JETS OF WATER DRIVE THIS BOAT (Nov, 1933)

JETS OF WATER, HURLED OUT BY MOTOR, DRIVE THIS BOAT

Jets of water, spurting backward from nozzles at each side, drive an unusual craft that has just met its first tests successfully on the Vltava River near Prague, Czechoslovakia. Instead of turning a propeller, the motor at the rear of the odd craft operates a pump that sucks up water and discharges it through the nozzles. As the water is forcibly hurled backward, the recoil propels the boat forward, much as a big gun recoils when a shell is fired. Since the jets are constantly in action, however, the driving force is continuous. Having no propeller protruding from the botton, the boat can navigate in water so shallow that there is barely enough to float the hull. Tests showed the boat was. economical and fast.