Vehicles for travelling over land and/or water

Claim 1

A GROUND EFFECT VEHICLE FOR TRAVEL OVER AND IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO A SURFACE, COMPRISING: A BODY HAVING ITS BOTTOM ADAPTED TO BE VERTICALLY SPACED ABOVE SAID SURFACE AND HAVING A SUFFICIENT PORTION TO BE ACTED UPON BY UNDERLYING FLUID PRESSURE SO THAT THE WEIGHT OF THE VEHICLE MAY BE SUSTAINED, MEANS ON SAID BODY TO SEALINGLY AND LATERALLY CIRCUMSCRIBE A SPACE BETWEEN SAID SURFACE AND SAID BOTTOM PORTION, SAID MEANS INCLUDING A JET NOZZLE POSITIONED AND DIMENSIONED TO DIRECT A RELATIVELY THIN JET SHEET OF FLUID ISSUING FROM SAID NOZZLE DOWNWARDLY AND INWARDLY INTO IMPINGEMENT UPON SAID SURFACE WHEREBY A PORTION OF SAID JET SHEET, AS DEFLECTED BY SUCH IMPINGEMENT, FLOWS INTO SAID CIRCUMSCRIBED SPACED AND BUILDS UP THEREIN A HIGHER-THAN-ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE; AND MEANS ON SAID BODY FOR SUPPLYING PRESSURIZED FLUID TO SAID JET NOZZLE.