the what? i am surprized this never caught on  :laugh:

 

 

May 20th, 2007

 

The Oruktor Amphibolos

 

 

 

Oliver Evans was the first man in America to drive a horseless carriage, and in the same day, the first man in the world to drive an amphibious vehicle. He did this all in the name of convenience. In 1804, Evans was hired by the city of Philadelphia to build the first steam powered mud dredger, but his workshop was 16 miles from the dredging site and a mile and a half inland. His solution was the Oruktor Amphibolos, or Amphibious Dredge. When he finally completed the 15-ton vehicle with its five-horsepower engine, he opened his workshop doors and drove the enormous automobile-cum-steamboat around the town square, down to the Schuylkill river, and piloted it 16 miles downstream, where it began its assigned work. Though far ahead of its time, the Oruktor was, unfortunately, a mechanical and monetary failure. It was broken up and sold for parts several years later. The world would have to wait a hundred years to see another amphibious vehicle.

 

 

http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Evans

 

 

 

People like Oliver and I...we're just way too ahead of our time.

Oliver Evans was something of a mechanical genius who worked in various fields.

 

His concepts for grain milling carry over into facilities still being built today; early mills required the miller to lift and carry grain and flour from one operation to the next. Evans designed a multi-story building using bucket elevators, screw conveyors and gravity to move the material from one step of the process to the next in a continuous flow, so that the miller had only to weigh the grain, monitor the machinery, and control the water supply that drove the wheel.

 

The 1817 mill at Spring Mill State Park in southern Indiana uses many of Evans' concepts, and the 1880 Mansfield Roller Mill in central Indiana incorporates them along with later developments like turbines instead of a water wheel, and steel roller mills instead of stones.

Someone remembered Evans back in the 1960's..... but their effort flopped as well.  The Amphi-car:

 

Q Branch (of 007 James Bond fame) owes royalties to that guy! Remember the car (was that a Lotus?) that converted to a submarine in 'The Spy Who Loved Me'?

 

BTW, I saw a lot of Lotuses in the UK (big surprise!). I haven't seen one on this side of Atlantica in years.

And as long as we're walking down "memory lane": I give you the "DUCK"..... far more successful (at least as for the military in WW II, Korea and Vietnam.  Now they are being re-conditioned and re-used for tourist operations in Chicago, DC, Boston and other cities.

DUCKS have been popular for years in the Wisconsin Dells.  I remember riding one when I was a kid.  Seattle also has a duck that drives around with tourists while playing blaring dance music.  It's real obnoxious.  It's painted bright colors and says on the side "Ride the Duck!" in big letters.

There have been a couple occasions when those things (Ducks) sank. They go down like a rock if they take on water.

 

In 1999 at Hot Springs, Arkansas, 13 people died when a driveshaft seal failed on one.

Someone remembered Evans back in the 1960's..... but their effort flopped as well.  The Amphi-car:

 

The Amphicar owners actually have their annual gathering in Celina, Ohio each year....

 

 

 

 

 

After Tall Stacks last year I got interested in steamboat history and read up on that trade and the technology behind it.

 

Turns out the western steamboats used boilers based on an Oliver Evans design.  Interesting to see where his name crops up (Rob already mentioned grain milling)

Amphicars were made in Germany or Italy, or based on a design from there.  I recall seeing one when I was a kid, on Lake Geneva.  I thought it was the coolest thing.  I think they even appeared in a Pepsi commercial from that time.