Handy mine cleaner made from scrap car tires

Minefields are cleared in various ways. After the war, they are cleaned manually, or with special vehicles for cleaning mines. During battles, they can be cleaned with explosions. For this, special types of large projectiles are used, which are fired over minefields, releasing gas in the process. When the gas explodes, all the mines below the explosion are destroyed.

All these cleaning methods are dangerous for people or very expensive.

Minefields could be cleared much more simply and cheaply, using scrap car tires and rims converted into small tricycles, as shown in the picture.

Waste tires from trucks and buses are heavy enough to set off any anti-personnel or anti-armor mine planted in the ground with their weight. Even tires smaller than passenger cars can do this if they are filled with soil.

A whole mine sweeper like this can be made in any garage or dugout.

Three wheels (1) are made from three empty tires placed on the rims, from which a small tricycle is made. On the front side, two wheels (1) are placed on the axle (3), separated from each other by their width. This axle (3) passes through the bar (2) that connects the front two wheels (1) with the rear one wheel (1). The shaft (3) passes through the bar (2) freely so that it can be rotated in it. A long elastic rope (4) is wound on the shaft (3) and its other end is connected to the rear end of the crossbar (2). When by turning the front wheels (1) raised in the air, the elastic rope (4) is wound on the axle (3), and the front wheels descend to the ground, then those front wheels (1) start pulling the entire tricycle forward. In this way, the tricycle can travel tens of meters, depending on the length of the coiled elastic rope(4). The length of the elastic rope (4) can be increased by placing small pulleys on the ends of the crossbar (2), over which a much longer elastic rope (4) is stretched.

When moving, all three wheels (1) press the ground with their weight, and at the same time activate mines, if they pass over them. In doing so, the explosion will destroy one or two wheels(1), but it can be replaced very easily and quickly. After that, the soldier can freely walk on the track made by the wheels. A few hundred such vehicles can make a lot of passes through minefields very quickly.

Such a primitive, simple and cheap vehicle made of waste material can become very useful in wartime liberation of occupied territory, but also after the war when clearing minefields.

It can be made by trained craftsmen in small garages, but also by soldiers in dugouts between battles.