Sea Truck

The Rotork Sea Truck is a flat-hulled, high-speed watercraft, similar to a small landing craft. Made from fibreglass, they may be used to land vehicles without jetties or harbour facilities. They were designed by the design team at Smallfry in the 1970s.[1]

History

The vehicle was designed by the design team at Smallfry[1] led by designer Tim Fry and Anthony Smallhorn with input from James Dyson while he was a student in the 1970s, as part of his final year's project at the Royal College of Art.

Jeremy Fry was co-designer, along with Dyson, who was working at Rotork at the time. Dyson used the Sea Truck as part of his final year's project at the Royal College of Art.[2]

It happened to be the first engineering project for Dyson of the Dyson company, as he had not even learned welding before. He and Fry built the prototype together.[3]

The craft was manufactured by Rotork Marine in Bath, England.[4] It was a high-speed "flat-hulled fiberglass landing craft that could deliver cargo where no harbor or jetty was available."[5]

According to Wired Magazine and Dyson, it was described as a "Welsh dresser on water," with Dyson saying he learned not to prioritize conventional appearances with his projects, as "what it did, it did rather well."[6]

It was adopted for use by the oil and construction industries, as well as military use, and could carry three tons at 50 miles per hour.[7] In 1973, the Sea Truck was used by the Egyptian army in the Yom Kippur war.[8]

Awards

In 1975, Dyson won the Duke of Edinburgh's Special Prize for his work on the Sea Truck.[5]

In 1979, the Sea Truck won the Design Council Award for Engineering Products,[9][10] and the Series 5 Sea Truck, credited to the Rotork Marine Design team with Tim Fry and Anthony Smallhorn of Smallfry Ltd. as consulting designer won the Prince Philip Designers Prize.[11]

Versions

There were five versions of the Sea Truck. Jeremy Fry invented the original Sea Truck and the Mark 2 version. Dyson as a student was involved in the Mark 3. The Mark 5 designed under John Fry by Mike Ross and styled by Tim Fry and Anthony Smallhorn won the design award.

References
  1. "Celebrating Smallfry for 45 Years Today\!". Smallfry. Tagdraw Limited. 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  2. Shambler, Thomas (December 8, 2016). "The key to Sir James Dyson's success (despite 5,127 failures)". www.arabianbusiness.com. Arabian Business. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  3. Taylor, Chris (March 3, 2016). "Even billionaires start with small first jobs". reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved July 27, 2019. "In my last year at the Royal College of Art, I met Jeremy Fry, chairman of the engineering company Rotork (ROR.L). He invited me to his home for dinner, and that's where it all began. I wanted him to invest in a building I had designed for a theater in London. He said, 'I'm not going to give you any money, but I'll give you a few jobs. Under his wing I worked on my first engineering project, the Sea Truck, a high-speed amphibious landing craft. We built the first prototype together. He pointed me to the welding gear and said, 'Go do it.' I'd never used any welding gear, but I did it. He let me make mistakes and learn things myself. After we finished the prototype, I said, 'Now what?' He said, 'We make it.' And then? 'We sell it.' It was simple as that."
  4. "Rotork Sea Truck". Rotork Marine (archived). Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  5. "Suck It Up: James Dyson Discovers The Power Behind a Great Vacuum". inventorsdigest.com. Inventor's Digest. December 9, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  6. Burton, Charlie (October 22, 2011). "The seventh disruption: How James Dyson reinvented the personal heater". wired.com. Wired. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  7. "10 awesome inventions from James Dyson". www.cbsnews.com. CBS News.
  8. Wembridge, Mark (May 12, 2013). "Rotork's famous sons". www.ft.com. Financial Times. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  9. "Sea truck". Design Council Slide Collection. Visual Arts Data Service. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  10. "Alan Ponsford (bio)". Speakers for Schools. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  11. "Prince Philip Designers Prize: 1979-1988". Design Council. Archived from the original on 18 November 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
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