War spurs scientific and technological progress. States leading wars try to destroy enemy soldiers more, and, at the same time, protect their soldiers from defeat. Perhaps the most prolific invention was the first World War.
R2D2. Self-propelled electric firing point. A cable trailed behind her across the entire battlefield.
French trench armor against bullets and shrapnel. 1915 
Sappenpanzer appeared on Western Front in 1916. In June 1917, having captured several German body armor, the Allies conducted research. According to these documents, the German body armor can stop a rifle bullet at a distance of 500 meters, but its main purpose is against shrapnel and shrapnel. The vest can be hung either on the back or on the chest. The first samples collected turned out to be less heavy than later ones, with an initial thickness of 2.3 mm. Material - alloy of steel with silicon and nickel. 
The commander and driver of the English Mark I wore such a mask to protect their faces from shrapnel. 
Mobile barricade 
German soldiers captured a mobile barricade 
Mobile infantry shield (France). It’s unclear why there’s a guy with a cat 
Experimental helmets for machine gunners on airplanes. USA, 1918. 
USA. Protection for bomber pilots. Armored trousers. 
Various options for armored shields for Detroit police officers. 
An Austrian trench shield that could be worn as a breastplate. He could have, but there were no people willing to constantly carry such a heavy piece of iron. 
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" from Japan. 
Armor shield for orderlies. 
Individual armor protection with the simple name “Turtle”. As far as I understand, this thing did not have a “floor” and the fighter himself moved it. 
McAdam's shovel-shield, Canada, 1916. Dual use was assumed: both as a shovel and a shooting shield. It was ordered by the Canadian government in a series of 22,000 pieces. As a result, the device was inconvenient like a shovel, inconvenient because the loophole was too low like a rifle shield, and was pierced through by rifle bullets. After the war, melted down as scrap metal 
Sidecar, UK 1938. 
Armored observation post 
French bomb throwing machine 
Military slingshot 
As for armored vehicles, there were the most unimaginable designs 
On April 24, 1916, an anti-government uprising broke out in Dublin (Easter Rising) and the British needed at least some armored vehicles to move troops through the shelled streets.
On April 26, in just 10 hours, specialists of the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Regiment, using equipment from the South railway in Inchicore, they were able to assemble an armored car from an ordinary commercial 3-ton Daimler truck chassis and... a steam boiler. Both the chassis and boiler were delivered from the Guinness brewery. 
Armored tires 
Truck converted into an armored car 
Danish “armored car”, made on the basis of the Gideon 2 T 1917 truck with plywood armor (!). 
Peugeot car converted into an armored car 
Armored car 
This is some kind of hybrid of an airplane and an armored car. 
Military snowmobile 
The same, but on wheels 
Armored car not based on a Mercedes car 
In June 1915, production of the Marienwagen tractor began at the Daimler plant in Berlin-Marienfelde. This tractor was produced in several versions: half-tracked, fully tracked, although their base was a 4-ton Daimler tractor. 
To break through fields entangled with barbed wire, they came up with a hay mower like this. 
And this is another one that overcame any obstacles. 
And this is a prototype of a tank 
FROT-TURMEL-LAFFLY Tank, a wheeled tank built on the chassis of a Laffly road roller. It is protected by 7 mm armor, weighs about 4 tons, is armed with two 8 mm machine guns and a mitrailleuse of unknown type and caliber. By the way, in the photo the weapons are much stronger than stated - apparently the “holes for the gun” were cut with a reserve.
The exotic shape of the hull is due to the fact that according to the idea of the designer (the same Mr. Frot), the vehicle was intended to attack wire barriers, which the vehicle had to crush with its body - after all, monstrous wire barriers, along with machine guns, were one of the main problems for the infantry. 
Cart based on a motorcycle. 
Armored version 
Here protection is only for the machine gunner 
Connection 
Ambulance 
Refueling 
A three-wheeled armored motorcycle designed for reconnaissance missions, especially on narrow roads. 
Combat water skis 
Combat catamaran 
Capable of turning into a tank. But this is not the only example of strange combat ammunition from the First World War. The soldiers sometimes came up with ideas, some of which they brought to life right at the front. But there were other military inventions that were supposed to change the course of hostilities.
