Hovercraft

Christopher Cockerell, UK, patent of 1955. A cushion of air proved with two tin cans.

Overview

Engineer Christopher Cockerell tested his idea by blowing air from a vacuum cleaner motor into one tin can set inside another and measuring the lift on kitchen scales. His 1955 patent described a peripheral jet that trapped a cushion of air under the craft. The project was briefly classified as a possible military secret before development went ahead, and the SR.N1 crossed the English Channel in 1959. Car-carrying hovercraft later ran across the Channel until 2000. Cockerell was knighted in 1969.