Quant 23 Foiler Scow

Quant 23 Foiling Scow Keelboat

New picture of the production boat foiling with three crew:

 

IT looks more and more to the monitor. Specialy with the guy sitting in the cockpit.

 

More about Gordon Baker here(thanks to Hoyt) :
http://www.foils.org/baker.htm

 

Quite an amazing guy. It is hard to believe the speeds they hit back then -with wood cotton and steel for materials! I was also amazed to read that the foils were "computer" controlled. I can't imagine any way that could be digital so there must be a reasonably simple analog computer able to handle the task. And all it's inputs are forces! Analog 'computers' all have mechanical equivalents.

 

I second your amazement & would also like to know more about his "computer."

Some hints are given in a paper written by him, available at :

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b672020;view=1up;seq=251

I've excerpted one paragraph below (Click to enlarge).

Since this research was sponsored by the U.S. Navy, it's possible that some more diligent Googling might turn up more details.

 

No mention of weight unless I just missed it?! Doug, have you found any info on Monitors weight?
UPDATE-I found this on foils.org:
Somewhere in my design notes I have written down Baker's foil chord lengths. I seem to recall Baker told me that MONITOR weighed 800 pounds, which surprised me how light it was. -- David A. Keiper

 

1100 lbs. without crew, according to the information on page 30 of the following history of Baker's company: http://evansvillehistory.net/files/bakermanuf2.pdf

 

Wow-that history is so cool. I wouldn't have thought to look up the history of the plant! Way to go, Doug!

 

Sorry about the problem with the link in Post #80. Try this instead:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b672020;view=1up;seq=251

 

Wasn't a problem-I just copied it and pasted in the browser and it came up. Couldn't get it to work as a link though-I've never run into that before-what did you do?

 

WOW, I haven't seen that photo in YEARS !!

 

Baker has several patents (or patent applications) concerning hydrofoil boats. This one seems to be the one most specifically about the Monitor, and includes a lot of the mechanical details:


https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US2856879.pdf

 

I simply copied & pasted the link & then underlined it, the same way that I thought I had always done it.

Since then, I've been using the "Insert Link" icon above the text.

 

This patent document does a pretty good job of detailing the flight control "computer". All the stays and even the main sheet forces are applied to a space frame that is linked to the hydrofoils angle of attack. It appears to be nothing more than an elaborate spring and damper, but there is one add I still don't understand -it looks like a propeller on a drum (don't know what's inside) on a four bar mechanism. I want to know if wind power is being used for 'active control' or if the entire Monitor flight system is just force/deflection. Clearly the steady state can be worked out to force deflection, but I wonder about dynamic responses or running into nonlinear responses.

 

Are you referring to the last figure (Fig.14, Sheet 10)?

If so, the text says " Fig. 14 is a fragmentary schematic view illustrating the manner of incorporating the incidence adjustment in a boat driven by an air propeller." So, it doesn't apply to Monitor itself.

I'm not a mechanical expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm pretty sure that the system is just force/deflection.