continuous track
Sign in to saveAlso known as tank tread, caterpillar track, track, centipede track, tracked suspension, fully tracked suspension
system of vehicle propulsion
~32 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Continuous tracks on a bulldozer A dump truck with continuous track wheels crosses a river and dumps its load in Kanagawa, Japan. An agricultural tractor with rubber tracks, mitigating soil compaction A Russian tracked vehicle designed to operate on snow and swamps A British Army Challenger 1 tank
Continuous track or tracked treads are a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle better than steel or rubber tyres on an equivalent vehicle, enabling continuous tracked vehicles to traverse soft ground with less likelihood of becoming stuck due to sinking.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “continuous track” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.