Christopher Cockerell
Encyclopedia
Sir Christopher Sydney Cockerell CBE
FRS (4 June 1910 – 1 June 1999) was an English
engineer
, inventor of the hovercraft
.
, where his father, Sir Sydney Cockerell
, was curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum
, having previously been the secretary of William Morris
. Christopher Cockerell was educated at Gresham's School
, Holt
. He then entered Cambridge University as an undergraduate member of Peterhouse, and where he studied engineering and was tutored by William Dobson Womersley. He began his career working for the Marconi
company in 1935, and got married soon afterwards. He worked on radar
systems during the Second World War
.
Cockerell was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal in 1965.
Cockerell was knighted in 1969 for his services to engineering. He died at Hythe
in Hampshire
.
, grew out of work he began in 1953. He tested his theories using a hair-dryer
and tin can
s and found his working hypothesis to have potential, but the idea took some years to develop, and he was forced to sell personal possessions in order to finance his research. By 1955, he had built a working model from balsa
wood and had taken out his first patent
. Cockerell had found it impossible to interest the private sector in developing his idea, as both the aircraft and the boat-building industries saw it as lying outside their core business. He therefore approached the British Government with a view to interesting them in possible defence applications.
This led to Cockerell being introduced to the NRDC (National Research Development Corporation
). In the autumn of 1958, the NRDC placed an order with Saunders-Roe
for the first full-scale hovercraft. This prototype
craft was designated the SR-N1
(Saunders-Roe - Nautical One) and was manufactured by Saunders-Roe under licence from the NRDC. In 1959, he launched the SR-N1, which was capable of carrying four men at a speed of 28 miles per hour. It made a successful crossing of the English Channel
between Dover and Calais
on 25 July 1959.
In January 1959, the NRDC formed a subsidiary called Hovercraft Development Ltd. Cockerell was the Technical Director and the company controlled the patents which it used to license several private-sector firms to manufacture craft under the registered trademark of Hovercraft.
The world's first hovercraft service operated briefly across the River Dee estuary between Rhyl
(North Wales) and Wallasey
(now Merseyside in the Wirral Peninsula) for 36 days in 1962. The craft was designated the VA-3 and was manufactured by Vickers Armstrong Corp. The service was operated by British United Airways
.
In later life Cockerell developed the Cockerell Raft, a wave power hydraulic device which may have implications in the future for electricity generation.
Sir Christopher Cockerell's theory was that instead of using the plenum chamber – an open-bottomed empty box such as Thornycroft had devised – if air could instead be pumped into a narrow tunnel around the perimeter of the underneath side of the craft, it would flow toward the center, creating a more effective air cushion. This peripheral jet would allow the air pressure to build enough to equal the weight of the craft and, since the air would be trapped, the pressure would elevate the craft off the surface upon which it traveled.
Cockerell tested his theory with a test model constructed of two empty cans, an industrial air blower and a pair of kitchen scales. By inserting a cat food can into a coffee can, and blowing air through the gap between the two cans, he showed that it was possible to increase the hoverheight and to construct a vehicle that could travel on a cushion of air.
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
FRS (4 June 1910 – 1 June 1999) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, inventor of the hovercraft
Hovercraft
A hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by air, a hovercraft is not considered an aircraft.Hovercraft are used throughout...
.
Life
Cockerell was born in CambridgeCambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, where his father, Sir Sydney Cockerell
Sydney Cockerell
Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell was an English museum curator and collector.-Life:Sydney Cockerell made his way initially as clerk in the family coal business, George J. Cockerell & Co, until he met John Ruskin. According to John Ruskin by Tim Hilton , around 1887 Cockerell sent Ruskin some sea...
, was curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
, having previously been the secretary of William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
. Christopher Cockerell was educated at Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, Holt
Holt, Norfolk
Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...
. He then entered Cambridge University as an undergraduate member of Peterhouse, and where he studied engineering and was tutored by William Dobson Womersley. He began his career working for the Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
company in 1935, and got married soon afterwards. He worked on radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
systems during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Cockerell was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal in 1965.
Cockerell was knighted in 1969 for his services to engineering. He died at Hythe
Hythe, Hampshire
Hythe is a village near Southampton, Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton...
in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
.
The hovercraft
Cockerell's greatest invention, the hovercraftHovercraft
A hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by air, a hovercraft is not considered an aircraft.Hovercraft are used throughout...
