Townsville Daily Bulletin (Qld. : 1907 - 1954), Monday 19 May 1941, page 3


BUCKBOARD JOLT. Inspiration For Tank. SYDNEY, May 17.—A buckboard buggy jolting along over terrible country in Western Australia in 1911 was the inspiration for the modern tank, claims Mr. L. E. de Mole, now of Cremorne, Sydney. As he went forward in this buggy like a ship in a heavy sea, says Mr. de Mole, he began to think out a method of traction that would be equal to all obstacles. The result was the first plans of what has evolved into the modem tank. Mr. de Mole sent his plans to Lon-don to the War Office, which returned them in 1912 with the terse announce-ment that they were not further ex-perimenting with chain rails. Mr. de Mole, a civil engineer, is now employed in the designing office of the Sydney Water Board. He again submitted plans to the War Office in 1915, showing improvements on his previous attempt. Then, unknown to him, he says the War Office had evolved a tank which already was in production. "When I saw the first pictures of these tanks," he says, "they seemed to be identical with my own idea submitted In 1912." At the Royal Commission on awards to inventors in London in November, 1919, Mr. de Mole appeared in person to plead claim to an award. To-day he produced an authenticated copy of the Commission's findings, rejecting his claim. The Commission said: "We consider he is entitled to the greatest credit for having made and reduced to practical shape, as far back as 1912, a very brilliant invention which anticipated and in some respects sur-passed that actually put Into use in the year 1916." Following this bitter experience, no one welcomes more heartily than Mr. de Mole the forma-tion by the Sydney division of the Institution of Engineers (Australia) of an inventors' advisory committee to examine ideas now pouring into the Army and Navy Offices at the rate of 500 a week. The committee will launch the big-gest search for ideas ever carried out in Australia.