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The title of this paper fully indicates its scope. The author presents an intimate picture of conditions prevailing at the war front which affect the operation and maintenance of war trucks, and these two factors in turn indicate the trend that design should take. The training of the mechanical transport personnel of the Army is also gone into at some length. The English and American trucks used earlier in the war consisted of about nineteen different makes and forty-two totally different models, resulting in a very serious problem of providing spare parts and maintenance in general. In the British Army transportation comes under an Army Service Corps officer called the Director of Transport and Supplies. At the outbreak of the war these officers had had little mechanical experience, horses being employed principally. In the French Army motor vehicles were used to a greater extent before the war, under the artillery command.

The author first points out how increasing population and rising standards of living have increased the demand for foodstuffs and how such industrial activities as are brought about by the present conflict magnify the seriousness of the food problem, not only by withdrawing workers from the farms, but also by increasing food consumption on the part of those engaged in the speeded-up industries in order to supply the increased human energy required. The author then passes to a discussion of the tractor as a means for increasing the food supply by taking the place of withdrawn labor and cheapening production. Several charts show the effect of increased individual activity on food consumption, the relation of food consumption to standards of living and the growth of population, the variation of food demand during political activities during the past century, and the relation of the cost per calorie of various cereals.

After noting that the early development of the automobile industry took place at a time when gasoline was a drug on the market, this paper reviews the cycle of operations of a standard gasoline engine in order to point out its limitations and the possibilities of utilizing a less volatile fuel than gasoline and of securing lower consumptions of fuels of all kinds. Compression and expansion limitations and the reduction of mean effective pressures at light loads are considered. Disadvantages of throttling control are pointed out, citing as a parallel example the trend of steam engine design away from this means of control. The author then outlines the advantageous features of the improved Diesel engine design, and by means of curves shows the great fuel economy of this type as compared with gasoline engines. He concludes by defining “the ideal tractor engine.”

After a few general introductory remarks the author outlines the operating requirements for tractors, and takes up the matter of the proper sizes of tractors, stated in horsepowers per given number of plows. The use of lower-grade fuels, value of water in the engine, cylinder construction, methods of lubrication and design of drive-wheels are the subjects covered by the balance of the paper.

The author, from a first-hand study of this engine in the laboratory of Professor Junkers, traces the progress of the developmental work, and discusses the methods of operating the engine, its present status, its application to airplanes, trucks and tractors, details of marine and stationary types, fuel, advantages of and objections to the double-piston construction, and describes at some length the various parts entering into the construction of this type of engine. In conclusion, he summarizes the fundamental advantages of the Junkers engine.

The author first considers the size of farm on which tractors can be used profitably. Confining his remarks to certain of the central and north central states, he points out the fact that there is a strong tendency for farms from 20 to 100 acres to be combined with others to make units of a more efficient size for the application of modern farming methods. Farms from 100 to 500 acres, representing 65 per cent of the total farm acreage, are the greatest users of tractors. Farms over 500 acres contain 25 per cent of the farm land, and also represent an important tractor market. Efficient sizes of tractors are next treated; three and four-plow sizes are generally preferred. Belt work, representing 50 per cent of a typical tractor's work, and other special duties performed by the tractor are next referred to.

The author describes a number of detailed developments that took place during the working out of a line of worm-driven trucks. The details of front axle and steering parts are dealt with at length, the reasons for the final constructions being clearly explained and the constructions themselves well illustrated. Details concerning difficulty with the Hotchkiss type of drive on heavy trucks, troubles with drive-shafts and lubrication of the worm wheel are all covered thoroughly; spring-shackle construction and lubrication, radiator and hood mounting come in for detailed attention and the question of governors is interestingly covered. Brief reference is made to the influence of unsprung weight, the differences between truck and pleasure car practice in this respect being pointed out.

Inasmuch as horses cannot meet the demand for increased farm power, the tractor must come at once. So far the supply of tractors has been entirely inadequate to meet the demand. The author specifiies some of the problems that confront designers of farm tractors. To make the tractor immediately available for farm work, it must be adaptable to practically all of the existing types of horse-drawn implements, besides furnishing belt power for a wide variety of present power-driven farm machinery. In designing tractors it must be remembered that the horse is a very flexible unit, capable of a wide variation in power output. Designing a tractor to furnish the necessary power for the majority of farm conditions, requires an intimate knowledge of crops, soils and farm management. These must be analyzed carefully so as to make the machine have as wide a range of usefulness as possible.