Jeffery Armored Car (Armored Car No.1)

History of Geoffrey Armored Vehicle (Armored Vehicle #1)

During the early stages of World War I (1914-1918), the Thomas B. Jeffery Company of Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, was the recipient of the Canadian Army Armored Vehicle Requisition. The Army is trying to build a new battery of machine guns and armored trucks to help the Allies break through the mighty German fortifications in Europe.

The Jeffery Company has produced the successful four-wheel drive "Jeffery Quad" on a commercial scale, and the Canadians chose this chassis and its standard powertrain for a special conversion process. Armor plates were supplied by Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania, and this joint effort resulted in the "Jeffrey Armored Vehicle".

Wealthy Canadian businessman John C. Eaton provided the project funding, and Jeffrey & Company director Jerry De Cou created the export-oriented design. For the Canadians, the result was a fully armored, single-turret, four-wheel-drive war machine. Steering is possible from the front and rear of the vehicle - allowing the car to easily avoid hazards without having to make a full U-turn.

A cylindrical turret is located in the center of the fuselage roofline, and armored cupolas are mounted fore and aft for the driver. The engine remains in its typical forward position and consists of a 4-cylinder unit that enables heavy vehicles to reach road speeds of 20 mph on prepared surfaces.

Dimensions include 18' barrel length, 6.4' width and 8' height. Given its truck roots, ground clearance is excellent, but like other WWI armored vehicles and trucks, this commercial vehicle lacks strong off-road capability and performance due to the increased weight of armor and weapons and relatively weak engine power.

The crew consisted of four people, and the weapons were concentrated on as many as four Bennett-Mersier or Vickers-designed machine guns. Behind the turret position is the rear broadside with weapons.

Hinged inlet and outlet hatches are installed around the fuselage structure - the sides, top and rear of the vehicle.

From 1915 to 1916, 50 cars were produced in the United States and Canada. In the latter case, this was handled by Canadian Bicycle & Motors Ltd., which already had experience producing "Russell" trucks, resulting in some inventory being historically known as "Russell Armored Vehicles." In service with the Canadian Army, these trucks were used to form the "Eton Machine Gun Company" and were shipped to Europe for combat as early as September 1915. However, the once bitter war ended in late 1914, and the trucks arrived on the field of no use in trench warfare, essentially ending their wartime storage service.

Despite all their expense, training, and labor, these vehicles never fought in the Great War.

In addition to Canadian military service, the car was operated by the US and the UK in varying numbers. Of the former, American General John Pershing's "Pancho Villa Expedition" (1916-1917) received this type of training (as "Armored Car No. 1") in 1916. These were similar in design to the Canadian form, except for the two-tower armament arrangement (one mid, one aft), and finished at Rock Island Arsenal.

In the latter, as part of the British Indian Command, they were mainly used for local security at the colonial level. Some are also run by British in Ireland for local security.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

2,500 x .303 caliber ammunition.

Changes