Bathyscaphe(Under water vehicle)

navigable diving vessel developed by the Swiss educator and scientist Auguste Piccard (with assistance in later years from his son Jacques), designed to reach great depths in the ocean.

The first bathyscaphe, the FNRS 2, built in Belgium between 1946 and 1948, was damaged during 1948 trials in the Cape Verde Islands. Substantially rebuilt and greatly improved, the vessel was renamed FNRS 3 and carried out a series of descents under excellent conditions, including one of 4,000 m (13,000 feet) into the Atlantic off Dakar, Senegal, on Feb. 15, 1954. A second improved bathyscaphe, the Trieste, was launched on Aug. 1, 1953, and dived to 3,150 m (10,300 feet) in the same year. In 1958 the Trieste was acquired by the United States Navy, taken to California, and equipped with a new cabin designed to enable it to reach the seabed of the great oceanic trenches. Several successive descents were made into the Pacific by Jacques Piccard, and on Jan. 23, 1960, Piccard, accompanied by Lieutenant Don Walsh of the U.S. Navy, dived to a record 10,916 m (35,810 feet) in the Pacific's Mariana Trench.
The bathyscaphe consists of two main components: a steel cabin, heavier than water and resistant to sea pressure, to accommodate the observers; and a light container called a float, filled with gasoline, which, being lighter than water, provides the necessary lifting power. The cabin and float are closely linked. On the surface, one or more ballast tanks filled with air provide enough lift to keep the bathyscaphe afloat. When the ballast tank valves are opened, air escapes and is replaced by water, making the whole device heavy enough to start its descent. The gasoline is in direct contact with the sea water and so is compressed at a rate almost exactly in proportion to the prevailing depth. Thus, the bathyscaphe gradually loses buoyancy as it descends, and the speed of its descent tends to increase rapidly. To slow down or to begin the reascent, the pilot releases ballast that consists essentially of iron shot stored in silos and held in place by electromagnets.

Submarine

Introduction

any naval vessel that is capable of propelling itself beneath the water as well as on the water's surface. This is a unique capability among warships, and submarines are quite different in design and appearance from surface ships.

Submarines first became a major factor in naval warfare during World War I (1914–18), when Germany employed them to destroy surface merchant vessels. In such attacks submarines used their primary weapon, a self-propelled underwater missile known as a torpedo. Submarines played a similar role on a larger scale in World War II (1939–45), in both the Atlantic (by Germany) and the Pacific (by the United States). In the 1960s the nuclear-powered submarine, capable of remaining underwater for months at a time and of firing long-range nuclear missiles without surfacing, became an important strategic weapon platform. Armed with torpedoes as well as antiship and antisubmarine missiles, the nuclear attack submarine has also become a key element of naval warfare.
Following is a history of the development of submarines from the 17th century to the present. For a history of other warships, see naval ship. For the weaponry of modern attack and strategic submarines, see rocket and missile system.

 

Early hand-powered submersibles

The first serious discussion of a “submarine”—a craft designed to be navigated underwater—appeared in 1578 from the pen of William Bourne, a British mathematician and writer on naval subjects. Bourne proposed a completely enclosed boat that could be submerged and rowed underwater. It consisted of a wooden frame covered with waterproof leather; it was to be submerged by reducing its volume by contracting the sides through the use of hand vises. Bourne did not actually construct his boat, and Cornelis Drebbel (or Cornelius van Drebel), a Dutch inventor, is usually credited with building the first submarine. Between 1620 and 1624 he successfully maneuvered his craft at depths of from 12 to 15 feet (four to five metres) beneath the surface during repeated trials in the Thames River, in England. King James I is said to have gone aboard the craft for a short ride. Drebbel's submarine resembled that proposed by Bourne in that its outer hull consisted of greased leather over a wooden frame; oars extended through the sides and, sealed with tight-fitting leather flaps, provided a means of propulsion both on the surface and underwater. Drebbel's first craft was followed by two larger ones built on the same principle.
A number of submarine boats were conceived in the early years of the 18th century. By 1727 no fewer than 14 types had been patented in England alone. In 1747 an unidentified inventor proposed an ingenious method of submerging and returning to the surface: his submarine design had goatskin bags attached to the hull with each skin connected to an aperture in the bottom of the craft. He planned to submerge the vessel by filling the skins with water and to surface by forcing the water out of the skins with a “twisting rod.” This arrangement was a forerunner of the modern submarine ballast tank.

