1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,319 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:16,079 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,799 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 4 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: tech are you? So y'all already know what this episode 5 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: is about, because it's right there in the title for 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: the episode. The title itself is a reference to a 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:34,560 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five Jackie Chan film called Rumble in the Bronx. 8 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: So in the climax of that film spoiler alert, there's 9 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,160 Speaker 1: a scene in which a hovercraft goes absolutely ape through 10 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: the city. It crashes into cars, it absolutely destroys Lamborghini, 11 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: and it interrupts a rock band that's playing outside on 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: the street. And it's at this point in the film 13 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: where the drummer of the rock band stops playing mid song, 14 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: stands up, points and yells hover aft, which is my 15 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: favorite part of the whole movie, even with all the 16 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 1: amazing fight sequences taken into account. And this is the 17 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: sort of stuff that inspires tech Stuff episodes, because that's 18 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: how my brain works now anyway, Yeah, Jackie Chan films 19 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: from the nineties really a source of inspiration. So I 20 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: thought it would be fun to do an episode tracing 21 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: the history of hovercraft and to talk a little bit 22 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,040 Speaker 1: about how they actually work. And I also think this 23 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: is the type of topic where you have one concept 24 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: in your head when you first hear about it, Like 25 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: when you first hear the word hovercraft, you might have 26 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: a vision in your head of what that might be, 27 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 1: and then ultimately you could be disappointed when you see 28 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,919 Speaker 1: it in the real world. That was my reaction anyway, 29 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: because as a kid, when I heard the word hovercraft, 30 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: I thought of some sort of semi magical vehicle that 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: could levitate above the ground, probably something closer to what 32 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: drones are, but without the rotors, right, Like there's some 33 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: unseen force that makes the thing floatt. So I was 34 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: kind of thinking of something similar to like the hover 35 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: boards that are featured in the documentary Back to the 36 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: Future too, But of course that's not how your typical 37 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: hovercraft works. Hovercraft, by the way, are also called air 38 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: cushion vehicles, and that air cushion gives a huge indication 39 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: of how these things work. And arguably my whole perception 40 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: or misperception of hovercraft isn't really fair. I mean, it's 41 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 1: not the hovercraft's fault that I had an overactive imagination 42 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: and unrealistic expectations. It is a fascinating invention, and it 43 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: traces its history really back to the nineteenth century, when 44 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: you had people sort of theorizing about it, but effectively 45 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: for talking about making something that actually works. It's more 46 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: like the middle of the last century. And I was 47 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: born in the last century, and saying that way hurts 48 00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: a little bit. But the inventor of the hovercraft, the 49 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,959 Speaker 1: person that we credit as the inventor, so so I 50 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: guess you could say sort of inventor of the hovercraft 51 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: was a gentleman by the name of Christopher Sidney Cockrell. 52 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: Now I say sort of because, as we will find 53 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,639 Speaker 1: out later in this episode, there was another person who 54 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: came up with the same concept a decade earlier, but 55 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: due to a technicality, this person had no ownership of 56 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: this idea. But we'll get back to why that happened. 57 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:32,119 Speaker 1: So Cockrell's parents were both distinguished members of English society. 58 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: His mother was Florence Kingsford cockerl. She was known for 59 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: her artistic talents in calligraphy, illumination, illustration, and costuming. When 60 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: I say illumination, I mean manuscript illumination, think of the 61 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: stuff that monks used to do back in the Middle Ages. 62 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: So way back in my college days, I focused my 63 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: studies in medieval literature and medieval history, and after looking 64 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,800 Speaker 1: at Florence's work, I'm really amazed at how her evokes 65 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: those ancient texts. Cockrell's father was Sir Sidney Cockrell, who 66 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: came from a coal mining family. Like it astonishes me. 67 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: He came from a family that worked coal mines, but 68 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: he found himself thrust into the social circles of influential 69 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: people who were in the artistic and literature worlds in England. 70 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: So Old sid served as a personal secretary to British 71 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: author and artist William Morris, and Sydney eventually became the 72 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, where he 73 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: had a bit of a reputation for having an incredibly 74 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: effective method to convince hoity toity rich people to hand 75 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: over some of their filthy lucre to support the museum. 76 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: So Christopher Cockrell came from, if not blue blood, at 77 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: least light blue blood Lemmelson Mit, which bills itself as 78 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:01,560 Speaker 1: the quote national leader in advancing in vention education in 79 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: The quote says that Sidney Cockroll wasn't entirely sold on 80 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:09,240 Speaker 1: the idea of his son going into engineering, but that's 81 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: exactly what young Christopher Cockroll wanted to do. And I 82 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: find this notion rather like a money python sketch, because 83 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: you have a man who comes from a coal mining family. 