Electric Turret-Traversing Mechanism for Tanks
Abstract This paper describes the development of a new electric-power drive for 360-deg traverse of tank turrets that was undertaken early in 1941. The development was brought to a successful conclusion with the satisfactory completion of Army Ordnance acceptance tests on December 6, 1941, and mass production of these traverse units was achieved shortly after Pearl Harbor Day, in time to equip the General Sherman tanks that contributed to the victories in the North African campaigns. A description of the drive and its positionally regulated system of control is given together with the mathematical analysis of system stability upon which the design criteria of the control were based.