History of marine airbags

According to relevant records, humans have used the principle of rolling logs to carry heavy objects since more than 6,000 years ago, and people still use the principle of rolling logs to carry heavy objects in daily production and life. The marine airbag is a flexible heavy object carrier designed according to the principle of rolling logs.

In 1981, Qiao Changlin, deputy director of the Xiaoqinghe Shipping Bureau of the Shandong Provincial Department of Communications, invented the first generation of lap rubber airbags with glued canvas as the skeleton material. On January 20, 1981, the first marine airbag launch test was carried out at Xiaoqinghe Shipyard, and it was a success in one fell swoop.

In October 1982, the first technical exchange meeting of ship airbag launching technology was held in Wuhan, which promoted the promotion and development of airbag launching technology.

In the 1980s, due to the influence of airbag manufacturing process and materials, the weight of airbag-launched ships ranged from 100 tons to 500 tons.

In the early 1990s, people innovated the process and materials of airbag manufacturing: nylon cord replaced canvas as a new skeleton material, and a new type of overall winding manufacturing process was developed.

Some manufacturers of marine airbags still use the old lap-joint production process. It is generally believed that the marine airbag produced by integral winding is more reasonable in structure, and has greater safety factor and bearing capacity.

Water-filled blasting test is an important means to test the performance of marine airbags.