raft

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raft

a buoyant platform of logs, planks, etc., used as a vessel or moored platform

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

raft

[raft]

(engineering)

A quantity of timber or lumber secured together by means of ropes, chains, or rods and used for transportation by floating.

(geology)

A rock fragment caught up in a magma and drifting freely, more or less vertically.

float coal

(hydrology)

An accumulation or jam of floating logs, driftwood, dislodged trees, or other debris, formed naturally in a stream by caving of the banks.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Raft

(1) A transport unit composed of bundles of logs that is used for timber flotation. Usually rafts are towed by a vessel; more rarely they float with the current of the river. The shape of river and lake rafts is usually rectangular, and their volume may be as much as 27,000 cu m. Seagoing rafts are cigar-shaped, and their volume may exceed 1,500 cu m.

(2) A platform made up of several connected floating objects, on top of which a plank flooring is usually laid. People and cargo are transported over water on rafts. The rafts are propelled by poles, oars, or sails. For making the rafts, logs, reed bundles, floats from hollow objects (barrels or boxes), or inflated containers are used.

(3) A means for rescuing people; part of the rescue equipment of a vessel or aircraft.

References in periodicals archive ?

There will be prizes for the rafts that best represent the theme Chester Heritage and Transport through the Ages as well as for the fastest rafts.

Hard work in preparation for raft race

"For those of you who are not scared of getting wet, and want to have fun while raising money for charity, we still have equipment for one or two more raft race teams to build their rafts and compete on the day."

River festival on crest of a wave

RAFT will take place from Thursday, June 6 to Sunday, June 30.

Open air films will be part of arts festival

It would be a huge shame to lose the raft race because it is so well enjoyed as part of the ROM fortnight.

Race saved; Popular event

In "Rafts and Other Rivercraft in Huckleberry Finn", Peter Beidler (Lucy G.

Rafts and Other Rivercraft in Huckleberry Finn Peter G. Beidler

Since it is difficult to record the actual field data of the piled raft foundation during an earthquake, physical models can play an important role in the study of connected or disconnected piled raft foundations under seismic or horizontal loading.

Horizontal Loading Tests on Disconnected Piled Rafts and a Simplified Method to Evaluate the Horizontal Bearing Capacity

From a review of the literature, it appears that the traditional modeling of the floating raft system only concerns the vibration transmission along the supporting path (machineries-raft-base) while neglecting the influence of the nonsupporting attached equipment like pipes, cables, and so on.

Dynamic Modeling and Characteristic Analysis of Floating Raft System with Attached Pipes

The volunteers who come from across the company, including managing director Stuart Cameron, entered the life raft at 5pm on Friday and remained inside until 5pm on Saturday.

Life raft challenge is fund-raiser

The Life Raft will be anchored just off Tynemouth, Longsands next to the Lifeguard Station.

Offshore workers prepare for gruelling 24-hour challenge in North Sea survival life raft; The twelve volunteers from Maersk Training in Newcastle will begin the challenge off the coast of Tynemouth on Friday

To see a video of the raft race |visit www.dailypost.co.uk

RAFT RUN PROVES A SPLASH HIT

"A member of Wellesbourne Lions Club has a number of components available which could be used to construct a four or six seater raft and these parts could produce a survivor class raft or, for the more adventurous, there is a paddle wheel included which would make a mechanical class raft."