Bramah Joseph Diplock pedrail locomotive

Bramah Joseph Diplock (27 April 1857 – 9 August 1918) was an English inventor who invented the pedrail wheel in 1899 and the pedrail chaintrack, a type of caterpillar track, in 1907. Diplock was born in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

to Thomas Bramah Diplock, a coroner, and Eleanor Diplock. He died suddenly on the 9th August 1918 of brain hemorrhage at 21 Heathfield Close, Chiswick, aged 62. Diplock Glacier in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after him due to his contribution to the development of tracked vehicles.

Inventions

Diplock's first inventions were related to improving traction in geared locomotives (both road and rail) by driving all wheels, this presenting problems due to the need to steer the vehicle. His patents date back to 1893 when he was living in Falmouth, Cornwall. This desire for greater traction in road locomotives (traction engines) probably led directly to the pedrail system which he patented in 1899. In this design the continuously laid tracks contain rollers and the rails roll over them, which gave it the capability for crossing banks and ditches, as well as soft ground; a capability that attracted the attention of the War Office. The practical realisation of this was the Pedrail Tractor made by Fosters of Lincoln, from which an account in 1904 of a trial attended by members of the War Office proved its ability to tow a heavy load over rough ground, climbs hills and turn with ease, and show a 2 ton drawbar pull. In 1902 he published a book about his pedrail system and the experiments and experience with two traction engines fitted with it. Publisher Longman, Green and Company, entitled "A New System of Heavy Goods Transport on Common Roads". In 1907 Bramah applied for a patent for the pedrail system where the track was laid in a chain link. However, a similar looking tracked system had already been patented in 1904 by David Roberts, Chief Engineer of Richard Hornsby & Sons Ltd, and reports in the press of the time appear to sometimes confuse the two systems. The term 'pedrail' becoming more generic in application, as was 'caterpillar track'. There are reports that Pedrail chaintrack tractors, and towed trailers, using this principle were under evaluation by the War Office by early 1909, though the pictured vehicle bears a remarkable similarity to the Hornsby vehicle under evaluation at the time. The pedrail chaintrack system was to have an important influence on tank development, although it was not the pedrail tracked system that was adopted. Faced with trench warfare there were ideas supported by Winston Churchill and Lord Fisher (First Sea Lord) for land battleships, however Sir Percy Scott argued that these huge slow moving devices would be destroyed by artillery fire before they could be effective. It was then that Commodore Murray Sueter suggested adapting the pedrail chaintrack system. A demonstration of the pedrail chaintrack was hastily arranged before Lloyd George, Winston Churchil and other senior War Office staff, where "a demonstration was given of the powers of the caterpillar in forcing wire entaglements and surmounting obstacles". As a result of these trials 18 pedrail equipped armoured tracked vehicles were ordered, however in the end only one prototype was created (see

Pedrail Machine The Pedrail Machine was an experimental British armoured fighting vehicle of the First World War. It was intended initially to be used as an armoured personnel carrier on the Western Front, but the idea was dropped in favour of other projects. W ...

). The pedrail system, with rollers in the tracks and rails on the chassis, lost out to the simpler system with linked tracks forming a temporary road way for numerous wheels on the chassis.

Pedrail Transport Company

Diplock founded the Pedrail Transport Company of

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

in 1911, and at the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

it was the only British company still manufacturing "caterpillar"

continuous track Continuous track is a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle ...

s. A demonstration of the system's ability to support a large load for

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artille ...

was made on 16 February 1915 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 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, and may have been influential in the development of the

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 ...

. The company went into liquidation in 1921.Trains on tank Principle - Shareholder doubts their value in this country, Yorkshire Evening Post, 16 September 1921, p8

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diplock, Bramah Joseph British inventors British mechanical engineers 20th-century British people 1857 births 1918 deaths Engineers from London People from Chelsea, London

Inventions

Pedrail Transport Company

See also

Notes