Davidson-Duryea Gun Carriage

Davidson-Duryea Gun Carriage was the first of a series of military vehicles constructed by Royal Page Davidson for the use by the Northwestern Military and Naval Academy.

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Developed for Military use, Davidson Durea Gun Carriage was a 3 and 4 -wheeled armed armoured vehicle which was manufactured in the year 1899.

Royal Page Davidson (October 9, 1870 to January 16, 1943) was an American scholar and inventor who helped to organize Northwestern Military and Naval Academy in Highland Park, Illinois. He is considered the pioneer of armoured military vehicles in the United States.

In 1894, Davidson organised the first Military Bicycle Corps that consisted of cadets from the Northwestern Military Academy. Davidson developed the military bicycle corps with the hope that the bicycle would help the troops to move faster. In the summer of 1897, he organized a cross-country 850 mile expedition to Washington, D.C. The maneuvers were done in a military practice where the Bicycle Corps were assumed to be travelling in the enemy territory. The expedition lasted for 15 days and gained a great deal of national publicity.

The Spanish-American War ( April 21 to August 13, 1898)

The immediate cause of the Spanish-American War, conflict between the United States and Spain, was Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain’s colonial rule. There were accounts of Spanish atrocities in the US newspapers that gave rise to humanitarian concerns. The mysterious destruction of the U.S. battleship on February 15, 1898 in Havana Harbor killed 260 crew members. The incident increased tensions between Spain and the United States, leading to a declaration of war against Spain two months later.

When the Spanish–American War broke out, Davidson offered the government the services of his Bicycle Corps with great enthusiasm. But he was turned down as the military bicycles did not have much firepower. The bicycle provided little protection to the rider and left him exposed to retaliation. Moreover, there were new automobiles that were being innovated during that time and they showed better combat possibilities.

The Spanish-American War ended Spain's role as a colonial power in the New World. After the war, the United States emerged as a world power with significant territorial claims stretching from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia.

Early Development

Davidson conducted many experiments with automobiles, modified the chassis and added machine guns so that the vehicle could be used for military purposes. The vehicle was given armoured shielding so that the driver stayed protected during warfare.

The military gun carriage vehicle was designed by Davidson who decided to get the vehicle developed by the Peoria Rubber and Manufacturing Company. In order to build the vehicle, he used patents of Charles Edgar Duryea.

Charles Duryea was an American engineer and was also the co-founder of Duryea Motor Wagon Company.

Charles Duryea, with his automobile manufacturing company, put the vehicle into an automobile style patent which he filed for on May 16, 1898. The patent was finally approved as Patent No. 653,224 on July 10, 1900. The military gun carriage designed by Davidson was built on a Duryea Automobile Company standard production automobile chassis that was converted for military purposes. The cost of the gasoline driven vehicle was $1,500.

The Three-Wheeled Gasoline Vehicle

In the year 1896, Davidson tested a three-wheeled gasoline vehicle for military purposes. He carried out the experiment at the Northwestern Military Academy in Highland Park, Illinois. Davidson made a demonstration of his vehicle to the Army. Thereafter, the vehicle left Chicago to go to New York. However, things did not go as planned. Soon after the vehicle had left Chicago, it broke down. The Army concluded that the task assigned was difficult for such a vehicle. Moreover, the technology during the time was not advanced enough to fortify the vehicle for such a task. The Army from then drifted away from gasoline-driven vehicles.

In the patent for the gun carriage, Duryea specified the lighter form motor vehicle was a tricycle which was capable of seating two people. He further added that the object of the invention was ‘to provide a cheap, simple, and effective steering, a compact and durable speed-varying mechanism, a more ready control, an improved brake, a light air-jacketed engine, a cheap and simple balance-gear, and such other minor objects as may appear in the specification.’

In the vehicle which would be used for military purposes, Davidson mounted a Colt .30 caliber automatic machine gun. Royal Page Davidson had planned to construct a series of military vehicles to be used by the Northwestern Military and Naval Academy. The Gun-Carriage was the first of the series and had three wheels (tricycle). For the protection of the driver, it only had a gun shield, The vehicles designed later by Davidson were fully protected by armor.

The three pneumatic wheels of the tricycle came with wooden spokes and were 36 inches in diameter. The single wheel which was in the front was used for steering.

Later the partially armoured vehicle was made with 4 single spoked wheels and a driving wheel was installed. The wheels did not have any mudguards. The vehicle could accommodate four people to ride on top of the rear engine compartment and that would include one driver and three passengers. The driver and the passenger next to him sat facing the forward area, while the other two passengers on the rear seat were facing the opposite direction. The vehicle could run for 200 miles on a full tank of gas. There was enough room in the vehicle to carry tents, blankets, equipment and ration supplies for a week.

When the 4,000-round machine gun was mounted on the vehicle, one Northwestern cadet wrote "With this gun you could sneak upon an enemy and fire 480 shots a minute and get away before they would know what happened."

Davidson made the military armed vehicle in the year 1899 at the Academy campus of Northwestern Military in Highland Park, Illinois. The Peoria newspaper published a drawing of the military armored vehicle which was semi-protected in the year 1899. In the magazine 'The Horseless Age', it was written, "The Peoria Rubber & Manufacturing Company of Peoria is pushing the motor gun carriage which they are making for Major Davidson with the hope that the Major may reach New York in the vehicle in time for the Dewey celebration."

The newspapers reported that the United States was the first to use motorized guns.

Davidson, was the inventor of the first military vehicle in the United States, but he did not receive much credit from the army for his efforts in developing the first armoured cars in the United States.

The leading pioneer of armoured military vehicles, Davidson is credited as the inventor of the first military vehicle in the United States. In 1899, when Davidson invented the three-wheeled automobile armed with a gun carriage there were many articles published in the newspapers about the military vehicle designed by him. Considered as ‘The Father of American Armoured Cars’ Davidson also contributed to various journals that were associated with military and science. He went on to invent various military equipment which included a military vehicle radio and designed the first field hospital automobile that had an X-ray equipment.

In the year 1900 the gun carriage vehicle designed by Davidson underwent some modification to be turned into a sturdier four-wheeler, the Davidson Automobile Battery Armoured Car, which will be covered in the upcoming articles.

Through our article series on ‘Evolution of Military Vehicles’ we bring out unique and interesting stories from the Military Automotive World. Please check our website for our latest stories and in case of any query, feel free to contact us.

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