Is This A Military Bogie Wheel ? Made By Thomas Truck & Firestone

[manayunkman]

I saw this bogie wheel this past weekend and thought it might go to an early Stuart tank but it is much too narrow.

 

Any concrete ideas ?

 

It came out of a barn in the Loire Valley.

 

I only took one picture as I was in a hurry.

[d6t]

I think it's just a vintage hand cart caster. You can make out the manufacturer's name, Thomas Truck and Caster.

 

Off the top of my head, the only armor that used return rollers anything like that were some early Cold War-era Soviet APCs. The original MTL and first MT-LB come to mind, but I am not 100% sure.

 

[Garandomatic]

The size makes it hard to judge, but it looks very much like a road wheel for a Stuart, but I do not know how big a Stuart wheel is. To make our even more unclear, I was at my dad's business partner's shop the other day, and he has a cart with extremely similar wheels!

[artillerydan]

Almost certainly for a T16 Universal carrier. There were 3 different types or road wheels available.

[gomorgan]

Thomas Truck & Caster, the building is still standing but company has been shut down for 30 plus years, my home town Keokuk, Iowa. Think during the war they only did hand carts for the various branches, not sure if they won and Army Navy "E" or not for their war efforts. They produced carts still in use today, probably why they went out of business, products lasted for ever. It is a small world.

[manayunkman]

Tank boggie wheels are much wider than this one.

 

This one is rather thin.