John Walter Christie (May 6, 1865 – January 11, 1944) was an American engineer and inventor. He is best known for developing the Christie suspension system used in a number of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

-era tank designs, most notably the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

BT and

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...

series, and the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Covenanter and Crusader Cruiser tanks, as well as the Comet heavy cruiser tank.

Early life and career

Christie was born in the Campbell-Christie House in

New Milford, New Jersey New Milford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 16,341,Delamater Iron Works while taking classes at the Cooper Union in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He eventually became a consulting engineer for a number of steamship lines and in his spare time did some work on early submarine designs. Following the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

he developed and patented an improved turret track for

naval artillery Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firing weapons and exclude ...

. At the same time he was working on designs for a

front-wheel-drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...

car, which he promoted and demonstrated by racing at various speedways in the United States, including the Readville Race Track and the 1905

Vanderbilt Cup The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. History An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County on Long Island, ...

race. His car was knocked out of the race by a collision with

Vincenzo Lancia Vincenzo Lancia (24 August 1881 – 15 February 1937) was an Italian racing driver, engineer and founder of Lancia. Vincenzo Lancia was born in the small village of Fobello on 24 August 1881, close to Turin; his family tree starts in Fabell ...

who was at the time leading the race in a Fiat. Lancia was enraged, but presumably noticed the Christie car's vertical-pillar coil-based independent front suspension: the then unusual configuration subsequently turned up on the

Lancia Lambda The Lancia Lambda is an innovative automobile produced from 1922 through 1931. It was the first car to feature a load-bearing unitary body, (but without a stressed roof) and it also pioneered the use of an independent suspension (the front slidi ...

He was the first American to compete in the 1907 French Grand Prix: the V4 engine of 19,891 cc that powered his vehicle was the largest ever used in a Grand Prix race, but the car retired after four laps with "engine trouble". On September 9 of that same year, Christie was seriously injured in a crash when his car struck loose debris during a lap at Brunots Island Race Track in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. In a twelve-car endurance race earlier that day, scheduled to run 50 miles, the Haynes car of driver Rex Reinertson had lost its right front tire with disastrous results, catapulting into the air and landing on its roof. Reinertson was crushed beneath the car, suffering injuries (including a skull fracture) that ultimately proved fatal, and his mechanic Clarence Bastion was ejected from the vehicle and thrown 50 feet through the air, breaking both of his arms and both of his legs. After ten more laps, the race was stopped so that the injured men could receive medical treatment, and the unlucky Reinertson's car was cleared off the track. Next up was Christie, driving the car he had used at the Grand Prix only a few months before. He was attempting to break the track's lap record of 58 seconds, and due to receive a $500 prize if he was successful. Christie completed the second half of his warmup lap in only 24 seconds, so he was well on pace for a new record, but at the 1/8 mile marker of his real lap his right front wheel struck part of Reinertson's car that remained on the track. Christie was thrown from the car, traveling twenty feet in the air and fifty feet across the ground, before coming to earth. Mark Baldwin, a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player who became a doctor following his retirement from professional sports, happened to be in the stands as a spectator, and he ran to Christie and administered first aid until Christie could be placed in an ambulance and taken to the hospital, a task that was complicated by the large number of spectators who had climbed down from the grandstands and moved onto the track. Christie had been knocked unconscious by the impact. He also sustained a broken left wrist, a cut on his right eye from the broken glass of his goggles, and a significant injury to his back. Doctors who treated Christie expressed concern that he might be crippled as a result of his injuries, or lose the sight in his damaged eye, and news of his accident was kept from his wife, who was herself seriously ill at their home in

River Edge, New Jersey River Edge is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 12,049, reflecting a 6.3% increase from the 11,340 enumerated at the 2010 U.S. Census,

. Christie remained in the St. John's Hospital until September 19, at which point he was discharged and returned to New York.Walter Christie Coming Home
, ''The New York Times'', September 20, 1907, page 10. Walter Christie built the 1909 front wheel drive Christie Racer driven by

Barney Oldfield Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield (January 29, 1878 – October 4, 1946) was an American pioneer automobile racer; his "name was synonymous with speed in the first two decades of the 20th century". After success in bicycle racing, he began auto ...