French trench armor against bullets and shrapnel. 1915
The Sappenpanzer appeared on the Western Front in 1916. In June 1917, having captured several German body armor, the Allies conducted research. According to these documents, the German body armor can stop a rifle bullet at a distance of 500 meters, but its main purpose is against shrapnel and shrapnel. The vest can be hung either on the back or on the chest. The first samples collected turned out to be less heavy than later ones, with an initial thickness of 2.3 mm. Material - alloy of steel with silicon and nickel.
The commander and driver of the English Mark I wore such a mask to protect their faces from shrapnel.
Barricade.
German soldiers approach the captured Russian “mobile barricade”.
Mobile infantry shield (France).
Experimental machine gunner helmets. USA, 1918.
USA. Protection for bomber pilots. Armored trousers.
Various options for armored shields for Detroit police officers.
An Austrian trench shield that could be worn as a breastplate.
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" from Japan.
Armor shield for orderlies.
Individual armor protection with the simple name “Turtle”. As far as I understand, this thing did not have a “floor” and the fighter himself moved it.
McAdam's shovel-shield, Canada, 1916. Dual use was assumed: both as a shovel and a shooting shield. It was ordered by the Canadian government in a series of 22,000 pieces. As a result, the device was inconvenient like a shovel, inconvenient because the loophole was too low like a rifle shield, and was pierced through by rifle bullets. After the war, melted down as scrap metal
I couldn’t pass by such a wonderful stroller (though it was post-war). Great Britain, 1938
And finally, “an armored public toilet stall - pepelats.” Armored observation post. Great Britain.
It’s not enough to sit behind the shield. How to “pick out” the enemy from behind the shield? And here “the soldiers (soldiers) are cunning… They used very exotic means.
French bomb-throwing machine. Medieval technologies are in demand again.
Well, absolutely... a slingshot!
But they had to be moved somehow. This is where the engineering genius and production capacity came into play again.
Urgent and rather stupid modification of any self-propelled mechanism sometimes gave birth to amazing creations.
On April 24, 1916, an anti-government uprising broke out in Dublin (Easter Rising) and the British needed at least some armored vehicles to move troops through the shelled streets.
On April 26, in just 10 hours, specialists from the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Regiment, using equipment from the Southern Railway workshops in Inchicore, were able to assemble an armored vehicle from an ordinary commercial 3-ton Daimler truck chassis and... a steam boiler. Both the chassis and boiler were delivered from the Guinness brewery.
You can write a separate article about armored railcars, so I’ll just limit myself to one photo for a general idea.
And this is an example of the banal hanging of steel shields on the sides of a truck for military purposes.
Danish “armored car”, made on the basis of the Gideon 2 T 1917 truck with plywood armor (!).
Another French craft (in this case in the service of Belgium) is the Peugeot armored car. Again without protection for the driver, engine and even the rest of the crew in front.
How do you like this “aerotachka” from 1915?
Or something like this...
1915 Sizaire-Berwick "Wind Wagon". Death to the enemy (from diarrhea), the infantry will be blown away.
Subsequently, after WW1, the idea of an aero-cart did not die out, but was developed and in demand (especially in the snowy expanses of the north of the USSR).
The snowmobile had a frameless frame made of wood. closed type body, the front part of which was protected by a sheet of bulletproof armor. In the front part of the hull there was a control compartment in which the driver was located. To monitor the road, the front panel had a viewing slot with a glass block from the BA-20 armored car. Behind the control compartment was the fighting compartment, in which a 7.62-mm DT tank machine gun, equipped with a light shield cover, was mounted on a turret. The snowmobile commander fired from the machine gun. The horizontal firing angle was 300°, vertical - from –14 to 40°. The machine gun's ammunition consisted of 1000 rounds.
By August 1915, two officers of the Austro-Hungarian Army - Hauptmann engineer Romanik and Oberleutnant Fellner in Budapest designed such a glamorous armored car, presumably based on a Mercedes car with a 95 horsepower engine. It was named after the first letters of the names of the creators of Romfell. Armor 6 mm. It was armed with one Schwarzlose M07/12 8 mm machine gun (ammunition capacity of 3000 rounds) in the turret, which could, in principle, be used against air targets. The car was equipped with a Morse code telegraph from Siemens & Halske. The speed of the device is up to 26 km/h. Weight 3 tons, length 5.67 m, width 1.8 m, height 2.48 m. Crew 2 people.
