At the rear of most German tanks there are devices called “towing clevis”. They are C shaped and are not the U shaped ones near the bottom of the tank. Can anyone tell me how they are used, the material they’re made of (determines the color"'), etc.
Any help is appreciated.[8-)]
They should be made of steel. Not much else will take the stress of towing. Without a photo I am only making an educated guess on how they are used, but the eye of a tow cable will be fitted in some manner to allow a vehicle to be towed. I know how US ones work from personal experience on AFVs,
Is that what they are called. I often wondered what they were. I thought they were some sort of device used when putting the tracks back on the vehicle.
It’s my understanding they were used between the tow cable and the “U” shaped clevis so that the clevis didn’t need to be removed from the vehicle. To my mind that just adds to the items that may fail, but I’m pretty sure that’s how they were used.
I’m not remembering if the shackles on German Panzers were removable or not.
However, the use of a “C” hook affords speed in being able to hook up tow cables. I have a vague memory that the term-of-art is “towing link”–which likely has a simple handle in German like “Abschleppensteckerstucke” (joking, prerttty sure it’s a “Anhängerkupplung” [ahn HAYn ger KOOp loohng] ).
Rather than have to grab wrenches and unbolt shackles on both tracks, you hook one C in, pass the eye to the tow cable on the other side of the C, and repeat at the other end.
For nautical types, particularly ancient ones like myself, a shackle is a connecting link, typically “U” shaped with the top closed by a removable pin. That pin is either threaded, or has a crass-fastener to hold it in place. A clevis is a shackle where the cross-pin does not extend past the bulk of the shackle. That allows a clevis to pass along a chain wildcat, or through similar fixtures. The closing link on a bicycle or motorcycle chain is a clevs, if not normally thought of as one.
CapnMac, you coulda been a rigger!