, Master Driver of the World and America's Legendary Speed King, the first to lap the Indianapolis Speedway over 100 MPH. on May 28, 1916, speed: 102.623 MPH, time: 1.27.70. Christie now switched his energies away from automobile racing to developing his

front wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitu ...

New York taxicab design. With benefit of hindsight, the taxi design's importance came in large part from the fact that it incorporated a transversely mounted engine/transmission assembly, applying a basic architecture that would be greeted as revolutionary when applied by

Alec Issigonis Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis (18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and voted the second most influential car of t ...

in the

BMC Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

fifty years later. However, in 1909 the idea of a 'conventional lay-out' was less firmly rooted than it would have become by 1959, and for Christie the vehicle's more striking novelty lay the fact that the entire "forecarriage", incorporating all the key mechanical components, could be detached and replaced in "less than one hour", so that the vehicle could stay on the road while the engine maintenance took place. The car's radical lay-out was to necessitate the manufacture of many complex components in-house, and problems encountered subsequently by other manufacturers producing or finding a dependable

universal joint A universal joint (also called a universal coupling or U-joint) is a joint or coupling connecting rigid shafts whose axes are inclined to each other. It is commonly used in shafts that transmit rotary motion. It consists of a pair of hinges ...

make it hard to believe that the Christie vehicle was particularly dependable. Given the heavy steering resulting from the fwd lay-out and a published unit price in 1909 of $2,600, it is understandable that the denizens of the New York cab trade did not flock to buy the Christie taxi. In 1912 Christie began manufacturing a line of wheeled fire engine tractors which also utilized a front-wheel-drive system, and subsequently sold scores of them to fire departments around the country, most notably the

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

. The tractors allowed the departments to keep their steam-powered pumps while ending the use of horses to pull them to the scene of the fire. In 1916, with 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 ...

raging in Europe, he developed a prototype four-wheeled gun carriage for the

US Army Ordnance Board The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a Combat service support (United States), sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee (Virginia), Fort Lee, Virginia. The ...

. But the Ordnance board had set out strict guidelines for weapons, and Christie refused to revise his designs to suit their requirements. Christie's own personal stubbornness and his habit of offending those in the US Army and Ordnance bureaucracy would have ramifications for the rest of his career. Christie's first major supporter, and success, however came not from the US Army, but the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

Major General Eli K. Cole who was an advocate of developing the Marine Corps amphibious capability. Christie had built an amphibious light tank a decade before Donald Roebling's ''Alligator'', and this was to be displayed during the Winter Maneuvers of 1924 at

Culebra, Puerto Rico Isla Culebra (, ''Snake Island'') is an island, town and municipality of Puerto Rico and geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. It is located approximately east of the Puerto Rican mainland, west of St. Thomas and north of Vieque ...

. In overall command of the exercise was Admiral

Robert Coontz Robert Edward Coontz (June 11, 1864 – January 26, 1935) was an admiral in the United States Navy, who sailed with the Great White Fleet and served as the second Chief of Naval Operations. Early life Robert Coontz, son of Benton Coontz, w ...

, USN. Along with trying out the "Beetle Boat," a copy of the armoured lighters used by the British during the Gallipoli landings in 1915 that served as a landing craft, would be Christie's amphibious tank first recommended by Brigadier General

Smedley Butler Major general (United States), Major General Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881June 21, 1940), nicknamed the "Maverick Marine", was a senior United States Marine Corps Officer (armed forces), officer who fought in the Philippine–American ...

. The tank was transported to the exercise area aboard the , and designated as the "Marine Corps Tank (GC-2)". It was then hoisted on board a waiting submarine prior to its launch toward the shore, then "As the "mother ship" submerged, the Christie tank proceeded to shore. Unable to maneuver through the heavy surf, the vehicle returned to the Wyoming without landing. The next day, when the surf had subsided, the Christie amphibian once again left its mooring aboard the submarine and made a perfect landing. Despite the fact that the vehicle came ashore after the exercise had been officially declared over, Cole stated that the tank possessed the capability of being developed into an extremely valuable weapon, especially in connection with landing operations."