84 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: He's defied the odds, he's become a director of a 85 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: prestigious museum, and now he is concerned that his son 86 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: wants to be an engineer. In fact, there is a 87 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: money python sketch in which you have a family of 88 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: It sounds like lower class English folk who are authors, 89 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: who are a shame that their son wants to go 90 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: into being a coal miner, flipping the old narrative on 91 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: its head. So this is reminding me of that fictional sketch, 92 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: you know, very silly stuff. But yeah, he didn't want 93 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 1: Christopher to become an engineer. But whether he had reservations 94 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: or not, ultimately Sydney agreed to support his son's pursuit 95 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: of an education in engineering. In fact, according to the Guardian, 96 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: Sydney offered Christopher the princely sum of ten pounds for 97 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: every patent his boy would receive. This was back when 98 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: old Chris was still a teenager. Sidney would call an 99 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: end to that deal later on because it would get 100 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: pretty deep, deep, pretty expensive. Christopher attended Petterhouse College at 101 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: Cambridge University. In his obituary Cockrell passed away in nineteen 102 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: ninety nine, by the way, in his obituary in The Guardian, 103 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: Christopher Cockrell was said to have spent much of his 104 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 1: spare time in college quote taking motorcycles to pieces or 105 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: racing them end quote, and that this gave him the 106 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: experience of practical background in basic mechanics and engineering, which 107 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: is kind of cool, like the idea of learning by 108 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: doing something you're already interested in. So that was already 109 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: neat of course. Christopher by this point, by the time 110 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: he was going to university, had already expressed a deep 111 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: interest in engineering. Upon graduation, Christopher Cockerrell took a position 112 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: with the Radio Research Company. This was in nineteen thirty five, 113 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: so still relatively early in the days of radio. I 114 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: mean radio had been around for a while, but still 115 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: a fairly young science. And he joined the Marconi Wireless 116 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: Telegraph Company and worked in an R and D department 117 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: that largely focused on radar and he made numerous contributions 118 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: to radio and radar technology. Many of those contributions were 119 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: put to use by Allied forces during World War Two. Now, 120 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: Christopher Cockrell made a career change in nineteen fifty, so 121 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: the war hit was over. He continued to work in 122 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: radio for a few years, but in nineteen fifty his 123 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: father in law had left his wife a big sum 124 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: of money, and together Christopher and his wife decided that 125 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: they wanted to purchase a boat business in Norfolk, England, 126 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: and Cockroll devoted his attention to managing this boat business. 127 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: And it was to shift when I was reading up 128 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: on his life that this actually gave me a little 129 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: bit of whiplash, because here's someone who was instrumental in 130 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: advancing technology and radio and radar, and now he's switching 131 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: over to manage a boat business. But it was as 132 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: a manager of this boat company that led him to 133 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: start thinking about a solution to a really tricky problem 134 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: and ultimately would lead him to inventing the hovercraft. So 135 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: Cockrell got to thinking that there must be a way 136 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: for heavy watercraft to travel much faster across bodies of water, 137 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: and it would be possible if only you could get 138 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 1: the boat out of the water. If you could remove 139 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: it from contact with the water itself, if the craft 140 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: could somehow float above the surface of the water, then 141 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: that would eliminate all the friction that it otherwise would 142 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: encounter as it moves through the water, and it would 143 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,959 Speaker 1: be able to move much more quickly than it could otherwise. 144 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: But you just had to figure out a way to 145 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: minimize or eliminate contact with the water. And if you 146 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: could get it to lift up above the surface of 147 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: the water entirely, technically you actually would have an aircraft, 148 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: not water craft. But that was his starting point. He thought, 149 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,959 Speaker 1: how can I create a vessel that would minimize or 150 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: eliminate contact with the water so that it can move 151 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,559 Speaker 1: much more quickly and efficiently. So Cockrell imagined a craft 152 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: with a cushion of air underneath it. That cushion of 153 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:38,439 Speaker 1: air would provide a barrier between the vessel itself and 154 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: the water or land underneath. If you could blow out 155 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: enough air, it could skim right across the surface, whether 156 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: it's water, land, or some mixture like mud or swamp 157 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: or whatever, and it could potentially cut travel times significantly, 158 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: at least as far as water goes maybe not with land, 159 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: because as it turns out, if you're going across solid 160 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: land and you've got yourself a road and you have 161 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,319 Speaker 1: a wheeled vehicle, you can zip along that pretty darn fast, 162 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: and it would probably be difficult and very dangerous to 163 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,560 Speaker 1: operate a hovercraft at those speeds, because you've got to remember, 164 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:18,200 Speaker 1: hovercraft typically for propulsion's sake, is using wind power as well. Right, 165 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: you've got a fan that points backward and you're blowing 166 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: out airs and you know, obviously equal opposite reaction time. 167 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: That means you're moving forward as a result with a 168 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: proportional force, but that doesn't mean that you can easily 169 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: do things like stop, and that turning is more of 170 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: a gradual process as well. So moving at high speeds 171 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: across land where you could occasionally encounter obstacles probably not 172 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: the best idea. But anyway, in Cockrell's spare time, he 173 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: started to tinker to see if this idea he had 174 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: could be made practical. He wondered, first is it plausible 175 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,719 Speaker 1: and then is it practical? So early on, as a 176 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: store where he goes, he used some tubes from an 177 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: old vacuum cleaner as well as the vacuum cleaner's motor, 178 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,319 Speaker 1: and he used a pair of empty cans. The types 179 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: of cans, it depends on which version you read. Like 180 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: some say it was a couple of coffee cans. One 181 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: was slightly smaller than the other. One was like, no, 182 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: it's a coffee can, and then a cat food can. 183 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: Some call them tin cans, some call them aluminum cans. 184 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: I think what's important to know is he used a 185 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: pair of cans. One was larger than the other one. 186 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: He put the smaller one inside the larger one. He 187 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: blew air so that it would go underneath the smaller one, 188 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: which was turned face down I imagine, like open side down, 189 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: and the air would create an air cushion, and the 190 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: smaller one would end up hovering inside the larger one 191 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:49,199 