the great Sir Percy. One of his few unsuccessful inventions was the Great Panjandrum, immortalised on Dad's Army....a giant rocket-powered double catherine wheel packed with explosives.