And Mironov liked this monster so much that I will not deny myself the pleasure of showing it again. In June 1915, production of the Marienwagen tractor began at the Daimler plant in Berlin-Marienfelde. This tractor was produced in several versions: half-tracked, fully tracked, although their base was a 4-ton Daimler tractor.
To break through fields entangled with barbed wire, they came up with a hay mower like this.
On June 30, 1915, another of the prototypes was assembled in the yard London prison Wormwood Scrubs by members of No. 20 Squadron at the Royal Naval Air School. The chassis of the American Killen Straight tractor with wooden tracks in the tracks was taken as a basis.
In July, an armored hull from the Delano-Belleville armored car was experimentally installed on it, then a hull from the Austin and a turret from the Lanchester.
FROT-TURMEL-LAFFLY Tank, a wheeled tank built on the chassis of a Laffly road roller. It is protected by 7 mm armor, weighs about 4 tons, is armed with two 8 mm machine guns and a mitrailleuse of unknown type and caliber. By the way, in the photo the weapons are much stronger than stated - apparently the “holes for the gun” were cut with a reserve.
The exotic shape of the hull is due to the fact that according to the idea of the designer (the same Mr. Frot), the vehicle was intended to attack wire barriers, which the vehicle had to crush with its body - after all, monstrous wire barriers, along with machine guns, were one of the main problems for the infantry.
The French had a brilliant idea - to use small-caliber guns firing grappling hooks to overcome enemy wire barriers. The photo shows the calculations of such guns.
Well, as soon as they didn’t mock motorcycles, trying to adapt them to military operations...
Motorcycle car on a Motosacoche trailer.
Another one.
Field ambulance.
Fuel delivery.
A three-wheeled armored motorcycle designed for reconnaissance missions, especially on narrow roads.
The only thing more interesting than this is the Grillo tracked boat! Just chasing alligators on the swampy shores of the Adriatic, firing torpedoes... In fact, he participated in sabotage operations and was shot while trying to sink the battleship Viribus Unitis. Thanks to a silent electric motor, he made his way into the port at night and, using the tracks, climbed over the enclosing booms. But it was spotted by security at the port and sunk.
Their displacement was 10 tons, their armament was four 450-mm torpedoes.
But to overcome water obstacles individually, other means have been developed. Such as for example:
Combat water skis.
Combat catamaran.
Battle stilts
But this is R2D2. Self-propelled electric firing point. Behind her, a “tail” cable dragged across the entire battlefield.
Illustration copyright Reuters Image caption Over the past hundred years, wristwatches have undergone a significant evolution.
The First World War gave humanity a number of unexpected inventions that had nothing to do with the military industry. Today we remember only a few of them, which have become firmly established in everyday life and have radically changed our lifestyle.
1. Sanitary pads
The history of this household item, which has long become familiar to women, is associated with the appearance of cellucotone or cellulose wadding - a material with very high degree absorption. And specialists from the then small American company Kimberly-Clark began producing it even before the start of the First World War.
The head of the research department, Ernst Mahler, and the company's vice president, James Kimberly, toured pulp and paper mills in Germany, Austria and the Scandinavian countries in 1914. There they noticed a material that absorbed moisture five times faster and cost manufacturers half as much as cotton.
Kimberly and Mahler took samples of cellulose wool with them to America, where they registered a new trademark. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Kimberly-Clark began producing dressings at a rate of 100-150 meters per minute.
However, Red Cross nurses who bandaged the wounded and appreciated the new dressing material began to use it in a different capacity. This inappropriate use of cellucotone became the basis for the company’s prosperity.
The Red Cross nurses, who bandaged the wounded and appreciated the new dressing material, began to use it in a different capacity. This inappropriate use of cellucotone became the basis for the company’s prosperity
“After the end of the war in 1918, the production of dressings had to be suspended, since the main consumers - the army and the Red Cross - no longer needed them,” say current company representatives.
Almost 100 years ago, enterprising businessmen at Kimberly-Clark bought up leftover cellulose wool from the military and created a new product and a new market.
After two years of intensive research, experimentation and marketing, the company produced a sanitary napkin made from 40 ultra-thin layers of cellulose wadding wrapped in gauze.
In 1920, in a small wooden barn in Neenah, Wisconsin, mass production of sanitary pads was launched, which were made by hand by female factory workers.
