Ursynów M-6 was a prototype

hovercraft A hovercraft (: hovercraft), also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and various other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the ...

designed for farming exploitation between 1967 and 1971 at the

Warsaw University of Life Sciences The Warsaw University of Life Sciences (, SGGW) is the largest agricultural university in Poland, established in 1816 in Warsaw. It employs over 2,600 staff including over 1,200 academic educators. The University is since 2005 a member of the Eu ...

. The project was cancelled following numerous issues noted during its testing.

History

In the 1960s, at

, as part of project to develop a

for farming exploitation, the team led by professor Nowacki, and with engineer Andrzej Moldenhawer, begun designing concepts for Ursynów M-6.Andrzej Moldenhawer: "Poduszkowiec rolniczy 'Ursynów M-6'". ''Młody Technik'', no. 3/1967. Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Nasza Księgarnia, 1967, p. 44–53. (in Polish) Its specifications and functional model were then made by a team at the Warsaw Institute of Aviation, and later with further development and constructed at the university. Its tests begun in 1971. The machine was noted to have numerous issues, including bad stearing, low speed, and blew large quantities of dust in the air.Andrzej Moldenhawer: "'Ursynów M-6' już lata". ''Młody Technik'', no. 11/1971. Warsaw: Instytut Wydawniczy Nasza Księgarnia, 1971, p. 44–47. (in Polish) The project was abandoned, and the only constructed unit was lost, with its further history unknown.

Specifications

The Ursynów M-6

was propelled by prototype

centrifugal fan A centrifugal fan is a mechanical device for moving air or other gases in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the fan. Centrifugal fans often contain a ducted fan, ducted housing to direct outgoing air in a specific direction or ...

made out of

Epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or Curing (chemistry), cured end products of epoxy Resin, resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide fun ...

enforced with

glass fiber Glass fiber ( or glass fibre) is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass. Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the inventio ...

. The fan weighted 50 kg, and diametre of 1.3 m. The vehicle was powered by a 45

horse power Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are th ...

Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the ...

engine with

gear train A gear train or gear set is a machine element of a mechanical system formed by mounting two or more gears on a frame such that the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each oth ...

with ratio of 1:4.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ursynow M-6 Hovercraft Vehicles introduced in 1971 1971 establishments in Poland Experimental vehicles Vehicles of Poland Warsaw University of Life Sciences