The Aqua scooter was invented in 1967 by

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

Bernd Böttger. Böttger developed his vehicle in order to escape the country across the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. Today, it is produced commercially by AquaScooter Inc.

Early testing

Determined to escape the German Democratic Republic, chemical engineer Bernd Böttger decided that his best chance to reach the West would be to do so by sea. He trained as a diver and worked on developing a vehicle to aid his endeavour in his automotive workshop in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. Taking the

two-stroke engine A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a f ...

from a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

, Böttger attached a

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

to its

driveshaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect ...

and sealed the unit inside a

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

mat using

polyester resin Polyester resins are synthetic resins formed by the reaction of dibasic organic acids and polyhydric alcohols. Maleic anhydride is a commonly used raw material with diacid functionality in unsaturated polyester resins. Unsaturated polyester r ...

. He then added a fibreglass petrol tank and handles, intending to use his home-made

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

to drag him through the water. Böttger's first escape attempt in the autumn of 1967 was a failure when he was caught by the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

on the beach at

Wismar Wismar (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar () is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city of Mecklenburg after Rostock, Schwerin and ...

and, in spite of claiming that he only intended to test his invention and not escape, he was sentenced to a three-month

prison sentence In criminal law, a sentence is the punishment for a crime ordered by a trial court after conviction in a criminal procedure, normally at the conclusion of a trial. A sentence may consist of imprisonment, a fine, or other sanctions. Sentences for ...

. However his detention only stiffened his resolve to escape and as soon as he was released, Böttger set about improving his design. His second escape attempt on 8 September 1968 was successful. Departing from

Graal-Müritz Graal-Müritz is a ''Seeheilbad'' (seaside health resort) in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It is located in the Rostock district, near Rostock, Ribnitz-Damgarten and Stralsund. Graal-Müritz is among the most popular German destinat ...

and intending to reach the Danish port of

Gedser Gedser is a town at the southern tip of the Denmark, Danish island of Falster in the Guldborgsund Municipality in Region Sjælland, Sjælland region. It is the Extreme points of Denmark, southernmost town in Denmark, and also the southernmost poin ...

, some 24

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at t ...

s away across the

, Böttger's device pulled him for nearly five hours to reach the

Lightvessel Gedser Rev Lightvessel No. XVII Gedser Rev ( Danish: Fyrskib XVII Gedser Rev) is a decommissioned lightvessel built in 1895, now serving as a museum ship in Helsingør, Denmark, having formerly been stationed in the Nyhavn Canal in Copenhagen. It is owned ...

moored outside the port. When Böttger's story was reported by European news sources, an executive at

Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It was involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avioni ...

read about it and became interested. A

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

subsidiary of Rockwell offered Böttger the opportunity to develop a commercial version of his aqua scooter. In 1974, Rockwell halted development of the scooter, but the patents were bought by James Taylor in 1978. Taylor formed Aquascooter Inc and moved production to the United States.

Function

The first machine was able to pull a man through and below the waters surface for five hours at up to 3 mph. The second version had an upgraded

horsepower 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 t ...

scooter engine and a snorkel fed breathing unit.

Present day

The Aqua scooter is still produced today by an Italian company Comer Top Kart, and can reach speeds of up to 5 mph. There are two models: the AS650 (49cc, 2HP) and the AS650 Supermagnum (51.5CC, 2.4HP)

References

*'' Soldier of Fortune'' magazine, June, 1980 page 32

External links

*http://www.aquascooter.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Aqua Scooter German inventions Water transport Vehicles introduced in 1978 sk:Potápačský skúter

Early testing

Function

Present day

See also

References

External links