Sponson (pronounced spon-suhn)
(1) In
naval architecture, a structure projecting from the side or main deck of a
vessel to support a gun or the outer edge of a paddle box.
(2) In
nautical design, (1) a buoyant appendage at the gunwale of a canoe to resist
capsizing, (2) a structural projection from the side of a paddle steamer for
supporting a paddle wheel and (3) a float or flotation chamber along the
gunwale of a boat or ship
(3) In
aeronautics, (1) a protuberance at the side of a flying-boat hull, designed to
increase lateral stability in the water or (2) a structural unit attached to a
helicopter fuselage by fixed struts, housing the main landing gear and
inflatable flotation bags.
(4) A
semicircular gun turret on the side of a tank.
1825–1835:
Origin unknown but thought a variant of expansion, most likely a form of
imperfect echoic related to the regional accents of workers in ship-building
yards. The first sponsons were the
platforms on each side of a steamer's paddle wheels. Sponson is a noun (and curiously so is sponsing because it's an alternative spelling), sponsoning & sponsoned are verbs. All subsequent derivations are based on the original
nautical form.
Re-using some of an earlier design for a bomber which failed to meet the military’s performance criteria, between 1938-1941, Boeing built twelve 314 Clippers, long-range flying boats with the range to cross both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Although used by the military during World War II, most of their service was with the two commercial operators Pan Am (Pan-American Airways) and BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation). Very much a machine of the pre-war age, the last Clippers were retired from service between 1946-1948, the advances in aviation and ground infrastructure built during war-time rendering them obsolete and too expensive to maintain.
The sponsons built into the hull structure at the waterline were multi-functional. They provided (1) a gangway for passengers and crew boarding and departing, (2) a stabilizing platform for the craft while moored or at anchor, (3) were an integral part of the aerodynamics, providing additional lift and thus were a kind of mini-wing al la the biplane and (4) served as auxiliary fuel tanks, the craft carrying some 4,500 gallons (20,460 litres) of aviation spirit.
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