Abstract: This invention relates to ground-reaction machines, such as hovercraft, and is particularly concerned with flexible enclosure arrangements, often referred to as skirts, for enclosing a fluid cushion beneath the loading platform of the machine. According to the invention, air fed into the arrangement to form the cushion, is channelled or directed by cells having walls which are linked in series along the periphery of the platform. This ensures the feed and enclosure of a single undivided central cushion at a pressure which is substantially uniform and of which the boundaries represent an auxiliary structure. In a preferred construction, each of the cells is bounded by two flexible walls, all the horizontal sections of which are of bi-convex, lenticular shape.

Abstract: This invention relates to ground-reaction machines, such as hovercraft, and is particularly concerned with flexible enclosure arrangements, often referred to as skirts, for enclosing a fluid cushion beneath the loading platform of the machine. According to the invention, air fed into the arrangement to form the cushion, is channelled or directed by cells having walls which are linked in series along the periphery of the platform. This ensures the feed and enclosure of a single undivided central cushion at a pressure which is substantially uniform and of which the boundaries represent an auxiliary structure. In a preferred construction, each of the cells is bounded by two flexible walls, all the horizontal sections of which are of bi-convex, lenticular shape.

Abstract: A flexible floating tank for conveying liquids comprising at least two elongated flexible elements of revolution joined side by side by a flexible linking harness and provided with inflating gas for maintaining their geometric shape by internal pressurization during various stages of use. The elements are provided with oblique conical end portions and are internally divided by bulkheads. Each element may have a sump which forms a stabilizing keel and also facilitates emptying through a dip pipe while internal pressurization is maintained through a separate duct.