ONE, 2 OR 3 WHEELED VEHICLES

Chopper on Internet on the site strangevehicles.com

Rolligon on Farm-O-Road of Crosley, 1954,  modified by Bergen Engennering and Development Corp., New Jersey. Picture from book of Fred Crismon ‘US Military Wheeled Vehicles’, Crestline Publishing (Motorbook), 1983.

1x1 Carrier, about 1965, with drum shaped wheel. This invention, like many other, was not adapted. This one did not offered sufficient mobility. Picture from book of Fred Crismon ‘US Military Wheeled Vehicles’, Crestline Publishing (Motorbook), 1983.

Renault Ares 640 three wheels trike in the 90s. Renault stands at Boulogne, France. From renaultoloog.nl

Terra Gator 8133 of Agco at SIMA, Villepinte, 2005 03. Pict J M M.

AS 24 FN Herstal. Pict J M M  at La Ferté Allais, 2008 06.

FN AS 24 and trailer from Belgium

Tricar FN AS24, 3x2, built at 460 copies from 1960 by FN Herstal, Belgium. It was fitted with Lypsoïd tyres and had a mass of 224 kg. A trailer can be seen. Pict J M M on 2009 02 at Bruxelles Aviation Museum.

Hansa-Lloyd Tractor, Treff-As, 1917. From Brema, Germany. Holow wheels were more than 3 m diameter.

Charles Taylor's One Wheel Experiment. C Taylor, Golden, Colorado,  thought, since 1939,  4 or 2 wheeled vehicles were unsuited to mountain trails. He had engeneering capabilities to build working prototyps of one wheel with gyroscopes. He filled patent in 1960 and tested them untill mid-60s but if unusual, they were not off-road. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/06/05/tractor-tires-and-gyroscopes-charles-taylors-one-wheel-experiments/

 Cugnot's Fardier, the very first car, exposed nowadays at Arts & Métiers Convervatory in Paris. It is not off-road since almost all the weight is on the front narrow wheel. Pictured by J M M on 5 February 2004.

Motorcycle 2x2     mascus.ru

Erlau Protect  Chains. Pict J M M, Intermat, Villepinte, 2009 04.

TY Cushion OTR solid tires by Ewald Industrial Tire & Wheel, Indiana. Pict J M M at Intermat, Villepinte, 2009 04.

Motorcycle 3x2

 Motorcycle 3x2 Iz. 40 km/h, capacity 50 kg, trailer 200 kg, Built at  JSC "Izhevsk Moto", part of Ijmach Holding, Russia.

 Trike 3x2      club4x4.ru!imgs!1924.jpg

 Cage Wheels from Elk (Bedford) Ltd, Beds, GB in 1983.Hard-wood slats on welded steel rims. Ground pressure 0,2 kg/cm². From Power Farming, 1983.

Steel Wheel  of Yieldwheel from Cab-Craft Lyd, Wolverhampton, GB in 1983. Steel construction with horizontal lugs angled at 30°. Stated to produce shallower rutting and less compaction than single tyres, duals, standard cage whels or tyres and cages combined. From Power Farming, 1983.

 Wrap Around Tracks to existing tires to make them wider, until  1,6 m. Around 1990, probably made by Hultdins, Sweden and Canada.

Three wheels type marsh Buggy in aluminium. Floats with 272 kg payload, has an hydraulic winch, from Louisiana.

Waveless road roller, 1926, with Orolo tracks, built by J Allen & Sons, Oxford. Pict from the book of Stuart Gibbard, Roadless, the Story of Roadless Traction from Tracks to Tractors, Farming Press, 1996.

Appelt Trailbreaker 2x3 cargo and personal vehicle, 1959, from Appelt-Midwestern Trailtractor Co, Houston, Texas, for petroleum undustries. 250 hp, 16 km/h, 5 in water. Final drive is by roller chain. Range 320 km. Doc Francis Pierre.

  Appelt-trailbreaker.pdf

LeTourneau Tree Roller, 1954, designed to clear forests. Many other large forestry machines will be built by the weel-known R.G. LeTourneau, which was a pioneer in big earthmoving machines.

Letourneau Tree Crusher G 175 built in Longwiew, Texas by LeTourneau Inc. in 1960. It arrived at Mackenzie, B.C, in 1964 ans was used for clearing the floodplain under what is now Lake Williston. It is shown here since 1984.

