The Antarctic Snow Cruiser

Abstract

THE Engineer of May 3 gives an illustrated description of the remarkable vehicle which has been constructed for use by the American Antarctic Expedition which sailed from Boston, Mass., on November 15, 1939, in command of Bear-Admiral R. E. Byrd, U.S.N. The vehicle, called the Snow Cruiser,is to be used as a mobile base, and it is reported to be capable of travelling across ice fields, of climbing gradients of 35 per cent, of sliding down them on its steel-ribbed under-floor and of crossing crevasses in the ice 15 ft. wide. The Snow Cruiseris more than 55 ft. long, 20 ft. wide and 15 ft. high, and weighs, fully equipped, 33J tons. It has four pneumatic-tyred wheels 10 ft. in diameter which can be turned independently to various angles, and which can also be retracted into the vehicle. The structure is of steel electrically welded, and the motive power consists of two 150 h.p. oil engines driving electric generators supplying current to the traction motors. In the interior are the living quarters, store-rooms, the engine room, a machine shop and a laboratory, and also tanks for the storage of 2,100 gallons of oil fuel and of nearly 850 gallons of petrol for the aeroplane carried on the back of the vehicle. The Snow Cruiserwas designed and constructed by the Research Foundation of Armour Institute in Chicago, under the direction of Dr. T. C. Poulter, scientific director of the Foundation, who was second-in-command of the second Byrd expedition.