
Antarctic Snow Cruiser - ciguy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Snow_Cruiser
======
smcleod
Check out the “Tucker Sno-Cat” that was used by New Zealander and British
explorers in early (1950s) Antarctic expeditions, several of the historic
vehicles are in the Canterbury (Christchurch) museum.

[1] [http://www.spiritofmawson.com/objects/tucker-sno-cat-
antarct...](http://www.spiritofmawson.com/objects/tucker-sno-cat-antarctica/)

[2] [http://forrestmccarthy.blogspot.com/2016/03/commonwealth-
tra...](http://forrestmccarthy.blogspot.com/2016/03/commonwealth-trans-
antarctic-expedition.html)

And some amazing video footage here (sorry about the music):
[https://youtu.be/NA4pUalceVE](https://youtu.be/NA4pUalceVE)

~~~
kayfox
Tucker Sno-Cat is still in business too, still making snow crawlers. There's
something to be said about businesses that don't try to diversify, they just
keep making one line of good product.

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short_sells_poo
I wonder what prompted them to use smooth (treadless) tires?

Large and soft tires are certainly good on snow, but smooth?

Maybe that actually works better on ice?

~~~
tokai
The threads will be packed with snow in no time.

~~~
josefresco
Siping is an important part of snow tire tread.

~~~
gus_massa
Siping was cutting edge technology at that time. From
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping_(rubber)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siping_\(rubber\))

> [...] _It was his son, Harry E. Sipe, who popularised the use of sipes in
> the USA for the new low-pressure balloon tires around 1939._

> _The process was not applied to vehicle tires on a large scale until the
> 1950s, when superior tread compounds were developed that could stand up to
> the siping process._ [...]

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g0ran
I wonder if this was inspiration for the design of transport vehicle in
Aliens.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_(film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_\(film\))

~~~
detritus
I tended to imagine that was inspired by larger 'pushback' vehicles at
airports.

eg. [https://www.terbergdts.co.uk/globalassets/special-
vehicles-s...](https://www.terbergdts.co.uk/globalassets/special-vehicles-
subsidiaries/terberg-dts/products-media-
blocks-659-x-439/aviation/schopfproducts.jpg) \- looks bad-ass!

~~~
rjsw
The Wikipedia article says that it was an airport vehicle.

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ea016
There's a good video on the topic here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR0M7KjnJTE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR0M7KjnJTE)

~~~
matt-attack
Thanks, that video is way more informative that the wikipedia article.

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lm28469
> combination kitchen/darkroom

As in photographic darkroom ?

edit: yes,
[https://books.google.de/books?id=vNsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA494&lpg=P...](https://books.google.de/books?id=vNsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA494&lpg=PA494&dq=snow+cruiser+%22darkroom%22&source=bl&ots=3nXHKPOtuI&sig=ACfU3U1wUJi05_JOKlS8LZ_0ifNXksqKbA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT_aCPv43oAhWXgVwKHYekB5YQ6AEwD3oECE4QAQ#v=onepage&q=darkroom&f=false)

~~~
rkangel
We forget, with the advent of digital photography, how pivotal access to a
darkroom used to be for all sorts of endeavours.

Facility for developing Black and White photos is not very complicated.
Usually you just need an enlarger, some chemical tanks and a room with no
light. If you want to do slides (rather than prints), and use the right film,
it's even simpler as you just need to develop the film.

~~~
lm28469
Yeah I'm about to setup a darkroom in my bathroom. I already develop myself
but I want to get into printing. Doing that on the go during an Antarctica
exploration seems like a pain in the ass though.

It's simpler with slides because you skip the print process, but developing
slide isn't nearly as easy as b&w. It's 10+ steps process [0] and temp is
critical vs 3 steps for b&w. You can also make slides from b&w film if you're
adventurous: [https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-
so...](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/bw-
slides-from-tri-x-you-betcha)

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-6_process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-6_process)

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fsloth
LeTourneau Land Train concept seems to use large tires as well. And is even
more insane (in a good way)
[https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2009/11/19/54-wheel-drive-
the-...](https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2009/11/19/54-wheel-drive-the-
letourneau-electric-arctic-land-trains-that-put-australian-road-trains-to-
shame/)

~~~
Theodores
> By the way, recognize those tires? Bob Chandler bought four of them from a
> Seattle junkyard and fitted them to Bigfoot 4 to capture the title of
> Tallest Monster Truck.

