Sea Truck
{{Short description|Flat-hulled watercraft}}
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.{{cite web |url=http://smallfry.com/portfolio-item/45-years-today/ |title=Celebrating Smallfry for 45 Years Today\! |work=Smallfry |publisher=Tagdraw Limited |year=2016 |access-date=5 February 2018}}
History
The vehicle was designed by the design team at Smallfry 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.{{cite web
|url=https://www.arabianbusiness.com/the-key-sir-james-dyson-s-success-despite-5-127-failures--655595.html
|title=The key to Sir James Dyson's success (despite 5,127 failures)
|last=Shambler
|first=Thomas
|date=December 8, 2016
|website=www.arabianbusiness.com
|publisher=Arabian Business
|access-date=July 27, 2019
|quote= }}
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.{{cite web
|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-money-firstjobs-billionaires/even-billionaires-start-with-small-first-jobs-idUSKCN0W51OM
|title=Even billionaires start with small first jobs
|last=Taylor
|first=Chris
|date=March 3, 2016
|website=reuters.com
|publisher=Reuters
|access-date=July 27, 2019
|quote= “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."}}
The craft was manufactured by Rotork Marine in Bath, England.{{cite web |url=http://rotork.imcl.ru/boat.php |title=Rotork Sea Truck |publisher=Rotork Marine (archived) |access-date=10 October 2012}} It was a high-speed "flat-hulled fiberglass landing craft that could deliver cargo where no harbor or jetty was available."{{cite web
|url=https://www.inventorsdigest.com/articles/suck-it-up-james-dyson-discovers-the-power-behind-a-great-vacuum/
|title=Suck It Up: James Dyson Discovers The Power Behind a Great Vacuum
|date=December 9, 2015
|website=inventorsdigest.com
|publisher=Inventor's Digest
|access-date=July 27, 2019
|quote= }}
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."{{cite web
|url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-seventh-disruption-james-dyson
|title=The seventh disruption: How James Dyson reinvented the personal heater
|last=Burton
|first=Charlie
|date=October 22, 2011
|website=wired.com
|publisher=Wired
|access-date=July 27, 2019
|quote= }}
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.{{cite web
|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/10-awesome-inventions-from-james-dyson/6/
|title=10 awesome inventions from James Dyson
|date=15 September 2011
|website=www.cbsnews.com
|publisher=CBS News
|access-date=
|quote= }} In 1973, the Sea Truck was used by the Egyptian army in the Yom Kippur war.{{cite web
|url=https://www.ft.com/content/fe8407fc-b95d-11e2-bc57-00144feabdc0
|title=Rotork's famous sons
|last=Wembridge
|first=Mark
|date=May 12, 2013
|website=www.ft.com
|publisher=Financial Times
|access-date=July 27, 2019
|quote= }}
Awards
In 1975, Dyson won the Duke of Edinburgh's Special Prize for his work on the Sea Truck.
In 1979, the Sea Truck won the Design Council Award for Engineering Products,{{cite web |url=https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=54009&sos=0 |title=Sea truck |publisher=Visual Arts Data Service |work=Design Council Slide Collection |access-date=2 April 2020}}{{cite web |url=http://www.speakers4schools.org/speakers/156516/AlanPonsford |title=Alan Ponsford (bio) |publisher=Speakers for Schools |access-date=10 October 2012}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-us/prince-philip-designers-prize/19791988/ |title=Prince Philip Designers Prize: 1979-1988 |publisher=Design Council |access-date=10 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118232206/http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-us/Prince-Philip-Designers-Prize/19791988/ |archive-date=18 November 2012 }}
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.