Interesting transportation solutions

In honour of those pioneers that think outside the box    Roy

Eranoplan

Is this a secret military weapon which should be harnessed for peace in the future?

    Clipped from: http://www.attk.ru/Eng/history/history.htm
http://www.attk.ru/Eng/glavn/index.htm

another link


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeUe6aVib08&feature=endscreen&NR=1


The factory
Artic Trade and transportation Company


From a history of high-speed shipbuilding*

Development of shipbuilding in XIX and XX centuries is tightly linked to the solution of the sharpest problem of ships movement speed increasing. The service speeds of displacement ships limited by the wave resistance makes 20-25 km/h for river and 40-50 km/h for marine vessels. Reserves for increase of displacement ships speeds, due to perfecting the sizes and hulls forms, raises of an engine power and efficiency of propulsion device (a rowing wheel, the screw, etc.), turned out are practically exhausted to the beginning of XX century already. The designers of high-speed ships had addressed to an idea of raising a ship's hull from water to the moment of wavemaking speed achievement, with the aim to overcome the intensively growing water drag.

Gliding craft
At the end of XIX century the prototypes of gliding craft are appears. Its structure allowed decreasing resistance to movement due to usage of hydrodynamic forces at keeping of a vessel's hull contact with a water surface. The gliding has allowed creating high-speed sports craft with speeds over 500 km / hour. However to solve satisfactorily the seaworthiness questions on the basis of this principle of movement it was not possible. Therefore the gliding craft have propagation only as sports craft of various types and military torpedo boats. An example of planning craft usage as passenger craft is the Soviet seagoing catamaran "Express" having weight 42 tones, passenger capacity 130 persons and a speed over 80 km / hour. The planning catamaran "Express" was operated in the Black sea on a Sochi - Sukhumi line in 1940.

Hydrofoils
The first patent for hydrofoil known to us is the patent of the Frenchman, the Russian citizen, Charles de Lambert which has registered it 1881 in France. And though on hydrofoil vessel built by him it was not possible to reach movement on foils, the fact of creation of the first hydrofoil has been registered.
The further history of creation and development of hydrofoils is linked to names of outstanding designers and engineers of different countries. The main tasks which were necessary to solve on a way of creation of hydrofoils consist in a choice of quantity of foils, their geometry and the location concerning a hull of a craft. On these three basic parameters it is possible to classify all variety of types both hydrofoils and the schemes of foils.
For the first time to realize movement of hydrofoils practically was succeed to Italian air engineer E. Forlanini in 1905. The Italian aviators A.Crocco and Ricaldoni in 1906 managed to create hydrofoil on V-shaped underwater foils crossing a water surface, having decided the major problem question of stabilization of hydrofoils in a vertical plane with an alteration of speed.

The Mitchem brothers (USA) in the same years in the project of a flying boat have offered a way for control of foils angle of attack and, consequently, of a lift force with the help of the special kinematical device, that has served as a prototype for later development an automatically controlled foils (50th years, K.Guk).

In 1919 A.Bell and K.Baldwin (Canada) have constructed a hydrofoil having applied a combination of "bookshelf's" allocation with the V-shaped wings offered by Guidony. This craft equipped with two aero-engines of 260 kw power everyone, working on an air screws, had reached a speed over 60 knots at movement on foils.

Hans von Shertel - known German air engineer has achieved the big success in creation of hydrofoils in 30th years. He managed to develop basic configuration of a craft on V-shaped foils crossing a water surface, in which the first foil is located in a bow and the second - in an aft of a craft, having decided thus practically all problem questions of hydrofoil's movement. In the same period various configurations of hydrofoils have been offered by Titiens (Austria), Grunberg (France), Almkwist and Alkstrom (Sweden). They have not received operational use.
The first attempts of hydrofoils creation in the USSR are related to the beginning of 30th. Their authors are scientists of TSAGI V.G.Frolov and A.N.Vladimirov during 1933 - 1937 have conducted experimental researches of foils in towing tank. In 1934 they have developed configuration of a vessel on two foils and have constructed its self-propelled model of the EGO-1 in weight of 300 kg. By means of the engine of 10 kw the model has reached a speed of 32 km / hour. But it was not possible to reach the course stability of the model. During same time by the known Soviet scientists - M.V.Keldysh, N.E.Kochin, M.A.Lavrentjev, L.I.Sedov and L.N.Sretensky had been carried out the fundamental analytical investigations of the foils hydrodynamics, which allowed to explain the gear and law of origin and change of a lift force of foil close to a water surface.

 In 1941 at a "Krasnoe Sormovo" shipyard has started the works on hydrofoils creation the graduate of shipbuilding faculty of Gorkovsky's Industrial Institute Rostislav Evgenjevich Alexeyev. A theme of his degree work the torpedo hydrofoil and its passenger variant were. Keen with an idea of hydrofoils creation Alexeyev at support of administration has unwrapped an active research and design activity on realization of the degree work developments and the ideas linked to creation of hydrofoils. By the results of works during which have been created modern experimental base of high-speed hydrodynamics, are built and tested numerous non-propelled and self-propelled models of hydrofoils with various structures of foils, R.E.Alexeyev in 1944-1945 has offered outstanding idea of usage in hydrofoils of slightly submerged underwater foils (an immersion depth of 15-30 % of a foil chord), which received the status of invention.

For the first time this invention has been practically realized by Alexeyev in 1947 when under his design the " Krasnoe Sormovo" shipyard has put on the foils the serial Soviet planing torpedo-boat ТКА 123-bis. In the conclusion of a state commission on accepting this boat with underwater foils it is noted, that "for the first time in the Soviet Union completely new type of a fighting torpedo boat - a boat on the underwater foils, which exceeds its variant without foils with respect to speed on 10 (!) knots (from 90 up to 110 km/h) and with respect to seaworthiness on 2 (!) Beaufort numbers (from 3 up to 5 numbers)" is created.

In 1951 for this outstanding achievement R.E.Alekseyev and the leading experts of his design's collective - N.A.Zajtsev, I.I.Erlykin, L.S.Popov - have been awarded by the Stalin's premium.
In 1949 under the R.E.Alekseyev's management was developed the project of the first river passenger hydrofoil on slightly submerged foils on 60 persons with speed of 70 km/h. However by the regime's reasons the sanction to its creation Alexeyev has received only in 1956.
In a parallel way with R.E.Alekseyev in the post-war period in 1953 in Switzerland (firm "Supramar") under the direction of Hans Fon Shertel have been created the first passenger hydrofoil of lake type RT-10 and in 1955 - hydrofoil of marine type for coasting operation RT-20. Both these hydrofoils have quickly won popularity and many years were successfully operated on passenger lines of Italy, Japan, Holland, Norway.

In 1956, i.e. seven years later of the first hydrofoil's project development, the R.E.Alekseyev has received the sanction and has developed the second project of the river passenger craft on the slightly submerged foils, called "Raketa", on 66 passengers with speed of 65 km/h. It has been built and entered in operation in 1957. Since that time the era of the national hydrofoils originates, the most known of which are: motorship "Raketa" (1957), a boat "Volga" (1958, 5 seats, speed of 60 km/h), motorships " Meteor " (1958, 128 seats, 65 km/h), "Kometa" (1959, 118 seats, 65 km/h), " Belarus" (1962, 40 seats, 55 km/h), "Kolhida" (1970, 120 seats, 60 km/h), " Voshod " (1970 г, 60 seats, 60 km/h).
 
Hydrofoil "Raketa" Hydrofoil "Meteor" Hydrofoil "Kometa"