The new product was dubbed Kotex (short for cotton texture). It hit the shelves in October 1920, about two years after the signing of the armistice agreement.
2. ... and paper handkerchiefs
The company agreed with pharmacies that sold pads of this brand to display two boxes at the cash register. From one the woman took a package of pads, into another she put 50 cents, but if these boxes were not visible at the cash register, then she could simply say the word “Kotex”. It sounded like a password, and the seller immediately understood what was needed.
Gradually, the new product gained popularity, but not as quickly as Kimberly-Clark would have liked. It was necessary to find a new use for this wonderful material.
In the early 1920s, one of the company's employees, Bert Furness, had the idea to refine cellulose under a hot iron, which made its surface smooth and soft. In 1924, after a series of experiments, facial tissues were born, which were called Kleenex.
3. Quartz lamp
In the winter of 1918, about half of all children in Berlin suffered from rickets, one of the symptoms of which is bone deformities.
At that time, the causes of this disease were unknown. It was assumed that this had something to do with poverty.
Illustration copyright Getty Image caption The healing effect of ultraviolet baths - the discovery of Dr. GuldchinskyBerlin doctor Kurt Guldchinsky noticed that many of his patients who suffered from rickets were very pale, without any tan. He decided to conduct an experiment on four patients, including a three-year-old boy. All that is now known about this child is that his name was Arthur.
Kurt Guldchinsky began to irradiate this group of patients with ultraviolet rays from mercury-quartz lamps. After several sessions, the doctor discovered that the children’s skeletal system began to strengthen.
In May 1919, with the onset of the summer season, he began to give children sunbathing. The results of his experiments caused a great stir.
All over Germany, children began to be seated in front of quartz lamps. Where there were not enough lamps, as in Dresden, for example, even lamps removed by social service workers from street lamps were used.
Later, scientists found that ultraviolet radiation lamps promote the production of vitamin D, which is actively involved in the synthesis and absorption of calcium by the body. Calcium, in turn, is needed for the development and strengthening of bones, teeth, hair and nails.
So the treatment of children who suffered from malnutrition during the war years led to a very useful discovery about the benefits of ultraviolet rays.
4. Summer time
The idea of moving the hands forward an hour in the spring and an hour back in the fall existed even before the outbreak of the First World War.
Benjamin Franklin outlined it in a letter to the Paris Journal back in 1784. “Since people don’t go to bed after sunset, candles have to be wasted,” the politician wrote. “But in the morning they are wasted.” sunlight, since people wake up later than the sun rises."
In Britain on summer time crossed on May 21, 1916, followed by others European countries
Similar proposals were made in New Zealand in 1895 and in Great Britain in 1909. However, they came to nothing.
The First World War contributed to the implementation of this idea.
There was a shortage of coal in Germany. On April 30, 1916, the authorities of this country issued a decree according to which the clock hands were moved from 23:00 pm to 24:00. The next morning everyone had to wake up an hour earlier, saving an hour of daylight.
Germany's experience quickly spread to other countries. Britain adopted daylight saving time on May 21, 1916, followed by other European countries. On March 19, 1918, the US Congress established several time zones and established daylight saving time from March 31 until the end of World War I.
After the armistice, daylight saving time was abolished, but the idea of saving daylight hours remained to wait for better times, and, as we know, those times eventually came.
5. Tea bags
The tea bag does not owe its origins to wartime problems. It is believed that the first time tea packaged in small bags began to be sent to its customers by an American tea merchant in 1908.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption The soldiers of the First World War called tea in a bag a “tea bomb.”One of the fans of this drink dropped or dipped such a bag into a cup of boiling water, marking the beginning of a very convenient and quick way of brewing tea. At least that's what tea business representatives say.
During the First World War, the German company Teekanne remembered this idea and began supplying tea bags to the troops. The soldiers called them "tea bombs."
6. Wristwatch
It is not true that wristwatches were invented specifically for military personnel during the First World War. However, it is certain that during these years the number of men who wore wristwatches increased many times.
After the war, wristwatches became a common attribute by which time was checked.
However, in late XIX and at the beginning of the 20th century, any man who lived in prosperity did this with the help of a pocket watch on a chain.
Women were pioneers in this regard - Queen Elizabeth I, for example, had a small watch that she could wear on her wrist if necessary.
