Patent ID: 6715574
Filing Date: 2004-04-06
Classification: B60V

Abstract:
Airstream control system for a hovercraft that includes a platform and a lift gas chamber beneath the platform, the control system comprising:a) an impeller for receiving air at an inlet and discharging pressurized air at an outlet as an airstream; the impeller being positioned above an orifice of the lift gas chamber; b) the impeller being supported along a first axis transverse to the airstream and about which the impeller is rotatable by a first axis frame that is rotatable about a pair of first axis supports fixed to the platform; c) the impeller further being supported along a second axis transverse to the airstream and about which the impeller is rotatable by a second axis frame that is attached to the first axis frame and that comprises a first arm supporting a first point of the impeller and extending upstream of the impeller; and d) a first channel arrangement fixed to the platform that can receive the first arm of the second axis frame so as to allow a higher degree of tilting of a main axis of the impeller from vertically downward than in the absence of the first channel arrangement.