Speaker 1: and just kind of bang around a little bit. So 192 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: he saw that this was possible. It could create lyft, 193 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 1: and that lift could be enough to counteract the weight 194 00:11:56,679 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: of the vessel, in this case the little small can. 195 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: So his concept had validity, and Cockrell got to work 196 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:08,199 Speaker 1: building on a prototype, an actual sort of small hovercraft 197 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:10,439 Speaker 1: that would be more substantial than just a pair of 198 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:13,200 Speaker 1: aluminum cans and some tubes. And it took him a 199 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,440 Speaker 1: while to build it, but by nineteen fifty five he 200 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: had a working prototype, and he then had to decide 201 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 1: what was he going to do with it. And he 202 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,960 Speaker 1: could have tried to create like a private business based 203 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: off this, but the story goes that instead he thought, 204 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: I'll show local officials, I'll see if I can get 205 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: some investment in this and turn it into something viable. 206 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: In that way, I'm not just sinking money into something 207 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: that may never pan out. So he arranges a demonstration 208 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:47,640 Speaker 1: for his hovercraft prototype with some local officials, and the 209 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 1: story goes that the local officials were astonished and more 210 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: than a little frightened as Cockrell's prototype skimmed around inside 211 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: an office that he had brought it into this office 212 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: of the the local officials. He had fired up the 213 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,679 Speaker 1: engine that would drive the fan. So you got to remember, 214 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: this is an internal combustion engine. It is burning fuel 215 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: and letting out fumes, and it's very loud, and it's 216 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: turning this fan, and the fan is making this hovercraft 217 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:19,680 Speaker 1: skim above the surface of the ground. And then there's 218 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: not really a way of steering the hovercraft at this point. 219 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: It's just showing a proof of concept. It's kind of 220 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: bumping around like a bumper car all over the office. 221 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: People are jumping up on chairs and desks and trying 222 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: to get out of the way. And meanwhile, like I said, 223 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:36,479 Speaker 1: it's noisy and it's smelly. It made a real impression 224 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: and it makes me think of that scene in Rumble 225 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:43,319 Speaker 1: in the Bronx where there's just a hovercraft gone wild. 226 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 1: So the officials weren't quite ready to devote funding to 227 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,840 Speaker 1: Cockrell's invention at this point. There was this general perception 228 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties that England was not really that 229 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: interested in investing in innovation. There was this perception that 230 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: England was kind of backward at this point. They were 231 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:02,560 Speaker 1: focused more on things like, well, we're doing it this 232 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,559 Speaker 1: way because that's how we've always done it. Whether that 233 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: was an accurate representation of what was going on in England, 234 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:12,480 Speaker 1: I can't say, but that was the perception. So consequently, 235 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 1: the nation was starting to feel like it was falling 236 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: behind some of the rest of the world. More than that, 237 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: the officials who saw this demonstration decided, rather than fund 238 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: Cockrell's idea, they would put it on a so called 239 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: secret list, which effectively meant they were classifying his invention. 240 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,440 Speaker 1: They were putting it under classified information, and Cockrell would 241 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 1: be legally prohibited from talking about it or finding some 242 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: other means to fund his work that that would be 243 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: against the law. Maybe he could find a way to 244 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 1: fund it if he could somehow convince people to give 245 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: him money without actually talking about the invention itself. But 246 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:58,479 Speaker 1: really it just meant that the officials were really hamstringing him. 247 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: Now we're going to take a quick break, and when 248 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: we come back, we'll talk about what happened next and 249 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: how Cockroll was able to get some progress despite this 250 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: initial setback. But first let's take a break to hear 251 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: from our sponsors. Okay, we're back. So before the break, 252 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: I talked about how Cockrell does this demonstration. Officials are 253 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: taken aback and they decide to classify Cockroll's invention, which 254 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: effectively makes it impossible for him to do any real 255 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: work on it. This is despite the fact that Cockrell 256 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: had demonstrated to them that his hovercraft could potentially solve 257 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: a lot of problems like not only could it glide 258 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: over water, it could go over land, it could go 259 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: over lots of icky stuff that other vehicles actually have 260 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: a lot of trouble with so marshes and muddy sections 261 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: and stuff. You know, if you had a boat, you 262 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to go through these because there's not 263 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: enough water to keep the boat floating right. The boat 264 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: would just get beached or mired. Same with vehicles that 265 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: are on treads or wheels, they would eventually get stuck 266 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: in really nasty muddy situations. But the hovercraft would float 267 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: above all this. It could get you through to places 268 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: that other vehicles couldn't unless you were using something like 269 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 1: say a helicopter or an airplane. So Cockrel was really 270 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: making a case for how this could be a really 271 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: useful vehicle for all sorts of different applications, and none 272 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 1: of that seemed to really matter to these officials. However, 273 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: he did receive a patent for his invention in nineteen 274 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: fifty six because he had filed for this patent before 275 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: the officials had put the hovercraft on the secret list, 276 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 1: so ironically, his invention was already public because patents are public, right, 277 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: that's one of the elements of patents. When you file 278 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: for a patent, your description of your invention is made public, 279 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 1: but in return, you receive government protection for your idea, 280 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:11,879 Speaker 1: at least for a certain amount of time. So this 281 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:13,760 Speaker 1: is why we call him the inventor of the hovercraft, 282 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: because Cockrell actually secured patents relating to his invention, although 283 00:17:19,320 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier in this episode, and we'll get 284 