But for those involved in the First World War, timing became an increasingly important problem, especially when it was necessary to synchronize mass demonstrations or artillery attacks.
It was especially important to coordinate the actions of different units during the creation of an artillery fire curtain - that is, ground artillery fire before the infantry advanced. A mistake of a few minutes could cost many of the lives of our own soldiers.
A watch appeared that left both the soldier’s hands free, that is, a wristwatch. They were also convenient for aviators. So the pocket watch on a solid chain can be said to have sunk into oblivion.
During the Boer Wars, Mappin and Webb produced wristwatches with lugs through which a strap could be threaded. Later, this company, not without pride, stated that its products turned out to be very useful during the Battle of Omdurman - the general battle of the Second Anglo-Sudanese War.
But it was the First World War that made wristwatches an everyday necessity. It was especially important to coordinate the actions of different units during the creation of an artillery fire curtain - that is, ground artillery fire before the infantry advanced. A mistake of a few minutes could cost many of the lives of our own soldiers.
The distances between different positions were too great to use signals, there was too little time to transmit them, and it would have been unwise to do so in full view of the enemy. So a wristwatch was a great way out of the situation.
The H. Williamson company, which produced the so-called trench watches in Coventry, reported in its report for 1916: “It is known that already every fourth soldier has a wristwatch, and the remaining three will purchase one at the first opportunity.”
Some brands of wristwatches, which have become a symbol of luxury and prestige, date back to the First World War. The Cartier Tank model was introduced in 1917 by French master Louis Cartier, who created this watch inspired by the shape of the new Renault tanks.
7. Vegetarian sausages
If you think that soy sausages were born somewhere in the mid-1960s in California thanks to some hippies, then you are mistaken.
Soy sausages were invented by Konrad Adenauer, the first chancellor of post-war Germany. This food product has become a symbol of endurance and conscientiousness - to say that the taste of the sausages left much to be desired would be too cruel.
During World War I, Adenauer was mayor of Cologne, whose residents were starving due to the British blockade.
Possessing a lively mind and talent as an inventor, Adenauer began to look for products that could replace bread and meat in the diet of the townspeople.
He started with a bread roll recipe that used barley, rice and corn flour instead of wheat flour. It turned out quite edible until Romania entered the war and the supply of corn flour came to an end.
It turns out that when it came to sausages and sausages, the rules in Germany were very strict - in order to be called such, these products had to contain meat
The mayor of the city moved from experimental bread to experimental sausages. He suggested using soy instead of meat. His work began to be called “sausages of the world” or “Cologne sausage.” Adenauer decided to patent his recipe, but the Reich Patent Office refused him.
It turns out that when it came to sausages and sausages, the rules in Germany were very strict - in order to be called such, these products had to contain meat. In short, no meat - no sausages.
This may seem strange, but Adenauer had better luck in this regard with Germany's enemy: the British King George V granted him a patent for soy sausage on June 26, 1918.
Adenauer later invented the "electric caterpillar rake", a device for eliminating automobile dust, a toaster lamp, and much more. However, none of these developments were put into production.
But the patented “Cologne sausage” with soy content went down in history.
Vegetarians around the world should raise a glass of organic wine to the humble German Finance Minister who created such an irreplaceable dish for them.
8. Zipper
Since the mid-19th century, many people have tried to create a device that would help connect parts of clothing and shoes in the fastest and most convenient way.
However, luck smiled on the American engineer Gideon Sundbeck, who emigrated to America from Sweden.
He became the chief designer of the Universal Fastener Company, where he invented the Hookless Fastener: a slider connecting teeth attached to two textile tapes. Sundbeck received a patent for his version of the zipper in 1913.
The US military began using these zippers in military uniforms and shoes, especially in the Navy. After the First World War, zippers migrated to civilian clothing, where they continue to thrive to this day.
9. Stainless steel
For steel that doesn't rust or corrode, we have Harry Brearley of English city Sheffield.
According to city records, "in 1913, Brearley developed what is considered the first example of 'stainless' or 'clean' steel, a product that revolutionized the steel industry and became a major component of the infrastructure of the modern world."
The British military was just racking their brains over which metal was best to make weapons from.
Illustration copyright Reuters Image caption Stainless steel found many uses in the 20th centuryThe problem was that gun barrels began to deform under the influence of high temperatures and friction. Metallurgist Brearley was asked to create an alloy that could withstand high temperatures, chemical elements and so on.
