Volta (boat)
The electric boat Volta was built in Millwall, London in 1886 ; the drive system came from the electrical engineer Anthony Reckenzaun (1850-1893).
Description of the volta
The electrically powered boat Volta was made of sheet steel, was around 12 m long, 2.1 m wide and weighed around 6000 kg. The boat had two Reckenzaunsche electric motors to drive the propeller , which acted on a propeller shaft. The motors with around 15 hp weighed around 330 kg and had speeds of 600, 800 and 1000 revolutions per minute, depending on the connection of the batteries. The 61 cell batteries weighed around 2000 kg and were manufactured by the Electric Power and Storage Company. They had a capacity of 240 ampere hours and a nominal voltage of 120 volts . They were located in the lower part of the boat and were covered with wooden floorboards.
history
In 1886 the battery electric boat Volta crossed the English Channel . This crossing from Dover to Calais represented the first use of electrically powered boats on the sea. The outward journey took around 4 hours and the return journey 4 1/4 hours. With a total duration of 8 1/4 hours over a distance of 87 km for the return journey, this canal crossing set a record for the use of electric motors and electric batteries.
See also
literature
- Harald Keil (Ed.): 100 Years of Shipbuilding Society . Springer 2001, ISBN 3-540-41670-6 .
- Operation of boats using electricity. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 263, 1884, Miszelle 5, pp. 492-494.