Marine propulsion – Paddle wheel – Having means to reposition paddle wheel assembly
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-29
2001-07-24
Basinger, Sherman (Department: 3617)
Marine propulsion
Paddle wheel
Having means to reposition paddle wheel assembly
C114S162000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264518
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART
This invention relates to the propulsion and steering of paddle wheel boats, more particularly a propulsion and steering unit which may be fitted to an existing craft or to any specially designed craft, to which addition of said unit renders it capable of navigating any and all navigable waterways, as well as, waterways heretofore considered difficult or impossible to navigate, such waterways are shallow and contain logs, stumps, sandbars, mud-flats, vegetation in the water, growing out of the water and mud and hanging over the waterway or streams, and such waterways comprise swamps and marshes with dense aquatic growth such as moss, cattails and saw-grass, or heavy brush growth with low hanging limbs.
No other single craft available today has the capacity to navigate or traverse, with ease and maneuverability, the wide range of terrain which can be traversed by the vessel of this invention. An air boat is capable of traversing shallow, dense aquatic growth marshes. However, due to the excessive height of the propeller cage, they cannot traverse under low hanging limbs. Due to the propulsion by movement of air, the air boat has very low traction and no starting traction on mud-flats, sandbars etc. Also, in most areas, the excessive noise of the air boat is highly objectionable. Craft, such as go-devils, equipped with long, swiveling drive shaft and a conventional propeller, are capable of traversing fairly shallow water and low hanging limbs, but become fowled in aquatic vegetation such as moss and saw-grass. Existing paddle wheel boat designs experience steering problems when attempting to traverse marshy areas of dense moss and saw-grass growth due to the fact that the steering is mounted at the stem of the boat and is designed to maneuver the stem of the boat to the side to align with the bow of the boat to effect change of direction. Another problem common to present paddle wheel boat design is that the entire weight of the propulsion device is cantilevered behind the stem of the boat causing a severe imbalance of weight distribution toward the stem of the craft. This limits the craft to very slow speeds of operation because, when powered up, the nose of the boat rears upward and the paddle wheel starts to dig in and becomes submerged past the point of effective operation in that an excessive downward thrust is transmitted to the stern of the craft by the upswing of the deeply submerged propelling paddles.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a means of traversing all varieties of terrain described herein with a single craft. Moreover, the vessel is capable of traversing such terrain with ease and without damage to elements of the vessel. The vessel easily traverses shallow, heavily vegetated waterways.
It is another object of the invention to provide a highly maneuverable paddle wheel boat. This is accomplished, in part, through the relatively light weight of the unit affording a shallow draft boat, but mainly accomplished by the large bow mounted rudder.
It is another object of the invention to provide a unit with uniform weight distribution of the members to maintain a level trim under all operation conditions thereby maximizing the efficiency of the design.
It is another object of the invention to provide a safe, economical, dependable, low maintenance, quiet and efficient means of traversing difficult, as well as common, waterways for the purposes of recreation, hunting, fishing, exploration, search and rescue operations, or any other effort requiring access to dense, swampy or marshy areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 254,878 to Little, issued Mar. 14, 1882, shows “train boats” which are connected in series with a rear mounted paddle wheel and steam engine and have a pivotable fixed front rudder and side flanges or rudders for navigating low rivers.
U.S. Pat. No. 618,555 to Belz, issued Jan. 31, 1899, shows a pedal operated paddle wheel propulsion system for a boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,294,104 to Waddington, issued Aug. 25, 1942, shows an inboard engine operating a dual paddle wheel with springy blades for a hydroplane boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,711,708 to Thornburg, issued Jun. 28, 1955, shows a rear mounted engine and paddle wheel for a row boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,437 to Kilmer, issued Feb. 23, 1965, shows a dual paddle wheel system with independent gearing for a pontoon boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,988 to Caton et. al issued Dec. 2, 1975, shows a detachable steering rudder attached at the rear of a canoe with pontoons.
British Specification 926,224 by Greenfield, shows a rear mounted engine, paddle wheel and steering rudder for a power boat.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION
This invention provides a highly maneuverable paddle wheel vessel which can navigate very shallow streams, marshes, and such like. The vessels of this invention can operate at relatively high speeds and yet are practically amphibious. This is accomplished, in part, by having a balanced, relatively light weight unit affording a shallow draft, but is also accomplished by the unique propulsion and steering means.
One embodiment of the invention provides a motor propelled vessel adapted for navigating a relatively shallow stream, marsh and such like, comprising
a vessel having a bottom and four outer sides and being designed to float on water having a shallow draft with a bottom having a cross-section which is substantially rectangular, with a stem section and a bow section which connect to at least two substantially vertical sides at the corners of the rectangular cross-section adapted to navigate shallow streams and waterways;
said vessel having a propelling means located at the stem section of said vessel comprising an engine means mounted inboard of said vessel and having a transmission means connecting said engine means to a paddle wheel propulsion means, said paddle wheel propulsion means being located outboard of said vessel near the stern of said vessel and said engine means being adapted to rotate said paddle wheel propulsion means in the desired direction and at a desired speed by changing the settings of said transmission means and the operating speed of said engine means; and
said vessel having a steering means located at the bow section of said vessel with a steering rudder means located outboard of said vessel at the bow section of said vessel and a steering transmission means connecting said steering vane means to a steering controller means located inboard of said vessel at the front of said vessel, and said steering controller means being adapted to be moved to a desired setting to move the steering rudder means to a desired position.
One embodiment of the invention provides a unique propulsion means for a vessel adapted to navigate a shallow stream, marsh and such like comprising:
an engine means mounted inboard of said vessel near the stem section said vessel connected to a transmission means and adapted to transmit rotational movement to a shaft of said transmission means at selected variable speeds and variable power levels and
said transmission means being connected to a paddle wheel drive means located outboard of said vessel near the stem of said vessel and said transmission means adapted to transmit said movement imparted by said engine means in the form of forward or reverse rotation of said paddle wheel drive means and said transmission means adapted to change the speed and direction of said rotation and
said paddle wheel driving means having at least one substantially horizontal rotatable shaft bearing at least two hubs at spaced locations on said shaft, and at least a pair of radially extending spokes with one spoke mounted on each hub, with at least one paddle wheel blade being mounted on each pair of spokes mounted on said hubs on said horizontal rotatable shaft, with each pair of spokes being at a spaced location from each other around the circumference of said hubs, with each spoke and paddle wheel blade extending generally radially from the centerline of said horizontal rotatable shaft so that each of said paddle wheel blades when extended downward wi
Basinger Sherman
Nisbett Robert
LandOfFree
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