Brearley began conducting experiments, testing the properties of various alloys, including those with a high chromium content.
According to legend, many of the experiments, in his opinion, ended in failure, and the rejected ingots ended up in a heap of scrap metal. However, Brearley later noticed that some of them were resistant to rust.
Thus, in 1913, Brearley discovered the secret of stainless steel.
During the First World War, new aircraft engines were made from it, but later they began to make spoons, knives and forks from stainless steel, as well as countless surgical instruments, which no hospital in the world can do without now.
10. Communication system for pilots
Before the First World War, an aviator found himself in the air alone with an airplane. He could not communicate with other pilots or with ground services.
At the beginning of the war, communication between army units was carried out mainly using telegraph lines. However, shelling or tanks often knocked them out of action.
The Germans also managed to find the key to British telegraph encryption. At that time, other methods of communication were used - couriers, flags, pigeon mail, light signals or mounted messengers, but each of them had its drawbacks.
Illustration copyright PA Image caption Modern pilot in flight connected with air traffic controllerThe aviators had to make do with shouts and gestures. This was no longer any good. Something had to be done. The solution was wireless communication.
Radio technology was then in its infancy. During the First World War, relevant research was carried out in Brookland and Biggin Hill, and by the end of 1916 serious progress had been achieved.
“Early attempts to install radio telephones on airplanes failed because the engine noise created a lot of noise,” writes historian Keith Thrower in one of his books about the development of radio in Britain.
According to him, this problem was later solved by creating a helmet with a built-in microphone and headphones. Thereby civil Aviation V post-war years“soared” to a new height, and the gestures and shouts with which the aviators had to communicate became a thing of the past.
The First World War became a war where the latest tactics and types of weapons coexisted with archaic types of weapons and methods of destroying the enemy that had been proven for centuries, and sometimes even millennia. So, in one place there was a dashing cavalry attack with pikes, in another there was hand-to-hand combat, and very close to the trenches a yellow cloud of poisonous gas or an armored monster armed with cannons and machine guns was approaching... But more often than not everything was intertwined together, embodied in strange hybrids of old and new . Such as bulletproof transformable armor or catapults for throwing hand grenades. However, many of these inventions were the product of people who experienced first-hand all the “delights” of a new type of war.
But for those who were far from the front line, confusion reigned in their heads. And many of them continued to believe that war is about orderly columns of stately grenadiers marching to the drum and flute, from time to time firing a coordinated volley towards the enemy... Experiencing incredible patriotic enthusiasm and striving for victory in the deep rear, these people, with their ideas, In their opinion, very innovative, they tried to help the front.
As usual, active amateurs and self-taught inventors were in the forefront. Hundreds of rationalization proposals overwhelmed the Main Military-Technical Directorate (GVTU) of the Imperial Army. Representatives of all classes and social strata of society sent their projects: from peasants to professional engineers. Many really sensible, interesting proposals were made, but there were also those that one could only envy the endurance and patience of the GVTU officers. Indeed, in addition to studying the invention, they were obliged to send the author their conclusion by mail, made in a polite and correct form.
"Bullet Truck" Shovkoplyas
This machine was a huge bullet on wheels or, as an option, on rollers, which could accommodate many soldiers. A machine gun of an outlandish multi-barreled design protruded from the rear wall of the miracle machine and showered the enemy with a hail of bullets. Why from the back? Apparently because, according to the author of the project, a peasant from the Yenisei province Roman Ivanovich Shovkoplyas, it was impossible to stop his “bullet vehicle”. Having easily overcome the enemy's fortifications, this machine will leave enemy soldiers far behind, and this is where the machine gun will begin its work. Roman Ivanovich did not bother himself with questions about the design of the chassis and the characteristics of the engine for the “bullet vehicle,” as well as the system of the infernal multi-barreled supermachine gun.
Nevertheless, even such inventions were considered, and the author received an official conclusion from the competent commission by mail. Only in last years war, GVTU shifted the costs of postal correspondence to the authors of rejected projects.
