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Honey bee publish details |
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CHINA & INDIA |
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Common to Uncommon |
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| Title |
Let no Water Come in the Way: Traveling the Amphibian Way |
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| Abstract |
Common problem of navigating the waters oneself has been faced by people for long time. The solution to this problem some times very familiar though, has been attempted by people thousands of miles away from each other. The universal spirit of innovations around a common problems will be featured in this column fom time to time. Ed. |
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Bored of driving on the road, perhaps you can take a plunge and steer your boat-car. Amphibious vehicles, those which can be used on both land and water, have been in existence for many decades now. In India too, fired sometimes by necessity while at other times, imagination, the grassroots innovators, have innovated amphibious vehicles. The earliest record available in the Honey Bee Network’s database is Waland- the amphibious cycle rickshaw developed by Nitai Das Gupta from Murshidabad, West Bengal in 1954. This boat shaped rickshaw, which can accommodate four people is motor driven. The steering is in the form of a handle attached to the front wheel. The speed in water and on land is estimated to be 8 km/hr and 30 km/hr respectively.
Dwarka Prasad Chaurasiya, a septuagenarian from Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh came up with his amphibious bicycle in mid seventies. He demonstrated his prowess by bicycling in sea from Nariman point to Chaupati more than two decades ago. He expanded his innovative ideas by making water walking shoes from thermocol that provide sufficient buoyancy and maneuverability to enable a person to ‘walk’ on water. At almost the same time, few hundred kilometers away in Motihari, Bihar, during the floods, Mohammad Saidullah invented a cycle – Noor amphibious cycle, that could run on water. It is basically a conventional bicycle to which four rectangular air floats are attached. The floats support the bicycle when moving in water and are folded and attached to the bicycle when used on land. Saidullah has also built an amphibious rickshaw, which he uses to take his grandchildren for joy rides in a nearby lake. We also have information about Chotu Ustaad from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh who has made another variant of the amphibious cycle using inflatable tyre tubes. A similar entry was received during IGNITE 2007- the national contest for students’ ideas and innovations from V Mohan Kumar and his team from Chennai. These amphibious cycles, rickshaw and shoes can help not only in removing aquatic weeds, but also in vending provisions to communities living around water bodies, have new water sports, drag things in water bodies and be of special use during the flood. A mechanic, Vinod from Kerala has modified a car to suit its movement in water as well. He toiled hard and faced financial crunch to come up with this vehicle, which he believes may be used by Navy and other agencies like coastal guards for surveillance. Possessing a boat like float above the tyres, this car does not use the main engine when in water but the secondary boat engine at its rear. Kanak Gogoi, a serial innovator from Assam, has also made a single seater amphibious craft. Another idea of an amphibious car was also received earlier by NIF from Prem Singh of Haryana in 2005. In early 1990s Paul S Alexander, a professional from Kerala also developed an amphibious two wheeler motorcycle, which could also be pedaled in case of engine failure or any similar problem.
In China a farmer, Hu Ze En from Huan province, has demonstrated what he calls as a “happy boat”1. The vehicle, which has five hp engine and a one hp electric motor, was first floated in September 2006 and is used to ferry passengers across the Lianshui River. Though the use of amphibious vehicles is not new, but such examples of local ingenuity, without external help, reiterate once again the fact that the people at the grassroots, the people the Honey Bee Network works for, though poor economically, are in no way less than any other in terms of knowledge, creativity and innovativeness.
Amphibious vehicles are reported to be in existence as early as in the 18th century2 but their major development only started in the first half of the 20th century. During the World War II, United States developed DUKW, amphibious trucks to ferry soldiers and goods over land and water3. An amphibious bus has been operationalised in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which apart from facilitating transport is also attracting tourists4. AmphiCoach GTS-1 is another such amphibious passenger vehicle whose production is due to start5. “sQuba” is an amphibious car with the capability to move underwater using two propellers in the stern and two powerful jet drives in the bow6. The Gibbs Aquada is a high speed amphibious vehicle capable of traveling over 30 miles per hour in water7. Amphibious bicycles, cars, buses and trucks have also been built around the world for much time now and their details are available on the World Wide Web. A number of patents are also available in art, which describe amphibious vehicles of different capabilities.
Source
1 http://www.shm.com.cn/newscenter/2006-09/27/content_1956881.htm
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibious_vehicle
3 http://www.boatcar.net/Englishpage/dukw.htm
4 http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_10/node_37/node_251/node_473/2007/09/04/118886945526492.shtml
5 http://www.amphicoach.net/page.php?s=gallery
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQuba
7 http://www.gibbstech.co.uk/aquada.php
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 19(4): 16-17, 2008 |
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