What did Christopher Cockerell invent?

What did Christopher Cockerell invent?

Hovercraft
Christopher Cockerell/Inventions

In 1955, British inventor and engineer Christopher Sydney Cockerell invented a swift water-transport vehicle that was not quite a boat, not quite a plane, but a hybrid of sorts: the hovercraft. Cockerell was born on June 4, 1910 in Cambridge, England.

Who innovated the hovercraft?

Christopher Cockerell
…was invented by English engineer Christopher Cockerell; it crossed the Channel for the first time on July 25, 1959. Ten years later Cockerell was knighted for his accomplishment. By that time the last and largest of the series, the SR.

Where was Christopher Cockerell from?

Cavendish Avenue
Christopher Cockerell/Place of birth

Who invented the hovercraft and why?

Christopher Cockerell
Known for Hovercraft
Awards Fellow of the Royal Society RDI Elmer A. Sperry Award Royal Medal (1966) Albert Medal (1966)
Scientific career
Fields Mechanical Engineering

Who built the first hovercraft?

Christopher Cockerell
William R. Bertelsen
Hovercraft/Inventors

What is a flying hovercraft?

You’re probably familiar with the concept of the hovercraft, an inflatable craft that glides over land and water on a cushion of air. The Flying Hovercraft can get up to 20 feet off the ground and hit a top speed around 70 mph thanks to an assist from a 130-hp twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled gas engine.

Are hovercrafts still used today?

The first practical design for hovercraft was derived from a British invention in the 1950s. They are now used throughout the world as specialised transports in disaster relief, coastguard, military and survey applications, as well as for sport or passenger service.

Why is it called hovercraft?

Although now a generic term for the type of craft, the name Hovercraft itself was a trademark owned by Saunders-Roe (later British Hovercraft Corporation (BHC), then Westland), hence other manufacturers’ use of alternative names to describe the vehicles.

What kind of hovercraft did Christopher Cockerell use?

In his life, the SR.N4 hovercraft GH2008 Sir Christopher was named after its inventor. It was operated by Hoverlloyd (later Hoverspeed) across the channel from 1972 to 1991. A plaque in Cockerell Rise, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, marks the location of White Cottage, where Cockerell lived and worked.

Who was the inventor of the hovercraft?

Christopher Cockerell. English engineer, inventor of the hovercraft. Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell CBE RDI FRS (4 June 1910 – 1 June 1999) was an English engineer, best known as the inventor of the hovercraft.

How did Christopher Cockerell come up with his inventions?

The firm made little money, and Cockerell began to think how the craft could be made to go faster. He was led to earlier work by the Thornycroft company, in which a small vessel had been partially raised out of the water by a small engine. Cockerell’s greatest invention, the hovercraft, grew out of this work.

Who are the brothers of Sir Christopher Cockerell?

Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell The Cockerells were a talented family. The sons of Sydney John Cockerell, a London coal merchant, and Alice neé Bennett, the daughter of a City Watchmaker, Sir Sydney’s elder brother, Theodore, was a biologist, his younger brother, Douglas,…