Why are the tracks of T-34 tanks not equipped with the usual sprocket wheels?

If you look closely at the tracks of the T-34 tank, and then at the tracks of most other Soviet tanks from the first half and middle of the 20th century, one interesting observation can be made. The T-34 lacks the characteristic sprocket-shaped wheel in its tracked propulsion unit. This raises the question, how did a Soviet tank even manage to drive without it, and why did domestic designers make such a decision?

Caterpillars are different

The main one is the Red Army. |Photo: 1zoom.ru.

The first caterpillar propellers appeared in the 19th century. However, the familiar type of tank or tractor caterpillars was created only at the beginning of the 20th century. The bright debut of this mechanism was the First World War, during which for the first time in the history of mankind tanks were massively used. Even during the imperialist war, caterpillar movers began to actively develop. As a result, by the end of the first half of the 20th century, many forms, layouts, and ways of arranging the mechanism under consideration appeared.

Most caterpillar propellers consist of several basic elements: tracks interconnected and forming caterpillars, support and support rollers that give the mover the desired shape, the guide wheel, which is responsible for tensioning the caterpillar and, of course, the drive wheel connected to the transmission and thereby converting the actual rotation transmitted from the engine into the translational movement of the caterpillar cars. In the context of discussing the tracks of the T-34 tank, we are most interested in the drive wheel. It is it that is usually performed in the form of an asterisk. Usually, but not always.

The thing is that caterpillar movers can use different types of drive wheels and, as a result, different types of tracks. Today, three main types of such rinks are used:

Pinion drive wheel - a roller consisting of two gear rims with a hub between them. With this design, the tracks have special slots for the “sprocket” teeth. The main advantages of such a system are the lightness and compactness of the caterpillar. The main disadvantages are the complexity and high cost of production, as well as a smaller resource. And yes, this drive wheel is the very characteristic "asterisk" that can be seen in the design of many tanks.

Ridge drive wheel - a roller, which consists of two smooth disks. At the same time, such wheels are of two types: with a gear rim inside or with rollers inside. Actually, the T-34 tank uses the latter variety. Because of what, it uses a specific caterpillar on the tracks of which there are massive protrusions-ridges. It is with them that the caterpillar clings to the slots in the smooth wheel. The main disadvantage of such a system is its high mass. The main advantages are ease of production and a much larger resource.

Friction drive wheel - in this system, the drive roller is also smooth, and the adhesion to the caterpillar is carried out only due to the friction force. Friction rollers were widely used in technology between the two world wars, however, due to the rather large the number of shortcomings and difficulty in operation, already in 1940, such tracked propulsion systems almost went out of use.

Why was the ridge engagement used in the T-34?

Different Soviet (and not only Soviet) tanks used different ways of organizing tracked propellers. The choice of one or another system may seem strange and is not always obvious. The question arises: why was the propeller engagement of the caterpillar used in the T-34, if in some KV-1, which was used at the same time, the lantern engagement was used? The answer to this question has several parts.

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Firstly, from the very beginning, the T-34 tanks were subject to increased requirements for a working resource. From the point of view of combat qualities, it would be better to use precisely the lantern gear (“asterisks”). However, from the point of view of the long-term operation of the tank, in the eyes of the designers, it was the propeller engagement system that won.

Secondly, at the time of the 1930s, ridge engagement was already used in a number of mass-produced tanks of the Soviet Union, including the light BT-7. Thus, the industry was interested in the unification of production lines, and the army was interested in the unification of components for combat vehicles (which facilitated repairs).

ThirdlyThere were also purely economic reasons. The sprocket drive wheels were more demanding on the material. In the 1920s-1940s, the foundry industry of the USSR grew rapidly. Both the national economy and the defense industry needed steel and cast iron. The problem was that one of the most important chemical elements in the smelting of steel and iron is precisely manganese. It is used to remove oxygen and sequester sulfur. The more manganese, the better steel or cast iron. And as you might guess, the growing production of this material was constantly lacking. In the military-industrial complex, manganese was primarily used for the production of armor steel. Therefore, it was decided to save on wheels. Leading sprockets were produced only for small heavy tanks. But it was decided to transfer mass light and medium cars to a ridge grip, the wheels for which could be made from cheaper material.

If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about "Sturmtiger": how the formidable destroyer of the cities of the Wehrmacht showed himself in practice.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/010921/60364/

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