Mechanical Jellyfish

Young Bucky loved spending his summers at the family owned Bear Island. There he learned a reverence for and appreciation of nature. Many of his inventions mirrored what he later designated as 'Natural Technology' i.e. employing the extremely efficient techniques he perceived within Nature.

One of his early inventions was a mechanical oar patterned after the motion of jellyfish. "It consisted of a tepee-like cone mounted on the end of a pole and resembled an inside-out umbrella. Standing at the rear of his boat, Fuller would pull the pole toward him through a large iron ring attached to the rear of the boat. As the peak of the umbrella-like invention pointed toward the boat, it displayed little resistance. However, when it pushed backward into the water, the cone opened, propelling the boat forward."

After this "Bucky also discovered that his boar trips were much safer and more enjoyable because he could see any hazardous or interesting events developing in front of him much more sooner than if he were rowing facing the rear."

I wonder why this simple and practical idea has not taken hold on the boating community.

(from BUCKMINSTER FULLER'S UNIVERSE - HIS LIFE AND WORK by Lloyd Steven Sieden)