Mitrailleuse barrel “Vulcan” by Sukhmanov
Under the glamorous name was hidden an ordinary lightly armored barrel, which was moved by soldiers running inside the barrel according to the “squirrel in a wheel” principle. There were loopholes on the sides of the barrel, from which the unfortunate ones could fire deadly fire while running. The barrel was supposed to crush the insane, and, apparently, previously immobilized enemy soldiers. It’s even scary to imagine the fate of the crew of the Vulcan mitrailleuse if it had rolled downhill... However, even the most numerous and united team would hardly have been able to move the heavy barrel from its place.
Judging by the specifics of the proposed projects, rear inventors continued to see enemy hordes in the form of stationary tin soldiers built in even rows.
Skroznikova skating rink
A peasant from the Arkhangelsk province, Pavel Skroznikov, proposed attacking the enemy with vehicles equipped with heavy rollers and destroying him, actually rolling him into the ground. Apparently, the inventor was sure that German soldiers unable to move aside from his combat “asphalt paver”. Pavel Skroznikov became one of the first authors from whom GVTU experts demanded compensation for postage costs.
There was a project for an armored car, which, like a grain harvester, mowed down enemy infantry around it with special rotating sickles, and cut off wire barriers with a retractable circular saw. A project for an armored car was also proposed for consideration, which, using special nozzles located along the perimeter of the body, spewed flames around itself. This was necessary in order to scare away enemy soldiers creeping from all sides from the car... 
"Bat" Lebedenko
Standing apart in this row is the famous Lebedenko tank, aka “Bat”, aka the Tsar Tank. The wheeled combat vehicle was a semblance of an ancient gun carriage with two huge wheels with a diameter of 9 meters and an armored body 12 meters wide located between them. This monster was propelled by two autonomous Maybach engines, taken from a damaged German airship. The crew of the vehicle consisted of 15 people serving two cannons and several machine guns. The design speed of the monster was supposed to be about 17 kilometers per hour.
The author of the project managed to get an appointment with the Emperor himself. He brought a wooden model of his car with him to the Winter Palace. The clockwork model rushed along the parquet floor of the palace, dashingly jumping over obstacles collected from volumes of books from the sovereign’s library. The Tsar watched in fascination the tricks of the Tsar Tank. As a result, Lebedenko’s project received government funding.
Quite quickly, at a secret training ground near Moscow in the area of the modern Orudevo station in the Savelovsky direction, at the end of the summer of 1915, a prototype of a unique combat vehicle was created. After driving a few meters, the vehicle got stuck in a swamp, from where even the most advanced tractors for that time could not pull it out. There it stood, overgrown with birch trees, until the mid-twenties, when it was dismantled for scrap. There are still rumors that among the forests one can trace a wide track pressed into the ground... 
If Lebedenko’s car had not been firmly lodged in the Dmitrov swamps, then one could only envy the German artillerymen, who would have had the pleasure of honing their shooting accuracy at such a vulnerable and extraordinary target. However, it was the world's largest armored ground fighting vehicle ever built.
Epicycloid "Wallpaper"
However, the triumph of the gloomy genius can be considered a truly demonic invention: a machine-destroyer of fortresses, the epicycloid “Oboi” by the Lviv engineer Semchishin. His invention, born of unprecedented amateurism and an unshakable belief in the size and inexhaustibility of the Russian military budget, amazes the imagination even after a hundred years.
“Oboi” was a huge ellipsoid measuring 605 meters in height (the Ostankino TV tower in Moscow is only 540 meters high) and 900 meters in length. Moving at a cruising speed of about 300 kilometers per hour, he had to wipe out enemy fortresses from the face of the earth, jump over rivers and mountains, while laying out a convenient track for the advancement of troops. Starting at the border Russian Empire, the epicycloid was supposed to compact Berlin in a few hours. 
The body of the huge egg-shaped structure was made of hardened steel with a thickness of only 100 millimeters. The machine was driven by steam engines located inside the device and raising an eccentric flywheel, thanks to which the machine rolled along the ground. The crew, consisting of several hundred people, got inside through hatches located on the axis of rotation, rising to a height of 300 meters along rope ladders (!). Apparently, the supergiant’s weapons were supposed to be located there, on the axis of rotation.
Naturally, Semchishin’s epicycloid project was not accepted by the State Technical University. If only for the simple reason that such a monster would simply crumple under its own weight during the assembly process. 
