After his success with flying, Alexander Graham Bell turned his sights on faster boats. His idea was to take what he had learned with aeroplanes and apply the technology to the water. Hence, his hydrofoils. Let’s learn what these are all about and how they’re being used today.
This full-scale replica has been painstakingly constructed from original notes, sketches, pieces of the original, and historical photographs.
But let’s go back in time to see how Bell and Baldwin got to this point. As early as 1906, Bell and Baldwin were considering an alternative way for getting a seaplane into the air—hydrofoils that could lift a hull right out of the water, decreasing water resistance and increasing speed.
Bell and Baldwin debated over the design of the HD-4. Bell was concerned that hydrofoils could be damaged by seaweed or floating objects and so favored narrow, curved floats that would rise up as speed increased (like water skis) and pass more easily over obstacles.
The HD-4 being constructed at the Beinn Bhreagh boatyard.
military application
When the U.S. entered the war in April 1917, Bell thought his best contribution would be a high-speed water craft, and the Navy needed a submarine chaser. Baldwin quickly designed a 60-foot craft, incorporating all he had learned from previous “hydrodromes.” It was called the HD-4.
The HD-4 was designed for two 350-horsepower Liberty engines, but they didn’t arrive until the war was over.
See the curved blades on the foils?
final resting place
The war was over, and the HD-4 was no longer needed. Military observers were enthusiastic, but their interest soon cooled.
2 of the sections
what’s next
The HD-4 was Bell’s last great achievement. By 1920, he was 73 years old and tired. He died in 1922.
Baldwin forged ahead with more designs for naval hydrofoils that would work in the rough water of the open sea.
So Baldwin turned to rocket-propelled torpedoes fitted with hydrofoils and built a model to test the concept. His plan was that it could run on the surface at such speed that evasion would be difficult. It was never tried full-scale.
hydrofoil towing targets
Still trying to interest the military, Baldwin designed light, easily towed tetrahedral targets for gunnery exercises that could be quickly dismantled and stowed on board the towing vessel.
With WWII came more needs by the Navy. In 1943 aircraft were used to lay smoke screens to protect naval landing craft, and aircraft losses were heavy. Baldwin helped Canada’s National Research Council design an unmanned smoke-laying hydrofoil watercraft. Called the Comox Torpedo, the boat was successful, and several were built.
later uses of hydrofoils
Baldwin designed a number of small hydrofoil boats for various clients. Some were meant to race and were very fast. But Baldwin wasn’t a businessman, and commercial success eluded him.
after Baldwin
Hydrofoil craft never really caught on during Casey Baldwin’s lifetime, but in the 1950s, with new technology, they made a comeback. The Canadian Defense Research Board took up the work begun by Bell and Baldwin, and their first prototypes used the foil system Baldwin had developed over 40 years before.
While Baldwin wasn’t that good of a businessman, he did so much for Nova Scotia.
more current day uses of hydrofoils
This information wasn’t in the museum, but you may be interested in it (I was). In the most recent America’s Cup, all the sailboats had adopted hydrofoils for their design! Also, the U.S. Navy is using hydrofoils for its fast boats.
I couldn’t include pictures of either of these uses because the pictures were copyrighted, but you may want to google them.
Now on to Bell’s other ventures and to more of his home life.