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:23,680 Speaker 1: back to it, there was someone else who had built 285 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: something similar a decade before Cockroll did. In nineteen fifty eight, 286 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: the UK government declassified his work and this gave Cockroll 287 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,920 Speaker 1: the chance to actually pursue funding. The UK's National Research 288 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: and Development Agency or NRDA, was really impressed with his 289 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,560 Speaker 1: invention and they commissioned a company called Saunder's Row to 290 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:50,360 Speaker 1: build a test hovercraft based on Cockrell's design. So Sunder's 291 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,920 Speaker 1: Row was already an established business. It specialized in building boats, 292 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: and they produced a vehicle that was called the SR 293 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: in one. SR standing for Saunder's Row, and it was 294 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,000 Speaker 1: really only big enough to hold its own crew. It 295 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 1: wasn't designed for passengers. But here's the thing. It did work, 296 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: and on July twenty fifth, nineteen fifty nine, Saunder's Road 297 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,919 Speaker 1: demonstrated its capabilities by having the SR in one cross 298 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:22,399 Speaker 1: the English Channel. The hovercraft left Dover in England and 299 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: landed in Calais in France. Ou La Lain. Cockrell himself 300 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: was aboard of the hovercraft for this demonstration. According to 301 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: The Guardian, he served as ballast very dignified. This demonstration 302 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: convinced UK authorities to invest more heavily into the hovercraft technology, 303 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: and the NRDA created a company called Hovercraft Development Limited 304 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: with the purpose of creating hovercraft for commercial purposes such 305 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: as ferrying cargo and passengers across various rivers and channels 306 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: like the English Channel. The organization oversaw the work of 307 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: five different companies that were all dedicated to this purpose, 308 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: so there was five different boating companies that all began 309 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:08,399 Speaker 1: building hovercraft vehicles. Christopher Cockrell landed a gig as the 310 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:12,159 Speaker 1: director for Hovercraft Development Limited, and he was also the 311 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,480 Speaker 1: technical advisor to the company and he stayed on in 312 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: that capacity until nineteen sixty six. Also in recognition of 313 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: his contributions, he would ultimately receive a knighthood in nineteen 314 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: sixty nine, just like his dear old dad. So you 315 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: had Sir Sidney and now you had Sir Christopher. The 316 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:32,760 Speaker 1: first of the passenger hovercraft was the Vickers VA three, 317 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: which was an experimental vehicle it wasn't meant to be 318 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,359 Speaker 1: built for full commercial use. It was more like, again 319 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:43,120 Speaker 1: a proof of concept. It launched in nineteen sixty two. 320 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: British United Airways ran the service because again hovercraft were 321 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 1: thought of as an aircraft not a boat, right, because 322 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,199 Speaker 1: these fans would end up creating this air cushion that 323 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 1: made the vehicle hover, sometimes several feet above the surface 324 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,679 Speaker 1: that it traveled across. So as such it was more 325 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: of an aircraft than a watercraft. So the initial route 326 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:11,919 Speaker 1: passed over an estuary between Liverpool and North Wales. The 327 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,119 Speaker 1: hovercraft would hold up to twenty four passengers per trip, 328 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: and it was intended to take twelve trips per day. 329 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: And like I said, this was kind of an experiment. 330 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,159 Speaker 1: It was a pilot program. And originally the concept was 331 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 1: that it would go for fifty nine days and then 332 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: they would evaluate does this make sense, like can we 333 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 1: turn this into a reasonable and viable transportation option. But 334 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:38,640 Speaker 1: while it was meant to go for fifty nine days, 335 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,199 Speaker 1: it only made it to thirty six. The reason for 336 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:46,399 Speaker 1: that was not entirely the fault of the actual vehicle, 337 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: although there were some engine problems that turned out to 338 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:53,159 Speaker 1: be a bit of an issue, and in fact that 339 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: would become a thing for a lot of hovercraft. It's 340 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: not that the design was bad, it's that sometimes the 341 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,960 Speaker 1: equipment that was being used wasn't the most reliable. The 342 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:04,359 Speaker 1: other issue was that there was a lot of bad 343 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 1: weather during that stretch. Now I think that you should 344 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,960 Speaker 1: just anticipate that, because as far as I'm concerned, bad 345 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,640 Speaker 1: weather is kind of a constitutional requirement in the UK, 346 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 1: at least every time I've been there. So anyway, because 347 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: of this combination of issues, the experiment was cut short. 348 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: The VA three would retire as a passenger vehicle, but 349 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: the British government would continue to use the VA three 350 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: vessel to conduct some other kinds of tests, including a 351 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 1: very extreme one. Namely, the test they wanted to really 352 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: check out was could a hovercraft pass safely over a 353 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,360 Speaker 1: zone in the sea that happened to be occupied by 354 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: marine mines? Right? Like? These are those mines you see? 355 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 1: You know, typically I almost only see them in things 356 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: like cartoons, where it's the giant globe with lots of 357 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: little pressure sensors on it that are connected by chains 358 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,879 Speaker 1: and anchor to the seafloor. And the ideas that a 359 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: boat which will pierce the surface of the water. If 360 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: it were to make contact with these would cause it 361 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: to explode. Well, the thought was, well, hovercraft, they don't 362 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: pierce the surface of the water, they hover above it. 363 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: So is it possible that a hovercraft could safely glide 364 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: over an area that is filled with marine mines and 365 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 1: not trip them? And they tested it and the VA 366 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,359 Speaker 1: three done blowed up real good, which answered that question 367 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 1: rather definitively. Passenger hovercraft would tackle the English Channels starting 368 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,360 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six, with one of the most famous 369 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: being a class of hovercraft called the SRN four. Again 370 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,120 Speaker 1: back to the Saunders Row and this was also known 371 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,400 Speaker 1: as the mount Batten class of hovercraft, and the very 372 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: first one that made the trip across the English Channel 373 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: was called Princess Margaret. This was in nineteen sixty eight. 