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World's First Caterpillar Track, The (1908)
 

BFI

Main image of World's First Caterpillar Track, The (1908)
 
35mm, black and white, silent, 225 feet
 
SponsorR. Hornsby & Sons, Grantham

A demonstration by the R. Hornsby engineering company of Grantham of a revolutionary all-terrain vehicle.

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Mud has defeated many a conquering army. In the days of horse-drawn transport or ponderous and hugely heavy steam powered engines, R. Hornsby and Sons nippy little petrol-driven caterpillar track must have seemed like the technological development of the century. In this promotional film, delivered by the company to a commercial and military audience in a spirit of optimism reminiscent of an edition of Tomorrow's World (BBC, 1965-2006), the little vehicle is put through its paces, making light of its load over clay, mud, soft sand, marshy land and streams. It leaves its rival, a horse-drawn load, stuck in a bog and ends the display turning gleefully on the spot in a celebration of manoeuvrability.

Now cast your mind into the future (theirs not yours) 7 or 8 years hence, when vast armies were once again bogged down in mud, and largely reliant on horse and man power. Could years of trench warfare have been shortened if the engineers (the brilliant David Roberts at Hornsby's and Cole in Australia) had been encouraged by the British military? It is interesting to note that back on that happy day in 1908 one of the military observers' comments on the performance of the vehicle was that it would scare the horses.

Bryony Dixon

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Video Clips
Complete film (6:07)
GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO
SEE ALSO
A Year in Film: 1908