Patent ID: 7322865

Claim:
A propulsion system for a marine vehicle comprising: a vehicle housing defined by a horizontal top surface and surrounding vertical side walls that define an external cover and an open-bottom internal enclosure area, said internal enclosure area being locatable over, at, or under a water surface; one or more suspension supports extending from the housing into the internal enclosure area; a flexible belt drive assembly attached to said suspension supports in the internal enclosure area and having a belt with water engaging surfaces on the exterior belt surface to engage the water surface and provide the marine vehicle with a thrust force along the plane of the water surface, said belt assembly having a linear air bearing surface to minimize the belt friction of the drives; at least two roller assemblies spatially separated from each other with the belt wrapped around each roller assemblies in a looped manner so that the belt rotates around said roller assemblies and engages the water surface on a lower plane of the belt drive assembly; and a driver coupled to the belt drive assembly for driving the rotation of the belt around the roller assemblies.