{{Short description|Mechanical horse first described in 1933}} [[File:irondobbin.png|thumb|The iron Dobbin that appeared in ''Popular Science Monthly'' in April 1933<ref name="Corporation1933"/>]] The '''Iron Dobbin''' was a mechanical horse which was first described in ''Popular Science Monthly'' in April 1933.<ref name="Corporation1933">{{cite book|author=Bonnier Corporation|title=Popular Science Monthly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_icDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46|accessdate=23 May 2011|date=April 1933|publisher=Bonnier Corporation|page=46|issn=0161-7370}}</ref> The machine, designed by an Italian inventor, was powered by a gasoline engine and moved upon steel pipes allowing it to traverse a rough field.<ref name="Corporation1933"/> The device was to be used to train the youth of the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio to ride, but was rejected by the Italian military as impractical.<ref name="Keller">{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/old-weird-tech-fascist-italys-mechanized-horse/239259/|title=Old, Weird Tech: Fascist Italy's Mechanized Horse|last=Keller|first=Jared|date=May 22, 2011|publisher=The Atlantic|accessdate=23 May 2011}}</ref>
The German military, after seeing the Iron Dobbin in ''Popular Science'', designed the Panzerpferd for their Gebirgsjaeger troops, which was also rejected.<ref name="Keller"/>
==See also== * Walking truck * BigDog * Cislaghi Motoruota
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Off-road vehicles Category:Vehicle design
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