Ships – Fenders – Roller
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-15
2001-12-25
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Ships
Fenders
Roller
C114S219000, C114S364000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06332421
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to boat fenders, and more particularly to a system including a fender which is rotatable on a spindle extending in a lateral arm detachably connected to a locking assembly permanently attached to the stem or gunwale of a watercraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
The purpose of a boat fender or bumper is to protect the stem, transom, hull, gunwale or bonding flange of a boat from being damaged when moored to a fixed or floating dock, slip, pier, piling or similar structure. As used herein, “fender” means a device which hangs over a stem or fantail or a gunwale, while “bumper” means a device, similar to a car bumper, attached to a gunwale, hull, stem or fantail. A fender or bumper also protects the mooring structure from being damaged by the boat. A moored boat does not remain stationary but floats up and down and back and forth in the water while banging, bumping and rubbing up against the mooring structure. As the amplitude and frequency of the waves increase, the pitching and rolling of the boat intensifies, increasing the likelihood that the boat will be damaged. Consequently, many recreational boaters consider fenders or bumpers to be necessary accessories.
A type of boat fender in wide use is in the form of a cylindrical, elongated tube, rounded at both ends and filled either with air or a cellular foam inner core to cushion and absorb the shock of the boat bumping and banging against the mooring structure. Typically, the fender has a nylon cord at its upper end which is tied to a cleat on the gunwale. The fender simply hangs down from the gunwale to protect the hull, or hangs over the stem to protect the transom. A disadvantage of this type of fender when a boat is moored at a dock is that as the boat pitches and rolls, the fender does not stay in place but is turned sideways or lifted up by the waves onto the deck, allowing the boat to go under the dock where it can suffer serious damage. U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,893 to R. P. Ellison discloses a fender which does not pop up, even under rough conditions. The fender has a cylindrical body and upper and lower pairs of encircling rings which project outwardly. The rings contact both the hull and dock. Motion of the boat relative to the dock causes a rolling motion of the fender which is either horizontal or slightly upwardly arcuate. The limited fender motion is due to the parallel tracking caused by the two pairs of rings and the length of the line tying the fender off to a cleat on the gunwale.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,997 is directed to a boat fender which is particularly suitable for protecting a hull during passage through a canal lock. The fender is formed from two elongated sheets of flexible fluid-tight material sealed together about their peripheries and divided by a transverse seal into an upper and a lower compartment. The upper compartment contains air and is thicker than the lower compartment which is filled with a heavier substance such as water and serves solely as a weight to keep the fender from being blown about.
Another type of boat fender designed especially for low freeboard craft such as fishing boats and ski boats has an L-shape. A large cylindrical portion hangs down from the gunwale and an integrally attached and orthogonal neck portion has an aperture through which a nylon cord is inserted for attaching the neck to a cleat. Because such fenders hang freely, they are susceptible in rough water to being tossed up onto the gunwale, leaving the boat unprotected. U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,837 to T. E. Harvey discloses a boat bumper which overcomes this problem. A rectangular-shaped member with flexible battens has a flexible upper portion resting on the gunwale, and a deformable body which can be conformably positioned contiguous to the hull. U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,729 discloses a “fender” which according to the terminology used herein is a bumper. The J-shaped fender has a hook portion shaped to hook under the bond flange of a personal watercraft, allowing easy attachment and detachment, and at least one flex portion conformable to both the front hull and rear section of the craft.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a boat fender system which permits a fender to be rapidly deployed from a preselected permanent location on a stem or fantail or a gunwale.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system which permits a fender to remain in the same position relative to the boat portion it protects regardless of sea state.
A further object of the invention is to provide a system which permits a fender to be quickly disconnected from an assembly rigidly attached to the boat.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a system wherein a fender comes into rolling contact rather than frictional contact with the boat and mooring structure.
Other objects of the invention will become evident when the following description is considered with the accompanying drawing figures. In the figures and description, numerals indicate the various features of the invention, like numerals referring to like features throughout both the drawings and description.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention which provides in one aspect a boat fender system including: a marine fender having a longitudinal axis; means for mounting the fender to be freely rotatable about the axis and maintaining the fender in a preselected orientation and fixed position relative to a boat hull; and means for detachably connecting the fender to the boat.
In another aspect the invention provides a method for deploying a cylindrical fender from a boat. The method includes the steps of: mounting the fender to be freely rotatable about its longitudinal axis; and maintaining the fender in a generally vertical orientation and in a fixed position relative to the boat such that when the fender is interposed between the boat and a mooring structure the fender comes into rolling contact with the boat and structure.
In still another aspect the invention provides a boat fender system including a U-shaped member having a linear spindle portion, a linear elbow portion rigidly attached and orthogonal to the spindle portion, a leg portion rigidly attached and orthogonal to the elbow portion, and a linear lateral arm portion rigidly attached and orthogonal to the leg portion. The arm portion has an end and three holes proximate to the end spaced about 90 degrees apart. The system further includes a marine fender having a body portion cylindrical about a longitudinal axis and determined by a wall to which are circumferentially attached top and bottom portions each of which has a central hole. The holes are opposed ends of a tube disposed along the longitudinal axis. The spindle portion is closely received within the tube so that the fender is freely rotatable about the spindle portion. The system further includes a locking assembly having a rectangular enclosure portion with a base, opposed longitudinal sides rigidly attached and orthogonal to the base, and opposed lateral sides having opposed central holes which are rigidly attached and orthogonal to the base and longitudinal sides. The base is rigidly attached to a boat at a preselected location. The enclosure portion is rigidly attached to an arm engagement portion having a horizontal bore and a vertical bore. The arm portion is received through the opposed central holes and within the horizontal bore where it is maintained in a preselected orientation by a retractable plunger tip disposed within the vertical bore and in penetrating contact with one of the arm portion holes.
REFERENCES:
patent: 212143 (1879-02-01), Hulster
patent: 281280 (1883-07-01), McAllister
patent: 799645 (1905-09-01), Grimm
patent: 980964 (1911-01-01), Kalous
patent: 1105461 (1914-07-01), Shipman
patent: 1145749 (1915-07-01), Claud
patent: 1182400 (1916-05-01), Montanari
patent: 1416155 (1922-05-01), Ahola
patent: 2761410 (1956-09-01), Marr
patent: 3005435 (1961-10-01), Roach
patent:
Leonard Larry
Lucchesi Frank
Diamond Donald
Morano S. Joseph
Vasudeva Ajay
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