From what I have read elsewhere this was where the monster truck idea started.

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speedgoose
They could have waited a few months for the winter and tested it on the snow.

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js2
I don't think the Goodyear logo has changed a bit:

\-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_cruiser_1.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_cruiser_1.jpg)

\- [https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-
US/about/history/wingfoot-...](https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-
US/about/history/wingfoot-origin.html)

That seems somewhat rare these days.

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customized
Scientists measured cosmic rays in a 1930's, deco designed, self-sufficient,
artic snow cruiser with an airplane on top! How cool is that!

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fsloth
Here seems to be another article with much better pictures about this beast
[https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/06/the-antarctic-
snow...](https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/06/the-antarctic-snow-
cruiser/396617/)

~~~
lscotte
Not for me, subscription only site.

~~~
NinjaAmbush
4 free articles per month that they track in a cookie in your browser.
Surprisingly common tactic these days... Good thing there's a Firefox
extension keeping track of which sites do that and declining the cookies.

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dragosmocrii
How come a 11L Diesel engine only made 300HP? Was the engine that ineficient
at the time, compared to a modern engine?

~~~
LeonM
Horsepower (which has many definitions) is the torque output multiplied by the
engine RPM (divided by some number to make it equal to the strength of an
average horse). Since these engines operate in a relatively low RPM range, the
HP number is not that high. Most countries switched to using kilowatts as a
measure of vehicle engine power.

Also remember that these are diesel engines from the late 1930's. This was
before the development of 2-stroke (blown) or even turbocharged diesel
engines. These engines were a lot less powerful compared to modern diesel
engines.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
Kilowatts are also a multiplication of RPM and torque - one horsepower is
0.7457 kW, no RPM factor required. High-redline gas engines compared to
diesels will have more kilowatts than torque regardless of which system of
measurement you use.

You need low-speed torque with low fuel consumption to work at relatively high
power output efficiently for long durations.

~~~
LeonM
That is correct. kW is used the same way as HP, except that kW is better
standardized.

There are many definitions of how much power a horse has, and just one
definition of the watt. For example: the 'mechanical' HP (commonly used in the
US) is the equivalent of 0.7457kW, but the 'metric' HP (commonly used in
Europe) is 0.7345kW [0].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower#Definitions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower#Definitions)

~~~
SigmundA
They are both units of power the fact that they have different numbers does
not have bearing on the question asked, power is power, torque is torque
regardless of units.

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gameswithgo
such a huge feat of engineering and then they put smooth tires on it! humans
are amazing.

what are some other examples of inexplicably bad engineering decisions on
otherwise well built machines?

the front wheel drive nissan lemans car comes to mind

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joncrane
First ever application of the diesel-electric drivetrain setup on a 4-wheel
land vehicle, now commonly used on those monster mining trucks. Neat.

~~~
arethuza
Diesel-electric drivetrains were planned earlier for some heavy tank designs -
e.g. TOG2 and I think one of the Porsche designs.

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aidenn0
I wonder why tires were used rather than a continuous track. Perhaps because
repair of continuous track would be harder than tire replacement?

~~~
dkdk8283
From Wikipedia:

> Wheels and tires retracted into housings where they were heated by engine
> exhaust gases. This was to prevent low-temperature cracking of the natural
> rubber compound. Long front and rear overhangs on the body were to assist
> with crossing crevasses up to 15 feet (4.6 m) wide. The front wheels were to
> be retracted so the front could be pushed across the crevasse. The front
> wheels were then to be extended (and the rear wheels retracted) to pull the
> vehicle the rest of the way across. This process required a complicated,
> 20-step procedure.

~~~
aidenn0
continuous tracks can be retracted too though, and they can be made without
rubber.

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rozab
Here's a nice video summing up the story

[https://youtu.be/zR0M7KjnJTE](https://youtu.be/zR0M7KjnJTE)

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abegnoche
Snowmobile was patented in 1937, would have a been a much better choice than
threadless wheels.

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notjustanymike
Should have used Agile development to iterate on an MVP snow cruiser. Let's
have a standup to talk about any blocker re: the wheels getting stuck and
[spike] a quick solution.

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joncp
"75,000 lbs" .... whoa.