Stun gun, pigeon bomb and glue gun
But it wasn’t just the scale that surprised the inventors of the GVTU officers. Thus, a project for a glue gun was presented to the commission for consideration, which, according to the author’s plan, was supposed to fill enemy soldiers with glue until they were completely immobilized by sticking their members together and sticking weapons and other objects to them.
Also interesting are a mass destruction stun gun, which was a water cannon that waters the enemy’s trenches with water and then shoots high-voltage electrodes into it, and a pigeon bomb with a fixed tail so that it can only fly in a straight line...
There were also truly promising proposals. For example, a projectile that sprays a cloud of flour and then detonates it is a prototype of a vacuum bomb, or a wind-up drone for delivering bombs to areas of fortifications inaccessible to artillery.
But there were also proposals, the implementation of which would have led, if not to the end of the world, then at least to a local catastrophe. St. Petersburg engineer Avdeev proposed creating and launching a cloud of chlorine with a diameter of 40-50 versts at the enemy...
One way or another, a new type of war gave rise to new ideas, and one can only be glad that most of them remained projects.
The time will come when our descendants will be surprised that we did not know such obvious things.
Seneca
Oddly enough, wars give rise to the most unexpected inventions, often in no way connected with the military industry. So maybe we should agree that war is the engine of progress? Or maybe, after all, the needs that are felt with more during the war force our mind to be more? Be that as it may, it gave humanity many innovations that changed the quality of life for the better. (source: BBC Berlin, Stephen Evans)
1 Wristwatch
Although they were not created specifically for the military, and as an invention appeared long before the war, it was during the war years that their advantage over pocket watches was appreciated. Why? The answer is simple - they left the soldier’s two hands free, and determining the time was very important for the military.
2
During the treatment of children suffering from rickets - bone deformities in the winter of 1918, thanks to experiments, the German doctor Kurt Guldchinsky found that irradiation with ultraviolet rays has a beneficial effect on patients. Thus, the need and benefits of ultraviolet rays for the production of vitamin D in the body and, accordingly, strengthening bone tissue became clear. As a result, quartz lamps were introduced into medical use.
3
First, a highly absorbent substance, cellucotone, was invented. The Kimberly-Clark company (America) began producing it even before the start of the war. And during the war years, Red Cross nurses began to use this material as a dressing. And, having appreciated its merits, they also used it for personal hygiene purposes. Gaskets called Kotex went on sale already in 1920.
4
In the same 1920, one of the employees of the same American company proposed to refine the source material - cellulose. And it was placed under a hot iron, which helped turn its surface soft and smooth. This is how paper facial tissues - Kleenex - appeared in 1924.
Although the American tea trader began pouring tea into small bags back in 1908, during the First World War the Teekanne company, borrowing this idea, began supplying tea bags to soldiers on a mass scale. These “tea bombs” apparently pleased consumers, and since then all tea companies have been producing bagged tea.
6
It is curious that the birthplace of soy sausages is not America. The author of this invention, oddly enough, is Konrad Adenauer, the chancellor of post-war Germany. The fact is that, being the mayor of Cologne during the war and observing the hunger of the inhabitants during the British blockade, he began to look for substitutes for bread and meat.
He first experimented with bread and then decided to try soybeans to make sausages. But Germany did not patent his invention. This was done by the British King George V in 1918.
7
The need for stainless steel arose due to the fact that existing gun barrels were deformed under the influence of friction and high temperatures. Through many experiments, the English metallurgist Harry Brealy was able to develop the steel composition that is considered the first example of the so-called “pure” steel. And this happened in 1913.
8
Before the war there was no connection between the pilot and the ground. At the beginning of World War I, interaction between army units was carried out via telegraph. In 1916, after relevant research, they found a way out of this situation - they began to use wireless communications.
9
The hookless fastener was invented in 1913 by an American engineer who emigrated to Sweden, Gideon Sundbeck. During the war, the American military, especially soldiers navy began to use it in military uniforms and even shoes.
10
Long before the First World War, the idea of moving the clock hands forward an hour before the onset of summer was floating around in scientific circles in Europe.
However, only the First World War contributed to the implementation of this innovation. Since there was a shortage of coal in Germany, on April 30, 1916, a decree was issued, which, in order to save daylight hours, obliged the clocks to be moved forward an hour.
Then this idea migrated to other European countries. Despite the fact that at the end of the war, daylight saving time was canceled, the innovation still had its finest hour.