 

First use in war

 

• Bushnell's submarine torpedo boat, 1776. Drawing of a cutaway view made by Lieutenant Commander …

The submarine was first used as an offensive weapon in naval warfare during the American Revolution (1775–83). The Turtle, a one-man craft invented by David Bushnell, a student at Yale, was built of wood in the shape of a walnut standing on end (see photograph). Submerged, the craft was powered by propellers cranked by the operator. The plan was to have the Turtle make an underwater approach to a British warship, attach a charge of gunpowder to the ship's hull by a screw device operated from within the craft, and leave before the charge was exploded by a time fuse. In the actual attack, however, the Turtle was unable to force the screw through the copper sheathing on the warship's hull.Robert Fulton, famed U.S. inventor and artist, experimented with submarines several years before his steamboat Clermont steamed up the Hudson River. In 1800, while in France, Fulton built the submarine Nautilus under a grant from Napoleon Bonaparte. Completed in May 1801, this craft was made of copper sheets over iron ribs. A collapsing mast and sail were provided for surface propulsion, and a hand-turned propeller drove the boat when submerged. A precursor of a conning tower fitted with a glass-covered porthole permitted observation from within the craft. The Nautilus submerged by taking water into ballast tanks, and a horizontal “rudder”—a forerunner of the diving plane—helped keep the craft at the desired depth. The submarine contained enough air to keep four men alive and two candles burning for three hours underwater; later a tank of compressed air was added.
The Nautilus was intended to attach an explosive charge to the hull of an enemy ship in much the same manner as the Turtle. Fulton experimentally sank an old schooner moored at Brest but, setting out to destroy British warships, was unable to overtake those he sighted. France's interest in Fulton's submarine waned, and he left for England, offering his invention to his former enemy. In 1805 the Nautilus sank the brig Dorothy in a test, but the Royal Navy would not back his efforts. Fulton then came to the United States and succeeded in obtaining congressional backing for a more ambitious undersea craft. This new submarine was to carry 100 men and be powered by a steam engine. Fulton died before the craft was actually finished, however, and the submarine, named Mute, was left to rot, eventually sinking at its moorings.
During the War of 1812 between the United States and England, a copy of the Turtle was built, which attacked HMS Ramillies at anchor off New London, Conn. This time the craft's operator succeeded in boring a hole in the ship's copper sheathing, but the screw broke loose as the explosive was being attached to the ship's hull.

Coach

four-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage, popularly thought to have originated in Hungary in the 15th century. The word coach often is used interchangeably with “carriage,” but a coach is generally either a public carriage—such as a stagecoach, Concord coach, mail coach, or the modern railway coach—or an opulent carriage of state. A coach has a suspended, enclosed body, with a roof forming part of its framing, and two inside transverse seats facing one another, for carrying four or six passengers.

Various authorities date the introduction of the coach to England at 1555–80. In Germany coaches were numerous in the 16th century, and the Berlin coach, which was characterized by its two-perch running gear and thoroughbrace suspension, was introduced in about 1660. In Paris, in 1645, there were fiacre coaches or cabs for hire, although there had been private carriages in Paris as early as 1550. In 16th-century England, poets derogated coaches as ostentatious vehicles employed by wantons and rakes, and the Thames watermen (boatmen), whose living suffered, also complained bitterly of them.
In colonial America, the few coaches of the late 17th century were used primarily by governors and only in such places as Boston and New York City, which had roads. Bostonians later attacked coaches as works of the devil, thereby unwittingly echoing the edict of the German noble, Julius of Brunswick, who, in an edict of 1588, had forbidden his vassals to ride in coaches.

Snowmoblie

a one- or two-passenger motorized vehicle with one or two skis in front and an engine-driven single or double continuous track to propel it. Snowmobiles almost all follow the basic design of skis, fuel tank, engine, and seating for driver. They are steered by handlebars that control the skis and by shifting the position of the driver. Acceleration and braking are controlled by hand-squeeze throttle and brake controls on the handlebars.

In the 1920s a prototype snowmobile was a sled steered by skis and powered by an airplane propeller. Early vehicles, because of the weight of the engines available at that time, had to be large to spread the weight over the snow. In the early 1950s the advent of smaller, lighter weight engines enabled Joseph-Armand Bombardier, a Canadian, to develop a small snowmobile. In 1959 a commercially successful one- or two-passenger snowmobile was manufactured and marketed. The snowmobile soon became a popular recreational vehicle in North America.
The machines have gained wide acceptance and popularity among outdoorsmen for winter fishing or hunting purposes. Snowmobile safaris are made into previously inaccessible areas of national and state parks, although by the 1980s authorities sought to restrict such activity because of noise and harm to plant and animal wildlife. Racing snow machines became a popular winter sport in North America and Europe. By the mid-1970s professional racing was established. Speeds of more than 160 km/hr (100 mph) have been achieved.
While approximately 80 percent of annual snowmobile use is recreational in nature, the machines are also used for utilitarian purposes, such as winter rescue work, checking forest land, repairing power and telephone lines, and providing winter transportation for professional conservationists. Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Eskimos found them useful for work done previously by dogsled. Laplanders sometimes use the machines for herding reindeer. They have been tested for possible military use.
By 1999 there were more than four million snowmobilers in North America alone. Organized snowmobile clubs and associations in the United States and Canada have been instrumental in establishing a network of more than 230,000 miles of marked and groomed trails that traverse both public and privately held lands. Accidents and damage resulting from unskilled and reckless use of the machines, together with their effect of frightening game animals, has prompted many calls for increased governmental control of snowmobile operation.