374 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,440 Speaker 1: These vessels could make the trip between England and France 375 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: in about half an hour. Typically we're talking like Dover 376 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,879 Speaker 1: to Calais, but sometimes a different port in France. But 377 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,719 Speaker 1: the interesting thing is if you contrast this with the 378 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: traditional ferries that were making this trip between England and France, 379 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,479 Speaker 1: that journey would typically take an hour and a half. 380 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: So three times as long. So the fairies had some advantages, right, 381 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,120 Speaker 1: You could build a ferry large enough to carry much 382 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: more cargo and many more passengers than your typical hovercraft could. 383 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: You know, hovercraft was usually carrying around two dozen people, 384 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,160 Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more, and maybe like as many 385 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: as twenty cars initially. With these larger hovercraft and fairies 386 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: could carry much more than that. However, hovercraft could make 387 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:50,159 Speaker 1: three trips in the same amount of time that the 388 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,640 Speaker 1: ferry took to do one, so there was a way 389 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:55,680 Speaker 1: of you know, kind of figuring that out and balancing 390 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,280 Speaker 1: it between the two. For a while, hovercraft would factor 391 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: into Britain's transportation infrastructure. In fact, some would call hovercraft 392 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: a quintessentially British form of transportation because there were lots 393 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,920 Speaker 1: of places around Britain where you could grab a hovercraft 394 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:16,719 Speaker 1: to go from one port city to another, whether it 395 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,359 Speaker 1: was to cross a river or an estuary or a 396 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: channel or whatever it might be. But as I mentioned earlier, 397 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: there's some slight dispute as to whether we should even 398 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,119 Speaker 1: call Cockrell the father of hovercraft in the first place, 399 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: and that maybe thinking of hovercraft as a really British 400 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,680 Speaker 1: type of technology is misleading because, as it turns out, 401 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: a Yank came up with a very similar methodology a 402 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: decade earlier. And again, the actual theory for hovercraft predated 403 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 1: both of these guys by decades, like almost a century, 404 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,920 Speaker 1: so let's keep that in mind. But the Yank was 405 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 1: a guy named Charles Joseph Fletcher who was born in 406 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two in New jer the United States. So 407 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,879 Speaker 1: Cockrell was born in nineteen ten. Fletcher was born in 408 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two, so he's twelve years younger than Cockrell. 409 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 1: During World War Two he served as an officer in 410 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: the US Navy, and while doing so, sometime around that 411 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: same time period. The details, to me are are a 412 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: little bit hazy because a lot of the sources just 413 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: don't have things like specific dates, But sometime around then, 414 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: he sketched out a design for a vessel that would 415 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 1: use a cushion of air to glide. You know, you 416 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: could almost say hover above the surface below, whether that 417 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: was land or sea, which sounds pretty familiar right now. 418 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 1: He called his invention a glide mobile, so he had 419 00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: hovercraft and glidemobiles. So the story goes that Fletcher actually 420 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: built a prototype of his design and tested it in 421 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,199 Speaker 1: New Jersey and showed it off to the Navy, and 422 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: the War Department said, say that can be useful and 423 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: then swooped in to take charge. So the War Department 424 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: classified the project, similar to what happened to Cockrell when 425 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: he showed it off to those local officials over in 426 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: the UK. By making it a classified project, it prevented 427 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 1: Fletcher from being able to seek a patent for it. 428 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,120 Speaker 1: He did not file a patent before showing it off, 429 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: so the Glidemobile didn't really go much further as a result, 430 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,280 Speaker 1: because it just became the property of the War Department, 431 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: and the War Department apparently didn't do very much with it. However, 432 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: eventually some British companies were making a patent claim against 433 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: the glidemobile design. This is after World War Two, it's 434 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: in the nineteen fifties, and the hovercraft companies are saying, hey, 435 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: you are infringing upon a patented technology. And then Fletcher 436 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 1: was able to defend the position of the glidemobile by 437 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:51,359 Speaker 1: pointing out that no his designs predated Cockrell's patent and 438 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,160 Speaker 1: that it served as sort of prior art and meant 439 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: that they weren't infringing upon a patent because they were 440 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,880 Speaker 1: building upon a design that actually pre dated the patent. 441 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: Presumably Fletcher was able to prove this concept predated Cockrell's 442 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: patent and he was able to move forward. I don't 443 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: know for sure, because again the details are pretty scarce. 444 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: But anyway, you didn't see hovercraft become a favored form 445 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: of transportation here in the United States, whereas again in 446 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: the UK, particularly in like the sixties and seventies, it 447 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 1: really was like it became a kind of common form 448 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: of transportation for folks who were trying to get across 449 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 1: bodies of water quickly. Now, even though they were really 450 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: famous in those days, there's only one commercial hovercraft service 451 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 1: that is still in business today in the world, and 452 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:45,800 Speaker 1: it happens to be in the UK. It's a route 453 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: that goes between the city of Ride, which is on 454 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 1: the Isle of Wight, and south Sea in Portsmouth. So 455 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 1: you might wonder what the heck happened? Why did this 456 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:04,959 Speaker 1: form of transportation, which was fairly enthusiastically embraced in the sixties, 457 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,880 Speaker 1: why did it peter out by the time you get 458 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: to modern day, to the point where now there's only 459 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:16,440 Speaker 1: one commercial route still in business. Well, I'll tell you, 460 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,399 Speaker 1: but before I do, we're gonna take another quick break 461 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsors. Before the break, I mentioned that, 462 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: you know, for a while, hovercraft were enjoying a moment 463 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: in the spotlight, but then a few decades later they 464 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: have all but disappeared, at least as far as commercial 465 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: travel goes. I don't want to say that there are 466 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: no hovercraft anymore. There certainly are, and in fact, there 467 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,360 Speaker 1: are a lot of hovercraft that are meant for very 468 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:56,120 Speaker 1: specific purposes. It's just you don't see them as cargo 469 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,200 Speaker 1: and passenger travel solutions these days, not that much anyway. 