Charlie_Landships
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- 8 January 2022
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I guess most people with a passing interest in historical armour know that the US Army Ordnance Dept ordered 7 Christie designed medium tanks in 1930 which were accepted as the T3 Medium Tank. These had the famed Christie suspension which permitted quite high speeds (for the time) and could be converted to run on the roadwheels. The Russian Govt bought two hulls and a license from Christie which became the starting point for the BT series of tanks and ultimately the suspension design was used in the T-34 and derivatives. The British bought a hull and license from Christie and developed the cruiser tank line which didn't end until the Charioteer in the 1950s.
The US Army Ordnance Dept evaluated T3s as best they could - Christie didn't seem much interested in Quality Control or designing for reliability. Then came the final falling out between Christie and the US Army. An improved T3 to overcome some of the defects of the Christie design was designed by the Ordnance Dept and 5 T3E2s were built by La France. It was determined that the T3 design had sufficient useful features that it was worth designing a follow up design - the T4 Medium Tank. About 19 T4s were built by the Rock Island Arsenal in 1934-5 and were extensively tested. The T4 was eventually standardised in 1938(?) as the M1 Medium Tank but removed from service in 1940. Christie's 1928 patent (US1836446) for his tank suspension shows that something like this design was used in the Russian hulls, T3 tanks and probably the hull sold to the British. The T4 tank suspension seems to have been a different design and I found patents (US 2011564 & US20111565) assigned to Gladeon Barnes and the US Army for a tank suspension.
My question is whether the Barnes suspension was used on the T4 Medium Tank/Combat Car?
The US Army Ordnance Dept evaluated T3s as best they could - Christie didn't seem much interested in Quality Control or designing for reliability. Then came the final falling out between Christie and the US Army. An improved T3 to overcome some of the defects of the Christie design was designed by the Ordnance Dept and 5 T3E2s were built by La France. It was determined that the T3 design had sufficient useful features that it was worth designing a follow up design - the T4 Medium Tank. About 19 T4s were built by the Rock Island Arsenal in 1934-5 and were extensively tested. The T4 was eventually standardised in 1938(?) as the M1 Medium Tank but removed from service in 1940. Christie's 1928 patent (US1836446) for his tank suspension shows that something like this design was used in the Russian hulls, T3 tanks and probably the hull sold to the British. The T4 tank suspension seems to have been a different design and I found patents (US 2011564 & US20111565) assigned to Gladeon Barnes and the US Army for a tank suspension.
My question is whether the Barnes suspension was used on the T4 Medium Tank/Combat Car?
