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hovercraft |
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Hovercraft: see air-cushion vehicle ground-effect machine or Hovercraft. These vehicles are supported in various ways. Some of them have a specially designed wing that will lift them just off the surface over which they travel when they have reached a sufficient horizontal speed (the ground effect). ..... Click the link for more information. . air-cushion vehicleor hovercraftVehicle supported above the surface of land or water by an air cushion, produced by downwardly directed fans, enclosed within a flexible skirt beneath the hull. The concept was first proposed by John Thornycroft in the 1870s, but a working model was not produced until 1955, when Christopher Cockerell solved the problem of keeping the air cushion from escaping from under the vehicle, and formed Hovercraft Ltd. to manufacture prototypes. Problems with skirt design and engine maintenance have restricted the vehicle's commercial application; today hovercraft are used mainly as ferries. hovercraft a vehicle that is able to travel across both land and water on a cushion of air. The cushion is produced by a fan continuously forcing air under the vehicle hovercraft [′həv·ər‚kraft] (mechanical engineering) How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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A much-less-expensive, yet functional, use for these river segments would be to adapt them for transportation, using small hovercraft. The report also cites a 1994 UK government letter to the Security Council expressing concern that Iraqi patrol boats and hovercraft sunk in the first Gulf War may have carried chemical weapons canisters which could begin to leak. ; DBA: Royal West Hovercraft USA (business type n/a) |
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