, grew out of work he began in 1953. He tested his theories using a hair-dryer
Blowdryer
A blowdryer or hairdryer is an electromechanical device designed to blow cool or hot air over wet or damp hair, in order to accelerate the evaporation of water particles and dry the hair. Blowdryers allow to better control the shape and style of hair, by accelerating and controlling the formation...
and tin can
Tin can
A tin can, tin , steel can, or a can, is a sealed container for the distribution or storage of goods, composed of thin metal. Many cans require opening by cutting the "end" open; others have removable covers. Cans hold diverse contents: foods, beverages, oil, chemicals, etc."Tin" cans are made...
s and found his working hypothesis to have potential, but the idea took some years to develop, and he was forced to sell personal possessions in order to finance his research. By 1955, he had built a working model from balsa
Balsa
Ochroma pyramidale, commonly known as the balsa tree , is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is a large, fast-growing tree that can grow up to tall. It is the source of balsa wood, a very lightweight material with many uses...
wood and had taken out his first patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
. Cockerell had found it impossible to interest the private sector in developing his idea, as both the aircraft and the boat-building industries saw it as lying outside their core business. He therefore approached the British Government with a view to interesting them in possible defence applications.
This led to Cockerell being introduced to the NRDC (National Research Development Corporation
National Research Development Corporation
The National Research Development Corporation was a non-departmental government body established by the British Government to transfer technology from the public sector to the private sector.-History:...
). In the autumn of 1958, the NRDC placed an order with Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe Limited was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works East Cowes, Isle of Wight.-History:The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliot Verdon Roe and John Lord took a controlling interest in the boat-builders S.E. Saunders...
for the first full-scale hovercraft. This prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
craft was designated the SR-N1
SR-N1
The Saunders-Roe SR.N1 was the first practical hovercraft.-Design:It was designed by Christopher Cockerell and built by Saunders-Roe on the Isle of Wight under the auspices of the National Research and Development Corporation...
(Saunders-Roe - Nautical One) and was manufactured by Saunders-Roe under licence from the NRDC. In 1959, he launched the SR-N1, which was capable of carrying four men at a speed of 28 miles per hour. It made a successful crossing of the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
between Dover and Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
on 25 July 1959.
In January 1959, the NRDC formed a subsidiary called Hovercraft Development Ltd. Cockerell was the Technical Director and the company controlled the patents which it used to license several private-sector firms to manufacture craft under the registered trademark of Hovercraft.
The world's first hovercraft service operated briefly across the River Dee estuary between Rhyl
Rhyl
Rhyl is a seaside resort town and community situated on the north east coast of Wales, in the county of Denbighshire , at the mouth of the River Clwyd . To the west is the suburb of Kinmel Bay, with the resort of Towyn further west, Prestatyn to the east and Rhuddlan to the south...
(North Wales) and Wallasey
Wallasey
Wallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula...
(now Merseyside in the Wirral Peninsula) for 36 days in 1962. The craft was designated the VA-3 and was manufactured by Vickers Armstrong Corp. The service was operated by British United Airways
British United Airways
British United Airways was a private, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline formed as a result of the merger of Airwork Services and Hunting-Clan Air Transport in July 1960, making it the largest wholly private airline based in the United Kingdom at the time...
.
In later life Cockerell developed the Cockerell Raft, a wave power hydraulic device which may have implications in the future for electricity generation.
Sir Christopher Cockerell's theory was that instead of using the plenum chamber – an open-bottomed empty box such as Thornycroft had devised – if air could instead be pumped into a narrow tunnel around the perimeter of the underneath side of the craft, it would flow toward the center, creating a more effective air cushion. This peripheral jet would allow the air pressure to build enough to equal the weight of the craft and, since the air would be trapped, the pressure would elevate the craft off the surface upon which it traveled.
Cockerell tested his theory with a test model constructed of two empty cans, an industrial air blower and a pair of kitchen scales. By inserting a cat food can into a coffee can, and blowing air through the gap between the two cans, he showed that it was possible to increase the hoverheight and to construct a vehicle that could travel on a cushion of air.
Commemoration
A plaque in Cockerell Rise, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, marks the location of White Cottage, where Cockerell lived and worked. The Cottage has been demolished, but the garage still stands. The plaque was erected by Friends of East Cowes with funding by the Big Lottery.External links
- Information about Sir Christopher at the Hovercraft Museum website
- hovercraftsomerleyton.org.uk Detail of commemorative events at the birthplace of the Hovercraft including The Hovercraft Column at Somerleyton in Suffolk.
- Christopher Cockerell profile at findagrave.com
- Christopher Cockerell at About.com
- Christopher Cockerell in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography