-
Title (Dublin Core)
-
Proposals for the re-use of military jeeps in the post-war period
-
Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
-
1001 postwar jobs for the jeep
-
extracted text (Extract Text)
-
UR little wonder warrior, the American
jeep, which has won unbounded admiration
by its performance on fighting fronts and behind
them in every quarter of the globe, is not going
to have any difficulty in finding employment
after the war.
This was made clear by the flood of ideas
submitted in our contest (announced P.S.M.,
Aug. '43, p. 101), for the best suggestions on
peacetime jobs for the sturdy, overpowered lit-
tle machine. And, judging from the letters sub-
mitted by contestants, the jeep's reward for
its part in winning the war is likely to be,
for the most part, a lifetime of hard work down
on the farm.
Out of almost 1,200 persons who entered the
contest, more than 400, including the winner of
the first prize, thought the proper postwar place
for the jeep was the farm, where its chores
would take in about everything now performed
by man, beast, and machine, from plowing to
harvesting—and then on to marketing.
Letters came from every section of this
country, as well as from Alaska, Canada, Cuba,
and South America. Many came from men in
the armed services, who spoke of the jeep not
only with pride but with affection. Scores of
contestants cleverly illustrated their sugges-
tions. A few turned to verse to express their
ideas, and one ingenious entrant even worked
out an acrostic to boost the jeep's potentialities.
So numerous and so meritorious were the ideas
submitted that POPULAR SCIENCE increased the
number of prizes from eight to 11 and included
11 honorable mentions.
Jobs were found for the jeep not only in the
fields but in the forest and the factory, on city
streets and on the cattle range, in railroad and
highway construction camps, at airports, on
golf courses and race tracks, on college cam-
puses. and on backwoods roads leading to fa-
vorite fishing waters.
It was assigned to postmen and doctors in
rural districts, to road surveyors and inspectors,
to electric-power workers, to telephone and
telegraph wire stringers, and to a wide variety
of construction, maintenance, and repair jobs.
Some suggested it be turned into an ambulance,
for service mot only in poorly developed sec-
tions of this country, but also in China, India,
and Africa, where it would help to carry on the
work of American humanitarianism.
Many saw the peacetime jeep as an aid in the
protection of life and property. These assigned
it to police duty—local, state, and F.B.L—and
fire fighting, particularly in the forests. More
than 200 suggested converting the machine
to commercial uses, mostly as a light de-
livery truck, and into a pleasure car.
Some of the conversion ideas called for
considerable alterations. An example of |
the imagination used in transforming a jeep
into a sports car, disguised by streamlining
and radiant in paint and plastics, is shown |
in an airbrush painting in full color sub- |
mitted by Ray Ring, of Framingham, Mass.,
and reproduced on page 85.
Incidentally, the idea of prettying up the
jeep to serve as a pleasure car drew cries
of pain from servicemen. While most of
them expressed hopes of owning a jeep |
after the war, many of them simply for the |
pleasure of driving it around, the service- |
men wanted it to retain its present rugged |
homeliness. Lt. W. L. Hoffman, of Camp .
Forrest, Tenn, who was awarded a prize,
voiced this opinion:
“In the service we all know and love the
jeep (the one-quarter-ton truck to us).
We've driven it and nursed it, cussed it and |
blessed it. We know that it's'the best car |
in the world—for the job it was meant to
do; but to make a pleasure car out of it—
never! That would be like dressing one of |
our tough old ‘top-kicks' in diapers. The
jeep was meant to do a man's job in rough
country—not to take ‘old women’ to tea
parties.”
“But,” he continued, “there are many jobs
for jeeps in peacetime—jobs that are com-
mensurate with its abilities. On the farm,
for instance, they'll do anything a horse
will do, except whinny—and you don’t have
to feed them when they're not working.”
Lieutenant Hoffman's omnibus reference
to the jeep's farm-work potentialities was
amplified by the first-prize winner, R. W. |
Radelet, of Vancouver, B. C., who empha-
sized the value of the jeep to the small
farm operator who can afford only a single
machine. In such hands, he said, the jeep
could be used in the orchard for spraying
and picking. In the flelds it could be used
as a tractor with a gang plow, a mower, |
and a rake. It could also
be used as a truck and a
trailer car to haul produce
and stock. It could be em-
ployed as a stationary
power plant, and it could
carry workers to and from
the farm.
A soldier with his mind
on the pleasures of peace
won second prize with an
idea to adapt the jeep to a
“fisherman's folly.” A rack
on top could carry a canoe,
and the back seat could be
converted into a camp
kitchen, with ice chest,
plastic dishes, storage draw-
ers for fishing tackle and
provisions, and a gasoline stove. Rollers
at the sides would enable the lowering of
canvas to make the jeep a shelter. The
soldier, Pvt. Ronald E. Doan, of Camp
Sibert, Ala., suggested that all the attach-
ments “could be sold as a unit, to be in-
stalled by a local mechanic.
