Ships – Boats – boat component – or attachment – Protective cover or shield
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-05
2001-12-11
Swinehart, Ed (Department: 3617)
Ships
Boats, boat component, or attachment
Protective cover or shield
C224S406000, C135S088010, C114S343000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327993
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
None.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an overhead storage system, specifically to an overhead storage system attachable to a boat bimini top.
2. Description of Prior Art
The National Marine Manufacturers Association estimates that there are over sixteen million recreational boats in use today. These sixteen million boats consist mainly of outboard, stern drive, and inboard powered boats as well as personal watercraft and sailboats. One thing they all have in common is the need for storage within the cockpit and seating area. In particular, a convenient, safe, dry, and easily accessible compartment to store the personal items of the boat owner and passengers. As a result, boat builders have long sought to provide convenient, useful, and dry storage in the boats they manufacture. Commonly, a glove box compartment, seat back pouch, under-bow storage, or under-seat storage devices are built into new boats. These devices have their limitations. For instance, within a glove compartment personal items tend to become piled one atop another providing little or no organization. The same holds true seat-back storage. Under bow-storage provides abundant space but does not lend itself to organizing small personal items while requiring the boat operator or passenger to crawl on hands and knees to access the space. Under-seat storage further requires the boater to stand and remove the seat cushion to gain access. Furthermore, under-seat storage tends to be damp, and is not conducive to the orderly storage of personal items.
Inventors have devised other storage systems such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,374 which discloses a fabric windshield with storage pockets. However, this device only provides storage outside the cockpit, which possesses only two storage pockets and requires that special fittings be installed on the boat. U.S. Pat. No. 1,511,864 issued to Altmyer claims an overhead hat hanger for an automobile which is limited to top-hat storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,455 issued to Kitner claims a saddlebag attachable to the engine compartment of a jet-propelled personal water craft. Although useful, the Kitner invention is limited to use only upon a personal watercraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,114 issued to Bartholomew discloses a rigid boat top which attaches to a boat frame which permits the attachment of various accessories to the bow portion of the boat top such as solar cells, liquid cachment, and storage compartments. The combined weight of the panel members, solar cell, liquid cachment, and/or storage would crush the light weight aluminum structure of most bimini top frames. In addition, installation of any storage compartments is left up to the consumer to design, build and install.
Whether designed by boat manufacturers or by independent inventors, all of the storage devices previously mentioned suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) Access to these devices tends to be inconvenient because in most cases the boat operator must stop the craft, move to the location of the storage device, get on hands and knees, or lift a seat cushion before gaining access. This is most true of the seat back pouch, under-seat storage, and bow storage.
(b) Many devices do not provide an effective way to organize the items being stored resulting in the user depositing personal items in a cluttered and unorganized manner one atop the other in the storage space generally resulting in damage to the personal items.
(c) Accumulation of moisture in a storage device causes damage to the items being stored. Storage devices mounted outside the windshield tend to get wet from wind and wave spray. Storage space on or near the floor of the boat accumulate moisture from wet passengers or gear.
(d) Storage devices in present use require tools and special fittings to install tend to be used sporadically due to the time required and the inconvenience suffered.
3. SUMMARY
In accordance with the present invention an overhead storage system for holding objects removably mounted to a bimini frame comprises a multiplicity of storage pockets fixedly attached to a backing material, a pair of longitudinal support means removably housed along the longitudinal edges of the backing fabric, and an attachment means for removably mounting the longitudinal support means to the bow and stern end of the bimini frame.
4. OBJECT AND ADVANTAGES
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful storage system which attaches to water craft bimini tops while providing the greatest capacity of storage with the least amount of encroachment upon useable deck space and headroom. Further objects of this invention are as follows:
(a) to provide an overhead storage system that can be adjusted to fit different sizes of bimini shade cover frames;
(b) to provide a storage system that can be easily and conveniently removed, folded, and stored when not in use;
(c) to provide an overhead storage system which does not significantly interfere with headroom under the bimini shade cover;
(d) to provide an overhead storage system which is easily accessible to the boat operator and passengers;
(e) to provide an overhead storage system which will keep stored items safe and dry;
(f) to provide an overhead storage system whose installation does not require special tools or alterations to the bimini top or boat; and
(g) to provide an overhead storage system whose storage pocket configuration can be modified by the user.
Further objects and advantages of the current invention are to provide an overhead storage system which the boater can access while seated, is simple to install, aids boaters in keeping their craft organized, is lightweight, which does not increase wind noise inside the boat cockpit, and will not adversely effect the structural integrity of a bimini top. With the proliferation of hand held electronic devices the current invention provides a safe, readily accessible, and dry area for these devices, e.g., cell phones, global positioning devices, and small digital music players. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: D. 383112 (1997-09-01), Patterson
patent: 1511864 (1924-10-01), Altmyer
patent: 4466659 (1984-08-01), Carpenter
patent: 4756455 (1988-07-01), Kitner
patent: 4995537 (1991-02-01), Thedieck
patent: 5931114 (1999-08-01), Bartholomew
patent: 6257261 (2001-07-01), Johnson
Plager Mark H.
Swinehart Ed
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