Air assisted landing craft
OwnerDonald E. Burginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Presented is an advanced non-amphibious landing craft that is partially supported by one or more artificially pressurized air cushions. In the preferred embodiment, the air cushions are bordered on each side by sidehulls, at the bow by a flexible seal, and at the stem by a fixed angled to horizontal air cushion aft seal member. The forward flexible seal element is attached to the underside of a bow ramp so that, during beaching and unloading of cargo such as vehicles, the forward flexible seal element simply folds underneath the moveable bow ramp as the ramp is lowered. Other features of the instant invention include built in fore and aft angled ramps and a moveable stern ramp. The aft angled ramp nests downward into the fixed air cushion aft seal.
Claims29
In an advanced marine landing craft having an artificially pressurized gas cushion disposed between an underside of a hull of said advanced marine landing craft and a water surface wherein said gas cushion, when it is pressurized with gas, supports a portion of a weight of the advanced marine landing craft, the improvement comprising:
- a moveable, in relation to the hull, gas cushion bow seal wherein said moveable gas cushion bow seal is in mechanical communication with a moveable, in relation to the hull, bow ramp and whereby said moveable gas cushion bow seal is disposed, at least in its majority, on an underside of said moveable bow ramp and is positioned between the moveable bow ramp and a ground surface when the moveable bow ramp is lowered during beaching of said advanced marine landing craft.
In an advanced marine landing craft having an artificially pressurized gas cushion disposed between an underside of a hull of said advanced marine landing craft and a water surface wherein said gas cushion, when it is pressurized with gas, supports a portion of a weight of the advanced marine landing craft, the improvement comprising:
- a gas cushion aft seal member that is, at least in its majority, a structural part of the hull, a downward angling from forward to aft structural stern ramp built into an upper portion of a deck of the hull, said downward angling stern ramp extends downward into a portion of the gas cushion aft seal member, and sidehulls disposed, at least in their majority, either side of said pressurized gas cushion.
In an advanced marine landing craft having an artificially pressurized gas cushion disposed between an underside of a hull of said advanced marine landing craft and a water surface wherein said gas cushion, when it is pressurized with gas, supports a portion of a weight of the advanced marine landing craft, the improvement comprising:
- a moveable, in relation to the hull, gas cushion bow seal wherein said moveable gas cushion bow seal is in mechanical communication with a moveable, in relation to the hull, bow ramp and whereby said moveable gas cushion bow seal is disposed, at least in its majority, on an underside of said moveable bow ramp and is positioned between the moveable bow ramp and a ground surface when the moveable bow ramp is lowered during beaching of said advanced marine landing craft, and sidehulls disposed, at least in their majority, either side of the pressurized gas cushion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.