Pedrail: Stand 56.
Page 28
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Readers of the early volumes of this journal will recall the experiment made at Aldershot with a type of traction engine that gave rise to a good deal of comment at the time. We refer to the invention or Mr. Diplock, and known as Dipleck's Pedrail tractor. The ordinary driving wheels of the traction engine were replaced with special wheels that were fitted with a number of feet that made contact always parallel to the ground, so that instead of a rolling contact, one had a kind of walking machine, which put down foet after foot like the hoofs of an elephant, the idea being to obtain the maximum adhesion to enable the machine to " walk " over ground which was so uneven that an ordinary rolling motion would be utterly impossible. Since that day the inventor has passed through many bitter experiences, and the machine he now presents at Olympia is undoubtedly different in construction from that with which he made his early experiments. One might almost term it a combination of the Pedrail principle with the chain-track trac tor built by Hornsby and Sons. It is certainly the most weird mechanical production at Olympia, and the mere novelty of its construction is attracting a good deal of attention.