 

Troika(Vehicle)

(Russian: “three”), any vehicle drawn by three horses abreast, usually a sleigh with runners but also a wheeled carriage. The three-horse team is also known as a unicorn team.

In Hungary and in Russia the troika, drawn by three horses and driven by an elegantly clad coachman, was once the ultimate status symbol. All three horses were lightly harnessed, with the leader, or middle one, between the shafts of the vehicle at a trot, while the two wheelers, or outside horses (pulling at slightly divergent angles in an array shaped like a fan), galloped—one furiously, the other coquettishly. Great care was taken in the harnessing of the animals to see that each performed at the desired gait. The nobility thus made great and colourful ceremonial displays.

Taxicab

chauffeur-driven automobile available for hire to carry passengers between any two points within a city or its suburbs for a fare determined by a meter or zone system or a flat rate. The taxicab is named after the taximeter, an instrument invented by Wilhelm Bruhn in 1891 that automatically recorded the distance traveled and/or the time consumed, thus enabling the fare to be accurately measured. The term cab derives from the cabriolet, a two-wheeled, one-horse carriage often let out for hire.

The development of modern taxicabs closely parallels that of automobiles. The first motorized taxicabs were electric-powered vehicles that began appearing on the streets of European and American cities in the late 1890s. Internal combustion-powered taxicabs equipped with taximeters first appeared around 1907 and have dominated taxi travel ever since. Most modern taxis are four-door passenger cars that are especially fitted for taxicab service and provided with modifications designed to withstand the more severe service requirements of taxi operation. Such modifications include reinforced auto-body frames, heavier springs and shock absorbers in the suspension system, and more reliable engine charging. In some cities, such as London, taxicab design must meet legally approved specifications.
Taxicab firms may be organized in any of three ways. They may have regular employees who drive cabs owned by the company; they may use lessees, or independent contractors, who lease cabs from a company and pay a regular fee for the use of the vehicle; or they may consist of owner-drivers, who drive vehicles which they themselves own.

 

Model T(automobile)

automobile built by the Ford Motor Company from 1908 until 1927. Conceived by Henry Ford as practical, affordable transportation for the common man, it quickly became prized for its low cost, durability, versatility, and ease of maintenance. More than 15 million Model Ts were built in Detroit and Highland Park, Mich. (The automobile was also assembled at a Ford plant in Manchester, Eng., and at plants in continental Europe.) Assembly-line production allowed the price of the touring car version to be lowered from $850 in 1908 to less than $300 in 1925. At such prices the Model T at times comprised as much as 40 percent of all cars sold in the United States. Even before it lost favour to larger, more powerful, and more luxurious cars, the Model T, known popularly as the “Tin Lizzie” or the “flivver,” had become an American folkloric symbol, essentially realizing Ford's goal to “democratize the automobile.”

 

 

• Mass production of the Ford Model T. By bringing parts to the assembly line on a conveyor …

The Model T was offered in several body styles, including a five-seat touring car, a two-seat runabout, and a seven-seat town car. All bodies were mounted on a uniform 100-inch-wheelbase chassis. A choice of colours was originally available, but from 1913 to 1925 the car was mass-produced in only one colour—black. The engine was simple and efficient, with all four cylinders cast in a single block and the cylinder head detachable for easy access and repair. The engine generated 20 horsepower and propelled the car to modest top speeds of 40–45 miles per hour (65–70 km/h). In most models the engine was started by a hand crank, which activated a magneto connected to the flywheel, but after 1920 some models were equipped with battery-powered starters. The transmission, consisting of two forward gears and one reverse, was of the planetary type, controlled by foot pedals rather than the more common hand lever used in sliding-gear transmissions. Spark and throttle were controlled by a hand lever on the steering column. The 10-gallon fuel tank was located under the front seat. Because gasoline was fed to the engine only by gravity, and also because the reverse gear offered more power than the forward gears, the Model T frequently had to be driven up a steep hill backward. Such deficiencies, along with its homely appearance, less-than-comfortable ride at top speeds, and incessant rattling, made the Model T the butt of much affectionate humour in innumerable jokes, songs, poems, and stories.