470 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: And there are a few reasons for this. And it 471 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: is kind of crazy because even if you go back 472 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: to like the nineteen seventies, there's a James Bond movie 473 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: in which there's a big hovercraft sequence. And again there's 474 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: the bit in the ninety five movie Rumble in the 475 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: Bronx where there's a big hovercraft sequence. But there are 476 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: reasons why it's no longer a reliable and widespread travel solution. 477 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 1: One is that hovercraft, especially older hovercraft, are really really noisy. 478 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,800 Speaker 1: I mean they make a huge amount of noise. They 479 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:40,160 Speaker 1: use these massive engines to turn the fans. The mount 480 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: Batten class that I mentioned earlier used these enormous turbo 481 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 1: gas engines that were made by Rolls Royce, and these 482 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: engines make a whole lot of noise. They also generate 483 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,640 Speaker 1: a lot of exhaust, but they're very, very loud. The 484 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: fans also generate a good deal of noise as well. 485 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: So if you were a company and you're proposing building 486 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 1: out a hovercraft to run a route between two particular cities, 487 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 1: chances are you're going to have residents of those cities say, 488 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: come on, we don't want that. We do not want 489 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: to have this kind of noise pollution in our communities. 490 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: Most folks aren't keen to have their days punctuated with 491 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: extremely loud traffic from all sorts of places. And as 492 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: someone who lives right across from a freight train line, 493 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: I can understand this is not thrilling to hear that 494 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:37,920 Speaker 1: freight train go by. So that made expansion a little tricky, right. 495 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: It's a lot of not in my backyardism, but understandable 496 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: because that noise pollution is serious stuff. But another issue 497 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: is that while hovercraft can have a big advantage in 498 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,479 Speaker 1: that you don't have to use a peer or anything 499 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 1: like that. Like, you don't need a peer or a 500 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: dock in order to secure the craft. You can just 501 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,720 Speaker 1: drive the hovercraft from the water up to the land 502 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: as long as the land is relatively clear. You still 503 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: need a space where the hovercraft can go, right, you 504 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 1: can't just plow through like woods or whatever. You can't 505 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: go wreaking havoc through a marina. You need to have 506 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: a dedicated space where the hovercraft can beach itself, like 507 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: can go up onto the land and then descend so 508 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: that people can get off the vehicle. So you do 509 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 1: need to have some physical space available for the hovercraft, 510 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: and not every place had that as an option. Then 511 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:39,520 Speaker 1: there's the issue of maintenance and repair. Hovercraft need these 512 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 1: really big engines to work. Like if you're looking in 513 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: the grand scheme of things the fans used in hovercraft, 514 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,800 Speaker 1: they don't need to generate the same amount of lift 515 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,080 Speaker 1: that a helicopter would, right, they don't have to work 516 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,960 Speaker 1: as hard as the rotors of a helicopter, but they 517 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 1: still have to work. And these really really big hovercraft, 518 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 1: while they can be very efficient, still need a great 519 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,920 Speaker 1: deal of power in order to generate that lift. So 520 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,680 Speaker 1: you need these really large engines. If those engines are 521 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: in disrepair, then you're not going to go anywhere. And 522 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: as I've already said, like some of the engines that 523 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,920 Speaker 1: were used in hovercraft, especially in the early days, weren't 524 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: terribly reliable, and that meant that hovercraft could be down 525 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,239 Speaker 1: just as frequently as they could be in operation, and 526 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,280 Speaker 1: this gets expensive to do maintenance and repair all the time. 527 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:30,520 Speaker 1: There's also the matter of fuel. Those engines require a 528 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:34,160 Speaker 1: lot of fuel in order to operate, and fuel is expensive. 529 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: And remember, in the nineteen seventies, the world went through 530 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: an oil crisis and fuel prices skyrocketed in the nineteen seventies. 531 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:49,000 Speaker 1: This was due to a political crisis in the Middle 532 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: East that spawned from some military conflicts in the Middle East. 533 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:57,960 Speaker 1: So this was not a natural oil crisis, it was 534 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,080 Speaker 1: a man made one. But it's still meant that fuel 535 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:03,960 Speaker 1: prices around the world, especially in the UK and the 536 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:08,480 Speaker 1: United States and in Japan, went crazy high, and so 537 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: operating a transportation system that was fuel hungry was kind 538 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: of a losing proposition as far as money goes. So 539 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: eventually it just got to a point where the return 540 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,560 Speaker 1: on investment wasn't really that good. It became too expensive 541 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 1: to operate a hovercraft service. Most hovercraft are fairly modest 542 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:32,480 Speaker 1: in size. They might carry a couple of dozen passengers 543 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,720 Speaker 1: at a time, maybe a few cars. The Mount Batten 544 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 1: class was different by the time we get to its 545 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: later refittings because of the Saunders Row would end up 546 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: upgrading this class of hovercraft over and over again. By 547 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: the end of it, they could carry more than four 548 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: hundred passengers and around sixty cars at a time, which 549 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 1: is pretty impressive, but I imagined that the profit margins were 550 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: still fairly thin when you look at how expensive it 551 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:05,880 Speaker 1: was to keep the vehicles in operation versus how much 552 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,800 Speaker 1: you can make in ticket sales to customers. Because eventually 553 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:10,760 Speaker 1: you're going to get to a point where a customer 554 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: is going to say, I'm not willing to spend that 555 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 1: much money just to save an hour's worth of time 556 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:21,760 Speaker 1: while I'm crossing the English Channel, for example, Like I'll 557 