The Snow Cruiser : Antarctic Expedition, Research Foundation of Armour Institute of Technology, Project No. 1-69

Illinois: Research Foundation of Armour Institute of Technology, 1939. General wear due to age. One fold detached with tape repair. Some separation at other folds.. An advertising brochure which tells "The Story of the Snow Cruiser", which was a vehicle designed by Dr. Thomas C. Poulter (1897-1978) who was second in command of the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition. The vehicle was designed as the "perfect exploration unit for use at the South Pole" that would be "equipped to span large crevasses in the ice and to cruise thousands of miles from its base or source of supplies; it would accommodate four or five men and provide them with living quarters and (truncated) complete facilities for the pursuance of their scientific investigations ... [and] a radio station with which to maintain contact with stationary bases and the outside world." Poulter partnered with the Research Foundation of Armour Institute of Technology to build it at the cost of $150,000, and the final design even allowed for a plane to be moored to its roof. It was to be shipped In November 1939 from Boston to Antarctica to "serve for three years as the mobile research and survey unit of the United States Antarctic Service". The brochure includes two printed portraits of Dr. F. A. Wade, Chief Scientist of the US Antarctic Expedition, and Dr. Thomas C. Poulter, as well as two illustrations of the cruiser. 8 part folded brochure. OCLC 0 (March 2021). Measures 6.25" x 3 (folded), 14.25" x 6.25" (unfolded). (Inventory #: 21000702)