To maintain secrecy, Swinton coined the euphemism "tank", to describe the new weapon. After observing early battles where machine-gunners were able to kill thousands of infantryman advancing towards enemy trenches, Swinton wrote that "petrol tractors on the caterpillar principle and armoured with hardened steel plates" would be able to counteract the machine-gunner. On the outbreak of the First World War Colonel Swinton was sent to the Western Front to write reports on the war. Two of the officers, Colonel Ernest Swinton and Colonel Maurice Hankey, both became convinced that it was possible to develop a fighting vehicle that could play an important role in any future war. The idea of an armoured tracked vehicle that would provide protection from machines gun fire was first discussed by army officers in 1914. The British War Office rejected Simms' car and showed no interest in similar schemes. It was the first armoured car ever built. This vehicle had a Daimler engine, a bulletproof shell and was armed with 2 maxim guns on revolving turrets. In 1899 Frederick Richard Simms produced a design of what he called a motor-war car. Although it was suggested that this machine might be adapted for military use, those in positions of authority failed to see the significance of this new development. In the United States the Holt Company built a tractor with caterpillar tracks that was used to move over difficult territory. The development of the modern tank remained dormant until the arrival of the internal combustion engine, patented by Gottlieb Daimler in 1885. He described it as a "cart that carries its own road". He played around with for forty years but that he never successfully developed. In the Crimean War a small number of steam powered tractors based on this design proved very successful in the muddy terrain. Richard Lovell Edgeworth invented the Caterpillar track in 1770.
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