Tank steering - WW to now

I noted the other day that the Tiger 1 had a steering wheel like a car, which seems a good idea, taking into account the responsiveness of such a steering system. Was it the first tank to use such a system, and does modern tanks use the same type of system? If not, what is the pro's and cons of mentioned steering wheel. Hope you'll be able to help.

Thanks

 

As far as I know, most tanks had a steering wheel for driving.

 

The Sherman used two levers, one controling each track. Just ebout every tank build on the M4 Chassis had this system, including the M10.

 

Didn't the T-34 have two lewers as well?

Regarding the Tigers steering, it was so well-made that it was possible to steer and change gear with two fingers. Quite a contrast to the T-34, where changing gear was done with a hammer, because the rod was so tight...

 

It ain't that it was well done as much as it was because it was all hydrolic and electric, where as the T-34, once you look past its armor, was really quite simple and primitive in design. Any Hydrolic/electric system will be a breeze to use.

 

The two levers which the "older?" tanks used is familiar to me. From what I understand is that the Tiger had technology which was before its time compared to other tanks in WW2. (Noted from previous posts I exclude gradient of armor, reliability in order to focus on the question )).
Are the modern day tanks also steered by a "steering wheel" as opposed to two levers. As Christian noted, the ease of use was quite spectacular.

 

Actualy, Credit needs to be given to the Allies in the field of revolutionising tank design as well. Electric turrets, sloped armor, Gun stabilization, and i'm sure some others are Allied inovations.

Modern tanks are controled with steering wheels as far as I know.

 

Danyel
The T-34's armour was quite primitive in itself. It was crudely made and crudely welded.

By the way, the Germans used an engine to traverse the turret in both the Pz.Kpfw. IV (except for Ausf. J), Panther, Tiger and Tiger II. The Tiger could traverse its turret in 60 seconds (as a minimum - the maximum was one hour, at the lowest rate), the Panther could traverse 360 degrees in 19 seconds at maximum RPM, as could the Tiger II. In addition, the Tiger II had a special emergency device which enabled it to traverse 360 degrees in just nine seconds. Of course, 360 degree traverses were not used very often, so the actual time would be less to find the target.

Furthermore, Germany had designs featuring well-sloped armour prior to meeting the T-34.

 

If I can answer for Danyel (please correct me if I go wrong!) the T-34's armour in itself may well have been poorly manufactured/welded/etc, but the design was advanced (see below).

Gun stabilisation was (I think) an American development.
Sloped armour, well, it had been around for a while (check out the Christie tanks, for example) but never seemed to catch on. The T-34 was probably the first mass-produced tank which featured a reasonably slope on every face...
Electrically-turned turrets... I dunno. I assume Christian means a non-electrical engine was used on the German tanks, but my knowledge is weak.

 

The Cheiftan was definately controlled by steering rods.
On either side of the driver, you pull them up to turn. To turn sharply, pull up several times.

 

Yeah most have, the Leopard2's steering wheels is a car steering wheel but than cut in half...

If i'm corect the Challenger 1 used 2 levers.

The Abrams uses a bicycle wheel :lol:

I'm sure many Russian tanks still use sterring levers...

 

Hi

could someone explain to me how steering wheel in a tank works?
I can guess the two levers,my uncle is a farmer and he's some tractors and all work with the two levers sistem. (if you want to steer left you pull the left lever and the left track run idle while the right's still moving, faster than the left and you turn left)

But with a steering wheel???

 

Dependant on the type of vehicle some, have the steering through applying the brakes on the side you wish to steer towards using levers. These tend to be the older models, the wheel/bicycle type steering I believe has the similar effect.

 

The responsiveness of a tank steering-wheel is more like a car now i think, the tanks can make normal turns now, they don't have to stop the left or right wheel to make turns.

 

The term is handlebar... :-?

 

Yeah, i'm not really good in english, and the most obvious explenation would be bicycle wheel

 

But Panzerman, he is Dutch. Surely he would use terms referring to bycicles when he doesn't know what the correct word is.