Tanks British development

Notwithstanding the emphasis placed on tanks by Churchill, Fuller and Liddell Hart, this notable British invention had its limitations. British tanks first went into action on 15 September 1916, only nine months after the trials of the first practical machine, and before the inevitable teething problems had been eliminated. French tanks were developed independently but did not see action for another seven months, and the first two types of chars de combat were inferior to the British Mark I in their ability to cross obstacles. The first German tanks did not appear in action until 1918 and again cross-country performance was poor. The British Mark I was prone to mechanical breakdowns, especially on broken ground, as on the Somme battlefield. 

Hartcup, Guy. The War of Invention Scientific Developments, I914-I9I8 (London Brassey s, 1988). Harris, J.P. Men, Ideas and Tanks British Military Thought and Armoured Forces, 1903-1939 (Manchester Manchester University Press, 1995). 

Britain continued to lead the world in the development of tanks during the 1920s. The Vickers Medium Mark I, deliveries of which began in 1923, was the first British tank in service to have a revolving turret. The Mark III of 1928 was well ahead of its time, having the firepower of a heavy tank but the speed of a medium one. However, because of its high... 

Two other synthetic materials quickly followed. Dacron, a useflil high-melting and insoluble polyester, was developed by the British chemists Rex Whinfield and James T. Dickson and marketed in Britain by Imperial Chemical Industries as Terylene. In Germany chemists of the I. G. Farben developed polyurethane foams, and in the United States Roy J. Plunkett, a Du Pont chemist, 2 years beyond his Ph.D., discovered Teflon when he opened a gas cylinder supposed to contain a fluorinated hydrocarbon but nothing came out. He became curious, and after inserting a wire through the valve to make sure the tank was indeed open, he cut the tank in half and found a waxy white powder in the bottom. He tested the properties of the material, found it was inert to acids, bases, heat, and solvents, and very slippery. 

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