More on paddlewheel "submarine"

[lonediver]

Hello all,
  I am not likely to become a regular participant but sometimes I enjoy looking into odd things on the internet . I came across this weird "submarine". Considering that this was likely a not practical thing I looked into whether others had attempted building such a thing and I came across your web site.

Someone had posted on such a topic here ;

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1350.msg4334#msg4334

And on a fully submersed paddlewheel drive here;

http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3365.msg14898#msg14898

So I thought I would share what I found elsewhere at ;

http://englishrussia.com/2013/01/25/the-old-rusty-submarine/
 
Not likely that it was a full submersible submarine, not with a boiler and a smokestack . But a semi submersible if it ever really worked . So I hope you all enjoy and ponder the seaworthiness of said vehicle .

Have a good day,

Lonediver

[Brian Gates]

It might be possible to consider the Voith Schneider propeller http://voith.com/en/products-services/power-transmission/vsp-voith-schneider-propeller-10002.html as a fully-submerged feathering paddlewheel.  Given their use on minesweepers, where their low cavitation properties reduce the acoustic signature of the vessel (useful when sweeping for acoustic mines), it is perhaps surprising that they have not been tried on submarines.

All the best
Brian

[Bierjunge]

It might be possible to consider the Voith Schneider propeller  as a fully-submerged feathering paddlewheel.

Oh yes, indeed. That's an idea which has been haunting me for some time, but as usual, one life is too short for all these silly projects.

This is what my boys used to have as a wind-up toy in their bathtup. This one doesn't dive, of course, but simply paddles around on the surface:



Starting from that design, you could replace the two wheels with two vertical Fowler wheels or Voith-Schneider props. By means of their (individually) fully vectored thrust, the vessel would have comple 3D-steerability. Up and down, forward and back, spinning about the vertical axis, ...
In fact, this would be dynamic diving, but like static diving without the need of ground speed. No need of ballast tanks, movable fins or rudders, or whatsoever!

Here's a little 2-minute-sketch I just made to show how such a thing might look like:



Moritz

[DamienG]

Hmmmmm very interesting