Later innovations and bureaucratic frustrations

Christie continued to submit designs to the Ordnance board, but none was deemed acceptable. A major reason was the poor cross-country performance, due to limited suspension capabilities. He turned his attention to this problem, and after five years of development (at a cost of $382,000) he produced the revolutionary prototype tank chassis

M1928 The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, Magazine-fed rifle, magazine-fed Selective fire, selective-fire subm ...

(Model 1928) design. He proudly referred to it as the "Model 1940" because he considered it to be 12 years ahead of its time. The M1928 still retained large road wheels with no return rollers for the tracks from his earlier designs, so that the tracks could be removed for road travel, allowing for greater speed and range. What made this prototype revolutionary was its new "helicoil" suspension system, whereby each wheel had its own spring-loaded assembly. This reduced space in the interior of the tank, but (combined with a very light overall weight) allowed for unprecedented high-speed cross-country mobility, albeit at the cost of extremely thin armor. Another interesting feature of the M1928 and later Christie designs was

sloped armor Sloped armour is armour that is neither in a vertical nor a horizontal position. Such angled armour is typically mounted on tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), as well as naval vessels such as battleships and cruisers. Sloping an ...

in front, which could better deflect projectiles. The sloped armor helped to compensate for its thinness. The Army purchased several of Christie's tank prototypes for testing purposes and Christie's patent, allowing them to produce prototypes based on his design. In October 1928, the M1928 was demonstrated at

Fort Myer Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and Fort Whipple, ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. There the Army's Chief of Staff, General Charles P. Summerall, and other high-ranking officers were impressed and strongly recommend that the Infantry Tank Board conduct further, official tests of the new vehicle. However, the Tank Board was less than impressed. They pointed out that the vehicle's armor was very thin and could not survive penetration by the smallest armor-piercing

antitank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first de ...

rifle or artillery piece. The Board also differed with Christie on guidelines for tank capabilities, which were based on a radically different theory of armored warfare than that adhered to by Christie. While Christie advocated the use of lightweight tanks with long range and high speed, designed to penetrate enemy lines and attack their infrastructure and

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

capabilities, they saw the tank as simply a supporting weapon to facilitate breakthroughs by the infantry, and help isolate and reduce enemy strongpoints near the front lines, much as they had been used in the previous world war. For the Infantry Tank Board, armor and firepower were far more important design criteria than mobility, and the M1928 prototype was passed to the Cavalry for further evaluation. The Cavalry's thinking at that time was geared toward armored cars, and wanted to develop the M1928 as an armored car chassis. Once again, Christie's concept of how his vehicles should be used, together with his difficult nature, resulted in clashes with Army officials. One member of the Cavalry Evaluation Board who appreciated both Christie's design and tank warfare concepts, was Lt. Colonel

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

. Patton, and his friend Major C.C. Benson, strongly supported adoption of the M1928 as the basis for a

Cavalry tank The cruiser tank (sometimes called cavalry tank or fast tank) was a British tank concept of the interwar period for tanks designed as modernised armoured and mechanised cavalry, as distinguished from infantry tanks. Cruiser tanks were developed ...

. Ultimately, the Secretary of War rejected mass production of the M1928, citing excessive acquisition costs. Embittered, Christie felt he was justified in selling his inventions to the highest bidder. He began looking to foreign governments to purchase his advanced chassis and suspension systems;

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

had all expressed interest in the designs. A long and complex series of exchanges between Christie and foreign governments followed. These were technically illegal, since Christie never obtained approval of the US Department of State, Army Ordnance, or the Department of War to transfer his designs to potentially hostile governments.

Dealings with foreign governments

Initially, Christie promised to sell his M1928 tank design to the Polish government. In 1929, Captain Marian Rucinski of the Polish Military Institute of Engineering Research (WIBI) was sent to the US, and soon learned of the M1928 tank being constructed by Christie's company, the ''US Wheel Track Layer Corporation'' in Linden, New Jersey. Rucinski also learned of a design for an improved tank (later known as the Christie M1931) that had recently gone to blueprint. Rucinski's opinion was so enthusiastic that on February 16, 1930 a special acquisition commission was dispatched to the US, headed by the Chief of the Engineering Department, Colonel Tadeusz Kossakowski. The commission signed a contract with Christie in March for construction and delivery of a single M1928 tank, and paid a pre-payment to him. Christie later reversed course and failed to deliver on his contract obligations, and faced with potential litigation, eventually returned the payment made by the Polish government, which never obtained the tank they had ordered. Soviet agents were able to secure plans about Christie's tank through underground links to an American Army officer. Though the Soviet Union had no diplomatic relations with the US at the time, and was barred from obtaining military equipment or weapons, Soviet OGPU agents at the trade front organization AMTORG managed to secure plans and specifications for the Christie M1928 tank chassis in 1930 using a series of deceptions. On April 28, 1930 Christie's company, the U.S. Wheel Track Layer Corporation, agreed to sell

Amtorg Amtorg Trading Corporation, also known as Amtorg (short for ''Amerikanskaya Torgovlya'', russian: Амторг), was the first trade representation of the Soviet Union in the United States, established in New York in 1924 by merging Armand Hammer ...

two M1931 Christie-designed tanks at a total cost of $60,000 US, with the tanks to be delivered not later than four months from date of signing, together with spare parts to the purchased tanks for the sum of $4,000. Rights were also transferred to the production, sale and use of tanks inside the borders of the U.S.S.R. for a period of ten years. The two Christie tanks, falsely documented as agricultural farm tractors, were sold without prior approval of the U.S. Army or Department of State, and were shipped without turrets to the Soviet Union. The Soviets used these two tanks to develop the BT series of tanks, forerunners of the massively produced

T-34 tank The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The Chri ...

. Following favorable reports on observation of the Soviet activities, the British War Office arranged purchase of Christie's last remaining prototype and licensing of a Christie design through the Morris Motors Group. The deal was done by phone for £8,000 however, the British discovered that Christie had already mortgaged the vehicle. Why payment necessary to secure the vehicle was not deducted from this figure is not clear but the net cost rose to £10,420 18s 4d, which included British Customs Duty and 'other expenses'. The US authorities refused its export as it was war

materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specif ...

. The vehicle was dismantled sufficiently to meet specification as an "agricultural tractor" and so be exported. The removed parts were then shipped to the UK in crates marked as "grapefruit". Christie's design still had a number of faults that he had never addressed and though the general features were retained, the design was completely reworked to form the British

Cruiser Mk III The Tank, Cruiser, Mk III, also known by its General Staff specification number A13 Mark I, was a British cruiser tank of the Second World War. It was the first British cruiser tank to use the Christie suspension system, which gave higher speeds ...

(A13). page 6–7

Later life and work

After the U.S. Army's rejection of the M1928, Christie continued to work on new designs throughout the 1930s, including a

winged tank Tanks with glider wings were the subject of several unsuccessful experiments in the 20th century. It was intended that these could be towed behind, or carried under, an airplane, to glide into a battlefield, in support of infantry forces. In war, ...

. Though the Army purchased several prototypes and developed its own experimental designs based on Christie designs, none of the Christie designs ever saw mass production by the US. Following the outbreak of

in 1939 and the US entry into hostilities in 1941, Christie again submitted tank designs to the army, all of which featured his suspension system and large, convertible road wheels. But as with his earlier dealings with the army, attempts to secure US government adoption ended largely in frustration and rejection. Christie died in Falls Church, Virginia on January 11, 1944, as the tanks based on his designs were shaping the course of history.

References

External links

''Flying Tanks that Shed Their Wings''
by Lew Holt in ''Modern Mechanics and Inventions'', July 1932

a site dedicated to the man and his tank designs
Christie and the Vanderbilt Races
(VanderbiltCupRaces.com)

collection at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. Including ''Christie Tank – Report on Acceptance Test, 1930'' and a Letter from J. Walter Christie to Sereno Brett, dated 1943

by Walt Pittman, An interesting article mentioning Christie's fire engines

researched and Written by Kevin Wright: an article detailing the history of Christie's family and birthplace with pictures and a short bio of J. Walter himself
Christie's patent for his suspension system

Christie's patent for an endless track for truck tractors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Walter 20th-century American inventors American engineers People from New Milford, New Jersey People from River Edge, New Jersey 1865 births 1944 deaths Engineers from New Jersey Tank designers