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 1: spend less money and it'll take me an hour and 558 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: a half to get there, rather than spend five times 559 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:28,879 Speaker 1: as much in order to get there in half an hour. 560 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,239 Speaker 1: So it just meant that there really became fewer and 561 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:37,359 Speaker 1: fewer financial reasons to keep a hovercraft operation going. So 562 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 1: by the year two thousand, most hovercraft services commercial ones 563 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: had shut down, and as I said, the only one 564 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,839 Speaker 1: that remains now goes between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth. 565 00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: Occasionally you will see hovercraft of various sizes doing other 566 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: types of jobs. There are some military hovercraft, there are 567 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,719 Speaker 1: some other ones that are used for you know, recreation purposes, 568 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:04,720 Speaker 1: but when it comes to commercial transportation, it's really mostly 569 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 1: a thing of the past. Now that we've covered the 570 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,759 Speaker 1: history of the craft, let's talk about what's actually making 571 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:14,960 Speaker 1: them hover because it's just a tiny bit more complicated 572 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,520 Speaker 1: than fan points down and air pushes hovercraft up, but 573 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: only a tiny bit more complicated than that. Ultimately, that 574 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,240 Speaker 1: is what is making the hovercraft work. So you could 575 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: just walk away with fan points down. It pushes air down, 576 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:35,080 Speaker 1: hovercraft goes up because equal and opposite reaction and whatnot. 577 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:40,839 Speaker 1: So the original hovercraft design used two layers of a 578 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: shell or hull. Think of it like a channel, like 579 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:47,359 Speaker 1: it was a channel through which air could flow, and 580 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,759 Speaker 1: the underneath the hovercraft is a hollow section that would 581 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:54,759 Speaker 1: be called a plenum. In fact, the original version of 582 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:58,839 Speaker 1: a hovercraft that little ten can version. You could think 583 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: of that as a plenum based hovercraft, where you're just 584 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:05,520 Speaker 1: pumping air through the plenum. That's enough to generate lift, 585 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 1: but only generates a little left. You aren't able to 586 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:13,400 Speaker 1: get very much height using that. So this other version, 587 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 1: the one that Cockroll had designed, used this channel of 588 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:22,600 Speaker 1: air that would direct air to flow down along the 589 00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:27,720 Speaker 1: periphery of the hovercraft's bottom, So you have a vertically 590 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:31,239 Speaker 1: oriented fan it's blowing air downward. That air flows through 591 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:35,080 Speaker 1: this channel, which then is directed toward the outer section 592 00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:39,399 Speaker 1: of the hovercraft. It creates a ring of air. That 593 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:45,400 Speaker 1: air is effectively flowing inward toward the inside of the hovercraft, 594 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 1: that plenum, that hollows section underneath the hovercraft, and that 595 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 1: ring of air also serves as a kind of curtain 596 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:56,160 Speaker 1: or barrier, so it's not allowing air to escape out 597 00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: the sides of the hovercraft, or at least not a 598 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: lot there escaping out the sides of the hovercraft. And 599 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:06,080 Speaker 1: this creates the lift. It allows the hovercraft to levitate up, 600 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,479 Speaker 1: not levitate, but to hover up, and you can get 601 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 1: a hover of around several inches up to a couple 602 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,480 Speaker 1: of feet, but you couldn't get much higher than that. However, 603 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:22,080 Speaker 1: later on, engineers developed a flexible skirt for hovercraft. So 604 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:27,120 Speaker 1: imagine that you have this flexible material, typically made out 605 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: of rubber, that goes around the periphery of the hovercraft. 606 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:33,840 Speaker 1: So it's got a little skirt that goes all the 607 00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 1: way around. When you're directing air downward, perhaps in the 608 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 1: same style as you were before, which was actually called 609 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,960 Speaker 1: a peripheral jet approach, maybe you're using a combination of 610 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,600 Speaker 1: the skirt and a peripheral jet. Then it keeps the 611 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 1: air in more effectively than just the peripheral jet by itself. 612 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,720 Speaker 1: The rubber contains the air there. It creates this air cushion, 613 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:02,400 Speaker 1: and theft actually get much more height this way. You 614 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: can get maybe up to like six or seven feet 615 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,920 Speaker 1: of height using this. So the skirt makes it look 616 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,960 Speaker 1: like the hovercraft is still keeping contact with the ground, 617 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:14,400 Speaker 1: but the actual bottom of the hovercraft itself is several 618 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:20,279 Speaker 1: feet above that, and this is how hovercraft typically work. 619 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,440 Speaker 1: A secondary fan is usually used to provide propulsion. I 620 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 1: mentioned this earlier. You got a fan that points like 621 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,160 Speaker 1: backward from the hovercraft, and when you turn that on, 622 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,279 Speaker 1: it's shooting air. Out the back, and then you get 623 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,440 Speaker 1: the equal but opposite reaction. The hovercraft will move forward. 624 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: You usually have a rudder or some other method to 625 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:44,879 Speaker 1: redirect that fan so that you can make turns. Those 626 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,319 Speaker 1: turns can be pretty gradual, and you still have momentum. 627 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,359 Speaker 1: You know, you have the loft conservation of motion. You're 628 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:56,240 Speaker 1: still moving. So that's why it's difficult to pilot these things. 629 00:38:56,640 --> 00:39:00,280 Speaker 1: It's challenging. You can't just slam on brakes with a hovercraftft. 630 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,400 Speaker 1: You can stop the fan and you will come to 631 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:08,800 Speaker 1: a stop gradually, but you can't just slam the brakes, 632 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:12,920 Speaker 1: so tight turns and sharp stops are not really possible, 633 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:15,920 Speaker 1: which is why hovercraft are typically a little easier to 634 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:17,799 Speaker 1: operate on the water than they are on the land. 635 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:20,080 Speaker 1: If you come up to an obstacle on land, you 636 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 1: might be bumping into something. One thing that Cockrell figured 637 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,640 Speaker 1: out was that, perhaps counterintuitively, the larger the hovercraft was, 638 00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 1: or more precisely, the larger the area of the air 639 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:34,560 Speaker 1: cushion or cushions that provide the lift, the more efficient 640 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 1: the hovercraft became. Here's how he put it in his patent, 641 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 1: and it does get technical. So here we go quote. 642 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,440 Speaker 1: In such vehicles, the lift or load carrying capacity is 643 00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:49,600 Speaker 1: proportional to the plan area of the gas cushion or cushions. 