“The ‘folly’s’ four-wheel drive,” he wrote,
“would pull it farther into the backwoods
and nearer to unfished streams than any
pleasure car would dare to venture. Upon
arriving at your selected spot, pull down the
roller tent, open up the kitchen, and there's
your camp—deluxe and Dad's delight.”
The winner of the third prize, S. M.
Farmer, of Chestertown, N. Y., envisioned
a dozen uses for the peacetime jeep, the
first of which was to transport men and
equipment to forest fires in remote areas,
where its ability to travel over logging and
tote roads gives it a big edge over regular
cars and trucks. This same ability, he said,
would make the jeep useful to logging com-
panies, in hauling supplies by trailer. He
also suggested that the jeep be used to
carry doctors, police, and border patrols
over roads choked with snow or mud, that
it be used on farms as a tractor and a
pick-up, and that it supplement riding
horses at summer hotels, which could rent
Jeeps to guests to tour the surrounding
country.
Among ideas for converting the jeep into
a forest-fire truck was the prize-winning
entry of Ernest Prete, of Staten Island,
N. Y. He proposed that the jeeps be cov-
ered with a thick asbestos shell and
equipped with a revolving turret with two
nozzles, “which would shoot water the same
as the turret guns on an airplane shoot
bullets.” A sprinkling device attached be-
low the front of the radiator would spray
ground fire. Water for the apparatus, when
not available from streams or lakes, would
be drawn from a tank car towed by the
transformed jeep.
Joseph Krucher, of New York City, also
won a prize for his suggestion that the
Jeep be turned into a hose cart for city and
rural fire departments. With its speed and
maneuverability, it could race through
traffic and have the lines attached to hy-
drants and ready for action by the time
the heavy pumpers arrive. He also sug-
gested that fire departments use the ma-
chine as a searchlight unit.
One of the most interesting letters was
submitted by Tommy Bransford, 16 years
old, of Lonoke, Ark. His letter, which
contained an even dozen ideas, was awarded
a prize. Farmers, rural doctors, mailmen,
forest rangers, sportsmen, service-station
operators, and cowboys “riding the fence” —
to inspect it for breaks—were among his
potential users of the peacetime jeep.
In his suggestion that the jeep would
be ideal for hunting and fishing trips,
Tommy considerately thought of the
women folks. With a converted jeep, he
explained, a man “could go without worry-
ing about taking the ‘good’ car away from
his wife, who hates to have old fishing
smells in it for months after one of his
tripe.”
A considerable number of contestants
brought up the point of how the Govern-
ment would dispose of the jeeps. Some
took it for granted that they would be sold
in huge lots to manufacturers and dealers.
But this disposal method was vigorously
opposed by others, who saw in it a threat
to the new-car market after the war. One
of these, Pfc. Robert W. Huzzard, Army Air
Forces, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, won
a prize by suggesting that the jeeps be
converted into ambulances and given to the
American Red Cross for work in the Orient
and Africa. The drawing which accom-
panied his entry is reproduced below.
Another opponent of putting jeeps on the
open market was Edwin T. Brown, of Wil-
kinsburg, Pa., who urged that we give the
Jeeps to our Allies or “bury them where
they are” when peace is atfained. He ad-
vised manufacturers to scrap their dies
after the war and go on with the building
of the automobiles of the future. Consign-
ing peacetime jeeps to the category of toys,
he declared: “We have to get on with the
building of helicopters.”
Perhaps a partial answer to this argu-
ment was contained in the suggestions that
peacetime jeeps be used to haul the great
planes of the future onto and off the landing
flelds, and to shuttle material and men
around aircraft and automobile factories.
Other contestants believe
the jeeps should be sold or
rented by the Government
directly to the persons who
would use them. Pfc. Ralph
R. Brown, in a V-mail from
overseas, suggested that the
Government establish depots
at discharge points and sell or
auction the jeeps to men leav-
ing the service. Another ser-
viceman proposed that a sol-
dier be given his choice be-
tween a jeep and a bonus.
In a leiter from Treasure
Island, Calif, a U. S. Marine
stated his wish simply:
“Like many another ser-
viceman, Td like to own one
after the war—but no fancy
paint, bright aluminum, white
side walls, or brassy horn for
me. You can put me in an
order for one just as itis."
-
Language (Dublin Core)
-
eng
-
Date Issued (Dublin Core)
-
1944-02
-
pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
-
80-85
-
Rights (Dublin Core)
-
Public Domain (Google digitized)
-
Archived by (Dublin Core)
-
Lorenzo Chinellato
-
Marco Bortolami (editor)
Popular Science Monthly, v. 144, n. 2, 1944
