Pontoon

pontoon, one of a number of floats used chiefly to support a bridge, to raise a sunken ship, or to float a hydroplane or a floating dock. Pontoons have been built of wood, of hides stretched over wicker frames, of copper or tin sheet metal sheathed over wooden frames, of aluminum, and of steel. The original and widespread use was to support temporary military bridges. Cyrus the Great built (536 B.C.) the earliest pontoon bridge in history, using skin-covered pontoons. However, Homer mentions pontoon bridges as early as c.800 B.C. The U.S. army began experimenting with rubber pontoons in 1846 and in 1941 adopted collapsible floats of rubber fabric with steel-tread roadways. At the same time the navy developed box pontoons of light, welded steel for ship-to-shore bridges during landing operations. These box pontoons could be assembled into bridges, docks, causeways and, by adding a motor, into self-propelling barges. Permanent civilian pontoon bridges have been built where the water is deep and the water level fairly constant or controllable, often also where the crossing is narrow or where the bottom makes it difficult to sink piers. The modern permanent pontoon is composed of many compartments, so that if a leak occurs in one compartment, the pontoon will not sink. Permanent pontoons are fastened together and several anchors are dropped from each. Often a section of a bridge built on them can swing aside to let a ship pass. Several pontoon bridges have been built across the Mississippi River. Pontoons for raising sunken ships are watertight cylinders that are filled with water, sunk, and fastened to the submerged ship; when emptied by compressed air, they float the ship to the surface. A pontoon lifeboat consists of a raft supported by watertight cylinders.

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pontoon¹

Nautical a float, often inflatable, for raising a vessel in the water

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pontoon²

1. a gambling game in which players try to obtain card combinations worth 21 points

2. (in this game) the combination of an ace with a ten or court card when dealt to a player as his first two cards

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pontoon [pän′tün]

(aerospace engineering)

A float on an airplane.

(naval architecture)

A low, flat-bottomed ship, similar to a barge, carrying cranes, capstans, and other machinery used to lift weights, to lean ships on their sides for repairs, and to perform other such operation.

A wooden flat-bottomed boat or other float, used particularly to make temporary bridges.

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Pontoon 

a very simple vessel without its own means of propulsion, usually with perpendicular sides and a flat bottom, with or without a deck. The pontoon may have a contoured bow and stern lines to decrease resistance to a current.

By connecting pontoons by means of special coupling devices, pack bridges and the floating supports of raft bridges and ferries are formed. Pontoons are the basic elements of the ferrybridge equipment of bridge trains. Floating docks on which cranes are mounted are also assembled with pontoons. They are used to hoist sunken vessels and to guide deep-draft ships along shallow channels. Pontoons were first used by the Dutch Army in the early 17th century. Other armies adopted them later. Modern pontoons may be made of metal (steel or light alloys), inflated rubberized materials, or reinforced concrete.