Ships – Boats – boat component – or attachment – Inflatable
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-15
2001-01-16
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Ships
Boats, boat component, or attachment
Inflatable
C114S354000, C114S061250, C441S130000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06173671
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inflatable floatation devices used for recreational purposes that are for carrying on and as an inclusion with a hikers pack to form a pontoon type floatation device suitable for lake or stream travel.
2. Prior Art
Pontoon type float devices for transporting a person on a body of water are not new, with such devices ranging from inner tubes, for supporting a swimmer or fisherman, to large heavy rubber pontoons for supporting a passenger compartment for running rapids. An example of such a fisherman's float device is shown in a Creek, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,400 that shows a seat arranged between a pair inflated tubes that a fisherman sits on. Which arrangement is not a pontoon device like that of the invention.
Pontoon float devices are, however, shown in Steel, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,196; to Baker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,240; and to Merritt, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,688, with the Merritt, et al., device employing rigid pontoons. The Steel and Baker patents, like the invention, show seat structures supported between a pair of inflatable pontoons. However the pontoons of these patents are not light in weight nor are they readily filled and deflated. The pontoons of the Steel and Baker patents are unlike those of the invention that are easily transported, in a collapsed condition, by a single hiker who carries them in sacks, or the like, that are attached to a back pack, and with the back pack frame configurable to serve as a seat of the floatation device of the invention. Nor are the devices of these patents capable of being reconfigured into a sleeping platform that may include a tent, or the like, as is the invention, whose seat can be configured as a platform to support a person lying thereon, and with the pontoons having tabs fixed thereto for receiving tent posts fitted into holes in which tabs and pushed into the ground to receive a section of a tent material stretched there over.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a twin pontoon type water craft that includes a pair of individual pontoons that are each light in weight and collapsible so as to be fitted into and carried in a pocket of, or separate container for, suspension to a hikers back pack, which individual pontoons can be easily inflated and are for mounting to a seat structure that a back pack frame converts into and is attached across the pontoons for supporting an individual seated thereon and operating the water craft on a stream or lake surface.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a backpack frame that is arranged to be maintained by straps to a hikers back and can be reconfigured as the water craft seat and including strapping for mounting the seat between the pair of inflated pontoons.
Another object of the present invention is to provide, as an additional backpack frame capability, for its being reconfigured into a bed frame for suspension between the pontoons and to receive a mattress structure such as a pad, cot cover, inflatable mattress, or the like, to accommodate a person lying thereon.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a sleeve for individually containing inflatable pontoon bladders that include tabs secured at their ends and having a reinforced hole formed therethrough to accommodate a tent pole like structure fitted therethrough and passed into a surface, with a number of which poles arranged to maintain a tent type covering structure stretched there over.
Still another object of the present invention is to additionally provide, as an accessory to the invention, a spring bar tent arrangement for mounting to tent poles maintained to the water craft pontoons, where each of at least a pair of tent poles is bent into an arch with individual pole ends fitted through spaced tabs secured onto each of the pontoon outer sleeves with the tent pole ends each pushed into the ground whereon the pontoons are positioned.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a twin pontoon type water craft that is easily and conveniently transported by a single hiker in or mounted onto their back pack and with the back pack frame, and accessories capable of being reconfigured into components of the water craft, and accessories therefore.
The invention is in a readily and easily transportable water craft for supporting a person that is conveniently assembled from items transported in and on a backpack and backpack frame that is for transporting a person on a stream or lake surface. The water craft and its accessories are collapsible and deflatable so as to be capable of being transported in or hanging from a back pack of a single hiker. A bladder and outer sleeve for each pontoon is arranged to be collapsed so as to fit into a sack or sacks for attachment onto the backpack, with the backpack frame constructed to be folded and extended from its pack supporting attitude into a water craft seat and including strapping for mounting to the inflated pontoons. In which pack frame reconfiguration, a lower backpack waist support converts into a thigh rest with a backpack upper back rest to serve as a flexible cloth seat to receive the users buttocks therein, and with the backpack frame top or head end arranged to pivot and extend into a seat back, with pivot frame sides each to be rotated to extend oppositely and outwardly to rest upon and be strapped onto a midsection of an outer top surface of each pontoon, and the bottom or lower frame end to be extendable to support a persons legs resting thereon.
A collapsible paddle or pair of collapsible oars can be included with the invention, where, to accommodate oars, the frame sides are to each receive an oar lock fitted thereto to extend upwardly and with each oar lock to accommodate an oar fitted therein. The seat back is adjustable to be positioned in the plane of or planar to the seat bottom and its extension that supports the persons thighs and feet, providing a flat platform that can receive a cot cover fitted there over as a sleeping platform that accommodates a mattress, such as an inflatable mattress, whereon a person can lay down. Further, as an optional inclusion, individual tabs can be secured to extend outwardly from the surfaces of each of the pontoon sleeves that are to receive tent poles fitted therethrough that are passed into a surface, such as the surface of a beach whereon the water craft is positioned. With such tent poles to support a covering stretched therebetween forming a tent. The pole and covering combination can be at least a pair of telescoping poles each fitted through a sleeve or through loops formed in or extending from a section of a tent type material, with, when at least a pair of poles are each bent into an arc, and with the pole ends fitted through the holes in the tabs extending from the pontoon sleeves, a spring bar type tent is provided for covering the water craft.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5217400 (1993-06-01), Creek et al.
patent: 5290196 (1994-03-01), Steel
patent: 5692450 (1997-12-01), Alter et al.
patent: 5711240 (1998-01-01), Baker
patent: 5878688 (1999-03-01), Merrett et al.
patent: 6083062 (2000-07-01), Treloar et al.
Avila Stephen
Russell M. Reid
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