A 100-hp V8 engine powers the Trackmobile, a combination tractor and switch engine. The Whiting Corp. machine exerts 12,815-lb drawbar pull at 2.39 mph on rails. Top speed on rails is 15.2 mph pulling 2,018 lb. On the road, it will pull 3,500 lb at 3.55 mph in first gear. In high gear it can travel 22.62 mph and pull 1,320 lb. Conversion from rail to road takes only 90 sec. All controls, including those for positioning, raising, and lowering the wheels, and coupling and uncoupling, are in the cab. It also carries both automobile headlights and locomotive running lights.
Welded Design Awards announced: Three engineers shared a $3,000 first prize in the $12,000 Machine Tool Design Award Program sponsored by James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation. Consulting engineer, Dr. Max Kronenberg, shared first prize with Paul Maker, research engineer, and Edward Dix, project engineer with Bryant Chucking Grinder Co. Their paper described development work on vibration and rigidity undertaken in designing an internal grinding machine with welded-steel construction.
Second place was shared by Leonard McDermott, foreman, and Richard Fleury, stylist for the Brown and Sharpe Mfg. Co. The men wrote a paper on redesigning a grinder base using welded-fabrication techniques.
George Kasselmann, design engineer with R. K. LeBlond Machine Tool Co., received third prize for his paper describing a 36-ft-long template carrier rail of a roll-turning lathe. Welding increased rigidity so that straightness tolerances were maintained even though weight was reduced more than 50%.
Fourth prize was awarded to Alex Durand of Falk Corp. and fifth prize to William Morgan of Clearing Machine Corp.