644 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:53,400 Speaker 1: The energy required to contain the cushion or cushions is 645 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:58,680 Speaker 1: proportional to the peripheral dimension of the cushion or cushions. Thus, 646 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,040 Speaker 1: for an increase in size of a vehicle, the lift 647 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:05,880 Speaker 1: increases proportionally to the area of the cushion or cushions, 648 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:11,560 Speaker 1: whilst the energy requirements increase linearly with the periphery of 649 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:15,640 Speaker 1: the cushion or cushions. So, in other words, the larger 650 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 1: the hovercraft is, or the larger the surface area of 651 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:22,000 Speaker 1: the air cushion is, the easier it is to achieve 652 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:26,520 Speaker 1: greater lift with only a smaller increase in actual power. 653 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:30,799 Speaker 1: So you're getting greater returns for just a smaller investment 654 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:34,400 Speaker 1: in power, and thus it's more efficient to build larger 655 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:38,760 Speaker 1: hovercraft than it is to build smaller hovercraft. I guess 656 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:44,440 Speaker 1: you could still just say that pointing a fan downward 657 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:47,040 Speaker 1: provides the lift needed to hover the vehicle, and you 658 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:48,560 Speaker 1: could just leave it at that, but you do need 659 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:52,160 Speaker 1: some other design elements to make the vehicle stable and useful, 660 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:54,920 Speaker 1: Like I said, hovercraft are still a thing, They're just 661 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:58,959 Speaker 1: not typically used for commercial transportation. They are not commonplace, 662 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:02,319 Speaker 1: but similar technologlogies related to hovercraft have found their way 663 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:06,040 Speaker 1: into designs since then. You might know that the original 664 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:10,760 Speaker 1: concept for the hyperloop train system included a train running 665 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 1: through a tube where you had pumped out most of 666 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 1: the air, and the train would hover above the floor 667 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:21,160 Speaker 1: of that tube through the use of air ball bearings. 668 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:23,440 Speaker 1: So Elon Musk described it as sort of like an 669 00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:27,160 Speaker 1: air hockey table, only facing downward instead of facing upward. 670 00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:31,040 Speaker 1: That's not that different from a hovercraft, or a glidemobile, 671 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:33,680 Speaker 1: or an air cushioned vehicle, however you want to call it. 672 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:36,879 Speaker 1: The methodology described in the hyperloop concept is a bit 673 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,239 Speaker 1: different from what you'd see in a hovercraft, but the 674 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,680 Speaker 1: gist is similar. As it would turn out, the various 675 00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:45,760 Speaker 1: companies that sprung up in the wake of Musk's proposal would, 676 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:51,240 Speaker 1: by turns, choose a different approach. Some went with magnetic levitation, 677 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,040 Speaker 1: some would dispense with the idea of suspending the train 678 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:58,360 Speaker 1: above the track entirely and thus embrace a more traditional 679 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:01,600 Speaker 1: train design. But initially the hyperloop was meant to have 680 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:05,160 Speaker 1: an air cushion under it. Of course, you could argue 681 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:08,279 Speaker 1: that these days the hyperloop concept has been all but 682 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:11,319 Speaker 1: abandoned because several of the companies that pursued the goal 683 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,840 Speaker 1: of making it a reality have since gone out of business. 684 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,759 Speaker 1: You can, of course, build your own hovercraft. There are 685 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 1: websites describing how to make a sample hovercraft using like 686 00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:25,200 Speaker 1: a balloon and an old CD or a DVD. I 687 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:27,919 Speaker 1: would suggest use one you don't plan on ever playing again. 688 00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:32,799 Speaker 1: Maybe maybe a kid rock album would be suitable. There 689 00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:36,120 Speaker 1: are also kits to build an actual hovercraft. You know, 690 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:38,399 Speaker 1: you can kind of build a sort of personal pan 691 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:43,879 Speaker 1: pizza sized vehicle. I've seen diy hovercraft on YouTube of 692 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 1: varying degrees of safety and reliability, and there are lots 693 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 1: of ones for things like radio controlled hovercraft. Right. There 694 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,719 Speaker 1: are a lot of toy versions of hovercraft that work 695 00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,080 Speaker 1: on the same principle, but they're obviously at a much 696 00:42:57,080 --> 00:43:00,480 Speaker 1: smaller scale, and that way you can learn how challenging 697 00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 1: it is to direct a vehicle that works on momentum 698 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,920 Speaker 1: and has a lack of breaks. It can really be 699 00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,120 Speaker 1: easy to get moving in a particular direction and a 700 00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:12,880 Speaker 1: real challenge to you know, stop doing that. But that's 701 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:16,480 Speaker 1: our look at hovercraft, a technology that I think is 702 00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,560 Speaker 1: pretty interesting, pretty cool. I have never written on one. 703 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,799 Speaker 1: I've never been on a hovercraft. I kind of wish 704 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,160 Speaker 1: that I had had that experience. Maybe one day I'll 705 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:27,840 Speaker 1: make a trip out to the Isle of Wight simply 706 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,080 Speaker 1: so that I could say I wrote on a hovercraft, 707 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:34,160 Speaker 1: which means that I'll be walking around Isle of Wight 708 00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:38,040 Speaker 1: and probably lamenting how many places have closed down. I've 709 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,799 Speaker 1: watched some videos recently of that area of Isle of 710 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:45,160 Speaker 1: Wight and it was looking a little grim, although I 711 00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:47,640 Speaker 1: should say that was also in the off season, so 712 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,160 Speaker 1: maybe that's it, you know, Maybe it's just that, Oh, 713 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:53,520 Speaker 1: these are things that are usually working in the more 714 00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:56,359 Speaker 1: popular seasons. It's just in the off season they shut 715 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:59,000 Speaker 1: down because there's no sense in running it. Then maybe 716 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,680 Speaker 1: that's the case, I hope. So, but that is our 717 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,520 Speaker 1: look at hovercraft. I hope you enjoyed this episode. You 718 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:09,280 Speaker 1: learned a bit about Sir Christopher Cockrell and his mission 719 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:13,399 Speaker 1: to create a new form of transportation and to get 720 00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:19,680 Speaker 1: past that irritating problem of friction that voting stuff encounters. 721 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:25,160 Speaker 1: Although Cockroll encountered more than a little friction just you know, 722 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:28,080 Speaker 1: in the political side, as opposed to as opposed to 723 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:32,400 Speaker 1: physical friction that you would encounter in the water. I 724 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: hope you are all well. Thank you so much for listening, 725 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:45,200 Speaker 1: and I will talk to you again really soon. Tech 726 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:49,640 Speaker 1: Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 727 00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:53,680 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 728 00:44:53,719 --> 00:44:58,560 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.