Letourneau G 80 Tree Crusher

'Star Wheel' Tree Crusher, 1965, prototype model featured with steel hexagonal wheels to knock down large trees with its T shaped push beam. Engine Detroit Dieset 475 hp. Tree Crushers were built from 1956 to 1967 in different series (like serie 'G') and different sizes.

Arctic Cat Cub, 1965-66, with 2 wheels drive 45 produced in 65, 28 in 66. This minibike was manufactured by Arctic Entreprises which sold many snowmobiles and always today.

Terra Cat Mini Bike, 1980, of Ranking MFG, Inc, Durand, Michigan, Wide tires but one wheel drive.

Rokon 2x2 Motorcycle, Pict J M M, Sinsheim Museum, Germany on 2005 04.

Rokon Scout 2x2 from the early 80s, 6 hp, 56 km

/h, goes anywhere. Rokon was created by Charles Fehn in 1950 and produced in the late 50s by Nethercutt Industries and called Rokon in 1963. From the begining, these 2 wheeled drive machines ca

ught the imagination of many. Today, Rokon International Inc. is located at Rochester, NH.

Rokon Ranger CII, 1978

Rokon motorcycle

Rokon 2x2.  Pict  Francis Pierre, Pioneer Village Museum, Minden, Nebraska in 2000.

Rolligon 2250 2x2 two-bag drive model 2250 in late 50s early 60s. Payload 422 kg or 5 men, one and two-bag trailers available could be powered, speed 15 to 30 km/h on land, 5 km/h in water, hydraulic steering, turning radius 4,5 m, chain driven, 18 hp air cooled gasoline, hydrostatic transmission 2 speed forward and reverse. From Rolligon Corporation, 1602 Old Spanish Trail, PO Box 20096, Houston, Texas 77025,USA.

At that time, no one suspetcted anything !

Three-roller Dodge Power Wagon. Earlier version 3x2.

Three-roller Dodge Power Wagon 3x3 from 1953-54 invented by William Albee and built by the West Coast Machinery Company of Stockton, California. 135 Hp Chrysler engine. Rolligons of W. Albee served as suspensions.

Three (3x3 ?) Rolligons vehicle of Albee RolligonCompany of Monterey in 1956, Ca, (See Chapter on Rolligons).

Rolligon Model 2251 3x3 with sidecar attachment.

Rolligon Vehicles 3x3, 2x2, 6x6, 4x4

Multidrive Pulse Propulsion Trailer (PPT) about 2004, carries 6 T and assists in the self recovery of the towing vehicle. Its central hydraulic actuated drawbar can pull the towing vehicle as an inching system. Central tyre inflation, independant air suspensions, Air Operated self leveling system. It doesn't seems there were series production.

OEC, Osborn Engineering Co., Ltd of Gosport,Hants first prototype of a 6 wheeled motorbike, 1928. Off-road performance could be ehanced by placing an 'overall chain' over the bogie. The second rear wheel was driven by an internal-toothed belt from the chain-drivan first. Machines were offered commercialy as tractors.

Moto-Guzzi Tre-per-Tre 3x3 Mulo Meccanico was manufactured by SEIMM, Mandello del Lorio, Co, Italy, from1961 to 1963 at 420 copies for mountain mobility of the Italian Army. Nevertheless, the unsafe height of driver's position, power engine too weak : 20 hp, make it desapointing despite variable rear track from 1300 to 850 and additinal tracks which could be added on rear wheels making of the Mule an Half Track. Price was high. It has been replaced by 4WD Frescia F 18 Mountain Utility Vehicle pedestrian controled platform. Picture taken at Rétromobile by J M M, Paris, in February 2007.

Moto-Guzzi Mechanical Mule 3x3

Moto-Guzzi 3x3 " Mulo Meccanico " here with tracks at the rear.

Three wheeled Lysoïd tyred car prototype of the early 50s in Hungary. Steering by hand brakes on the rear wheels and idler wheel at the front. Pict from Wheels & Tracks N° 38, 1992.

SAMT (Sled, Amphibious, Marginal Terrain), 2 drums, prototype from Army Engineer Research and Development at Fort Belvoir, in 1965. An operation could last 1 hour maximum, and the SAMT was designed to be abandoned on the field after the mission. 15 hp.

Picture from book of Fred Crismon ‘US Military Wheeled Vehicles’,
Crestline Publishing (Motorbook), 1983.

Vehicles-for-traversing-the-twilight-zones-1966-h.pdf