Ships – Boats – boat component – or attachment – With wheeled buoyant landing or launching aid
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-01
2001-10-09
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Ships
Boats, boat component, or attachment
With wheeled buoyant landing or launching aid
C114S353000, C114S354000, C114S061180
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298802
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a collapsible boat and a transport vehicle for transporting the collapsible boat. More particularly, the collapsible boat incorporates pontoons and the transport vehicle includes supports for the pontoons which are employed to move the collapsible boat between a wide boat configuration and a narrow boat configuration.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The following United States patents disclose boat structures which can be collapsed to provide an alternate boat configuration: U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,837, issued Dec. 16, 1975, U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,728, issued Mar. 10, 1959, U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,169, issued Mar. 20, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,536, issued Sep. 7, 1976, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,444, issued Jul. 18, 1.961. These patents are believed to be representative of the current stage of the prior art and they fail to provide any teaching of the combination of the structural elements disclosed and claimed herein.
My U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/343,331, filed Jun. 30, 1999, discloses a collapsible boat structure in the form of a pontoon boat which incorporates a plurality of boat deck panels, including first and Second center deck panels which move from a substantially horizontal orientation to a substantially vertical orientation during collapse of the boat. The boat incorporates structure utilized to narrow or widen the boat as desired.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The invention disclosed and claimed herein includes a collapsible boat having a plurality of boat deck panels similar in construction to the boat deck panels shown in my prior application. However, in accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a transport vehicle for the boat, rather than the collapsible boat itself, incorporates structure for changing the configuration of the collapsible boat. This occurs when the collapsible boat is positioned on the transport vehicle. Such an approach is advantageous in that the structure employed to collapse the boat is not subjected to water exposure when the boat is on the surface of the body of water. Furthermore, decrease in the boat width while the boat is afloat could, under certain circumstances, adversely affect boat stability.
The collapsible boat disclosed and claimed herein has a first and a second configuration, the collapsible boat being wider in the first configuration than when it is in the second configuration.
A transport vehicle, such as a trailer, is employed to support and transport the collapsible boat, the transport vehicle including boat collapsing means engageable with the collapsible boat to change the configuration of the collapsible boat from the first configuration to the second configuration while the transport vehicle supports the collapsible boat.
The collapsible boat includes first and second pontoons and the boat collapsing means includes first and second pontoon supports for respectively accommodating the first and second pontoons and pontoon support mover means for moving the pontoon supports and any pontoons accommodated thereby toward one another.
Other features, advantages, and objects of the present invention will become apparent with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2876728 (1959-03-01), Luger
patent: 2992444 (1961-07-01), Schuler
patent: 3925837 (1975-12-01), Miller
patent: 3978536 (1976-09-01), Howe
patent: 4909169 (1990-03-01), Skandaliaris et al.
Lampe Thomas R.
Morano S. Joseph
Vasudeva Ajay
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