Nissen Huts Duxford Aero Museum - part of the Imperial War Museum. A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure made from a h
Nissen Huts Duxford Aero Museum - part of the Imperial War Museum. A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel, a variant of which (the Quonset hut) was used extensively during the World War II by the British Empire and military to build army camps and airbases. Between April 16 and April 18, 1916, Major Peter Norman Nissen of the 29th Company Royal Engineers began to experiment with hut designs. Nissen, a middle-aged mining engineer and inventor, constructed three prototype semi-cylindrical huts. The semi-cylindrical shape was derived from the drill-shed roof at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Nissen’s design was subject to intensive review by his fellow officers, Lieutenant Colonels Shelly, Sewell and McDonald, and General Liddell, which helped Nissen develop the design. After the third prototype was completed, the design was formalized and the Nissen hut was put into production in August 1916. At least 100,000 were produced in World War I.[2] Nissen patented his invention in the UK in 1916 and patents were taken out later in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Nissen received royalties from the British government, not for huts made during the war, but only for their sale after the conflict. Nissen got some £13,000 and the DSO. Two factors influenced the design of the hut. First, the building had to be economic in its use of materials, especially considering wartime shortages of building material. Second, the building had to be portable. This was particularly important in view of the wartime shortages of shipping space. This led to a simple form that was prefabricated for ease of erection and removal. The Nissen hut could be packed in a standard Army wagon and erected by six men in four hours. The world record for erection was 1 hour 27 minutes.[3] Production of Nissen huts waned between the wars, but was revived in 1939. Nissen Buildings Ltd. waived their patent rights for
Size: 5184px × 3455px
Photo credit: © Detail Heritage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -cylindrical, airbases., army, building, camps, corrugated, duxford, hut, ii, imperial, mu, museum, nissen, prefabricated, quonset, skin, steel, structure, war, world
