Waterbike

We have all seen those cute little paddle boats people use to go hither and thither on lakes. These paddle boats are the tiny cousins of the steam-powered paddlewheelers Mark Twain (aka Sam Clemens) made famous. This concept is a new twist on the whole idea of paddling oneself across open water.

A platform constructed over two pontoons would have a bicycle-type chain and gear assembly mounted to its centerline. Instead of operating paddles, this system would power two caterpillar-like treads which are mounted outboard of the pontoons. the treads would be built up of planks assembled in an 'L' where the short part of the 'L' is the part actually gripping (if that is the word) the water with a minimum of counter-productive friction.

By comparison, paddlewheels create thrust only when they are oriented vertically to the water's surface. Once they start orienting at any kind of angle, they start to lose their thrust ability until it reaches zero - when the paddle is perfectly horizontal, relative to the water's surface. Most of the time the paddle is in the water, it is producing thrust, so the net effect is forward motion. But it seems the motive system (aka engine, or, in this case, the peddaler) is working harder than it needs to.

At any given moment of propulsion, there would be, say, 20 treads in contact with the water providing push. One tread might be ten centimeters wide and perhaps fifty centimeters long. As a tread goes through the water, producing thrust, it creates essentially no counter friction, unlike an oar or paddle wheel, both of which do. Only when the tread is about to come out of the water does it produce any counter friction, but that is counter-acted at a 19:1 ratio (the 19 other treads, that is) and the counter friction is very brief for each tread anyway.

I have a line-drawing of the concept (done on windows Paint) but have no idea about how to submit that for perusal.

Human motive power is always limited to the individuals aerobic capacities. The concept outlined here is aimed at making those capacities go further, if not necessarily faster.