The Foster-Daimler tractor, often called the Daimler-Foster tractor, was a heavy

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

built by William Foster & Co. in the early 20th century. It was used by the

armed forces of the United Kingdom The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

as a heavy

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be 6x6, wheeled, continuous track, tracked, or half-tracked. Trac ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, it also formed the basis of the experimental Tritton trenching machine and its power unit was used in early British

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

Design

The Foster-Daimler tractor weighed almost , it was powered by a Daimler 6-cylinder double-

sleeve valve The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. ...

petrol engine that developed with a two-speed gearbox. The tractors were driven by

traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...

-type rear wheels that were in diameter and wide; they could tow loads of .

History

The Foster-Daimler tractor was first built in 1912 as a joint venture between

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

based agricultural machinery manufacturers William Foster & Co. and Daimler Company Limited. It was produced as a petrol-engined heavy tractor for export to countries with limited

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

reserves, principally in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. In late 1914 the

Coventry Ordnance Works Coventry Ordnance Works was a British manufacturer of heavy guns particularly naval artillery jointly owned by Cammell Laird & Co of Sheffield and Birkenhead, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow and John Brown & Compa ...

developed the

BL 15-inch howitzer The Ordnance BL 15-inch howitzer was developed by the Coventry Ordnance Works late in 1914 in response to the success of its design of the 9.2-inch siege howitzer. The howitzer was cumbersome to deploy, since it was transported in several secti ...

. Weighing over these howitzers were broken down into several loads for road transportation. Upon receipt of an order for twelve 15-inch howitzers from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, the general manager of the Coventry Ordnance Works Rear-Admiral Reginald Bacon approached Daimler for the provision of tractors to tow the ordnance. Daimler referred Bacon to

William Tritton Sir William Ashbee Tritton, Justice of the Peace, JP, (19 June 1875 – 24 September 1946) was a British expert in agricultural machinery, and was directly involved, together with Walter Gordon Wilson, Major Walter Gordon Wilson, in the develop ...

, the managing director of William Foster. It was agreed the Foster-Daimler tractor would be adapted for the purpose of towing the broken down 15-inch howitzers, and an order for 97 tractors was placed at £1,866 per unit, along with 291 special towed wagons. Acceptance trials for the tractor were conducted in Lincoln on 10 December 1914, and in early 1915 the 15-inch howitzers and the Foster-Daimler tractors were taken into service with the

Royal Marine Artillery The history of the Royal Marines began on 28 October 1664 with the formation of the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot soon becoming known as the Admiral's Regiment. During the War of the Spanish Succession the most historic achi ...

attached to the

Royal Naval Division The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, who wer ...

. In service, eight Foster-Daimler tractors were used to tow each 15-inch howitzer. The tractors could be used conventionally when travelling on roads or, if fitted with flanged wheels, could move along

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Tritton trenching machine

The December 1914 acceptance trials included a bridging demonstration where a tractor towed two trailers of bridging timbers to a broad ditch; after engineers spanned the ditch, the tractor and trailers were waved across and one of the trailers toppled over the side, collapsing the bridge. After this accident Bacon remarked to Tritton that an armed and armoured vehicle that could lay its own bridge would be of great value. Bacon continued to press Tritton about the idea and designs were drawn up for a modified Foster-Daimler tractor capable crossing a gap. These were presented to

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

by the end of December and an order was placed for the production of an experimental prototype. The prototype, known by various names including the Tritton trenching machine, the Tritton trencher and the Tritton trench crossing machine, consisted of a Foster-Daimler tractor with the usual front wheels removed and a sub-frame fitted to the front of the chassis which had two wide road wheels in tandem – increasing the vehicles overall length to approximately – and two steel bridging girders in length were hung below the chassis on either side. As the vehicle approached a trench the front wheel would protrude across, and as it made contact the girders were lowered allowing the machine to drive across the trench. Once across, the vehicle would winch the girders across, reverse over them and be prepared to cross another trench. Bacon proposed fitting every trencher with a pair of headlights and another light on each side of the vehicles, each with glass in diameter and painted with the head of a ferocious Chinese warrior to unnerve the enemy during night attacks. Initially, the machine was to be ready for demonstration by 1 February 1915. This was subsequently delayed to mid-February but due to further various delays did not occur until 9 June 1915. The machine had little difficulty in laying the girders over single trenches wide, but after crossing it required at least of clear ground to retrieve the girders. It was also found to be extremely nose-heavy, too cumbersome, and underpowered. Despite the design's ingenuity, it was found to be impractical and the tractor was returned to its original configuration at a cost of £20.

Legacy

Probably the greatest contribution the Foster-Daimler tractor had to the war effort was it brought William Foster & Co, and particularly William Tritton, into the development and production of the

. Tritton was one of the engineers who developed the first completed tank design,

Little Willie Little Willie was a prototype in the development of the British Mark I tank. Constructed in the autumn of 1915 at the behest of the Landship Committee, it was the first completed tank prototype in history. ''Little Willie'' is the oldest survi ...

and its successor "Mother" ("Big Willie"), as well as the Mark A "Whippet" and Mark C "Hornet" medium tanks, with William Foster & Co. conducting much of the production. Both Little Willie, Mother, and the unchanged

Mark I tank British heavy tanks were a series of related armoured fighting vehicles developed by the UK during the First World War. The Mark I was the world's first tank, a tracked, armed, and armoured vehicle, to enter combat. The name "tank" was initial ...

used the Foster-Daimler tractor's 105 brake horsepower Daimler engine, gear-box and differential, being one of the few power units available in England with the required power, speeding up development and production. They were also used in the Mark II, Mark III, and

Mark IV tank The Mark IV (pronounced ''Mark four'') was a British tank of the First World War. Introduced in 1917, it benefited from significant developments of the Mark I tank (the intervening designs being small batches used for training). The main improv ...

s. Later, to increase the power of the engine, it was modified with aluminium pistons and dual carburettors to deliver , the upgraded engine being installed in the last 200 Mark IV tanks.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foster-Daimler tractor Artillery tractors World War I vehicles of the United Kingdom