Ships – Boats – boat component – or attachment – Collapsible
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-16
2001-07-24
Swinehart, Ed (Department: 3617)
Ships
Boats, boat component, or attachment
Collapsible
C114S347000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06263827
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements made to kayaks.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Rigid kayaks are already known, in particular made from wood or a plastics material, but all have the disadvantage of being difficult to transport because of their all-in-one structure and their heavy weight. It is not easy for a single person to carry such craft.
Other designs of kayak are known which can be dismantled and carried by an individual. However, these known craft have the disadvantage of being very complex in structure with a large number of pieces which have to be assembled so that assembly takes a very long time.
Pneumatically inflatable kayaks are known which have the advantage of being light and requiring little space when deflated and folded, which makes them easy to transport, but their navigability characteristics during use are poor. Craft of this type are mainly reserved for play and for children.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
There is a high demand for kayaks which are quick and easy to dismantle and can be folded to a pack that can be carried on a person's back and which have excellent navigation qualities during use (directional stability, speed, . . . ).
The objective of the invention is to meet this specific need, which is not satisfied by the known designs of kayak, and to propose an original structure for a kayak.
To this end, the invention proposes a kayak which is characterised in that it comprises:
a rigid base, made from several sections end-to-end joined in a water-tight hinge-mounting with one another so that they can be folded one on top of the other,
a rigid keel made up of several sections spanning the hinge-mountings of the base sections and retained in brackets fixed to said base sections,
two pneumatically inflatable side sections joined at the base to longitudinal edges of the rigid base,
a covering canvas joined to the respective top longitudinal edges of the two inflatable sides, said covering canvas having at least one opening for a user,
a seat located underneath said opening and
at least one rigid tensioning frame arranged at the rear of the opening and designed to brace the base, the inflatable sides and the covering canvas.
The kayak outlined above with a combined architectural design incorporates all the advantages desired by users.
The rigid base has a perfectly smooth and non-deformable gliding surface which facilitates high speeds. This base also provides a stiffening element which, in conjunction with a finely streamlined shape at the ends, imparts good directional stability to the craft. The pneumatically inflatable sides afford excellent floating properties, making it impossible to submerse the craft during practical use.
The combination of a rigid element split into parts (the rigid base) and flexible elements made from waterproof fabric (deflated sides, covering canvas) allow the craft to be folded up to form a lightweight pack requiring reduced space which will easily fit into one person's back-pack.
Finally, the craft comes apart into a very small number of constituent parts (in practice nine components for a one-man kayak) which are easy to assemble and dismantle, so that the craft can be very quickly assembled and taken apart (in practice in about 10 minutes).
In a preferred embodiment, each inflatable lateral side-piece consists of several tubes one above the other: consequently, each tube can be designed with an appropriate tapered shape, particularly at the ends, so that the assembly will exhibit the desirable streamlining.
Also in a preferred embodiment, the water-tight hinge-mountings of the successive base sections consist of strips of impermeable fabric joined to the adjacent edges of two consecutive sections; a base can therefore be formed with a bottom surface having virtually no projecting parts to speak of and which therefore forms an excellent gliding surface due to both its rigidity and its smooth contour.
In one advantageous embodiment, the rigid base sections are made from epoxy resin reinforced with carbon fibres. A base made in this way is still relatively light and acceptable in terms of cost whilst being extremely robust.
So that the craft is as compact and requires as little space as possible once deflated and folded, it is desirable to provide a rigid seat, which detachably hooks onto anchoring points at either side, provided respectively on the two side pieces.
In order to reinforce the transverse rigidity of the kayak and support the covering canvas correctly in a slightly rounded position with the convex aspect facing upwards, it is useful to provide transverse rigid arches underneath the covering canvas so as to support the latter and span the top edges of the inflatable sides; this being the case, so as not to hamper the user, one specific arch is located in front of the opening and the bottom edge of this specific arch has two cut-out sections in which the knees of the user can be placed and supported.
Also to improve the comfort of the user, one section of the rigid keel located in front of the seat supports an axially adjustable foot-rest.
In one specific embodiment, the base is divided into four sections placed end-to-end and hinge-mounted one with the other, this sub-division of the base representing a good comprise and providing sections of reasonable dimensions that will fit in a bag, whilst not being too great in number, and reducing the number of water-tight connections between them. In this design, once the sides have been deflated and the seat, tensioning frame, specific arch and keel sections dismantled, the kayak folds down on itself in a zigzag design and, once folded, the entire kayak and its dismantled accessories will fit in a back-pack that can be carried by one person.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4841899 (1989-06-01), Fleckles et al.
patent: 5915327 (1999-06-01), Elvestad
Kilpatrick & Stockton LLP
Russell Dean W.
Swinehart Ed
Zodiac International
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