Ships – Boats – boat component – or attachment – Inflatable
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-26
2001-02-13
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Ships
Boats, boat component, or attachment
Inflatable
C441S040000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186088
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns improvements made to the fixing of accessories onto the flexible wall of an inflatable body, such as an inflatable buoyancy fender of an inflatable boat.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The mounting of certain, rigid and most often metallic, accessories of an inflatable boat must be made in a mechanical way, for example by bolting, force fitting, screwing (whether the accessory is itself threaded and screwed onto a fitting or else fixed with the aid of bolts),etc.
Up to the present time, this method of mechanical fixing has only been realized by attaching to the inflatable body, in particular to the boat's inflatable fender, a rigid mounting base, especially constituted by plastic or composite material, which is structurally equipped to receive the aforesaid accessories. Of course, the aforesaid mounting base must itself be fixed to the inflatable body in a reliable way: the real cost of the mounting base and its complex fixing to the inflatable body make this solution expensive and not very satisfactory because the presence of one or several rigid mounting bases in practice prevents the deflation and folding of the boat. In addition, in order to avoid the proliferation of such mounting bases all along the inflatable buoyancy fenders, the accessories are grouped together on one single mounting base or on a very limited number of mounting bases, with the result that the accessories are not as numerous as is desirable and/or are not located in favourable locations.
As an example, in
FIG. 1
is shown a mounting base of the previously mentioned type which is situated at the front end of an inflatable boat, where the two lateral buoyancy fenders
2
meet. The mounting base
1
, of complex shape, rests on the fenders
2
and fits the external contour and is shaped on top as a plate
3
on which are fixed various accessories such as a fairlead
4
, a cleat
5
, a pennant holder pole
6
, etc. In this example, the front edge of the plate of the mounting base is also indented in
7
and shaped as a rounded guide for the passage of a towing or mooring line.
In these conditions, this type of equipment is at the moment reserved for expensive inflatable boats, constituting the top end of the range, and there is currently a demand for a less expensive solution enabling the equipping of all types of boat, including boats of simple design, in a way such that the cost price is not excessive and that, in addition, the deflatable and foldable character of the inflatable boat is not destroyed.
The basic object of the invention is to propose a technically simple and financially cost-effective solution which enables the practical requirements to be met.
To these ends, the invention proposes a mounting base intended for the fixing of an accessory onto the flexible wall of an inflatable body, such as an inflatable boat inflatable buoyancy fender, which mounting base, being fitted in accordance with the invention, is characterized basically in that it includes a stack of several layers of flexible material fixed one to the other and passed through by at least one fitting appropriate for the fixing of the aforesaid accessory, the aforesaid mounting base being fixable to the flexible wall of the inflatable body, the number of layers of the stack being determined so that the thickness of the stack is approximately equal to the height of an anchoring part of the fitting.
Preferably, the lower layer of the stack has a dimension greater than that of the other layers, so as to be able to fit the shape of the flexible wall of the inflatable body to which it is fixed.
In a simple and cost-effective application, the layers forming the stack are bonded or thermally welded one to the other.
It is desirable that the stack of layers be provided with an outer backing sheet or film, so that the mounting base can be joined harmoniously to the inflatable body wall.
In practice, the fitting can be clamped in the stack, and more importantly this fitting, which may be in particular metallic, may be either tubular for receiving a complementary male part or may present a projecting rod for receiving a complementary female part; in both cases the fitting can be threaded to receive the complementary part by screwing.
In order to avoid the lower end of the fitting, which is rigid and aggressive, doing damage in the long term to the inflatable body flexible wall on which it may bear, it will be beneficial for the bottom layer, in the stack, to be solid and for the end of the fitting to be covered so as to provide protection between the fitting and the inflatable body wall.
As a result of layouts in accordance with the invention explained above, a mounting base is constituted which is cost-effective, as much from the point of view of the constituent material as that of the manufacturing process, which concerns a relative flexibility enabling it to easily fit, in view also if necessary of its relatively restricted dimension, the curvilinear contour of the wall onto which it is fixed, which once in place on the aforesaid wall forms only the strictly necessary projection in relation to the height of the fitting, particularly the anchoring height of the fitting, and which, in these conditions, can be arranged in any number in any location of the inflatable body without hindering unduly the operation of deflation and folding of the latter.
All the layouts in accordance with the invention can find a particularly interesting application for fixing the transom of an inflatable boat. An inflatable boat, comprising two lateral inflatable buoyancy fenders braced by a rigid bottom, at least transversely, is closed at the rear by a rigid transom which extends between the two fenders and which is fixed to them, at the same time that it is, underneath, fixed in a sealed way to the bottom. Currently, each curvilinear lateral edge of the transom is connected to the respective fender by a curvilinear U section of synthetic material which is bonded and/or welded to the fender: this technique is complex and expensive.
The implementation of a fixing technique by bolting, screwing or riveting would in particular enable this fixing to be simplified and the cost price to be lowered. The implementation of a fixing mounting base fitted in accordance with the invention enables access to one such simplified and less expensive fixing technique.
In accordance with the invention, the transom is fixed to each fender by means of at least one angle iron which is bolted and/or screwed and/or riveted on to at least one fixing component fixed to the aforesaid fender with the aid of a mounting base fitted as previously mentioned.
Although recourse may be considered to an angle iron extending over the entire curvilinear height of the lateral side of the transom, in the same way as the U section used up until the present, it is however more advantageous to have recourse to much smaller fixing pieces and to plan that each transom angle iron fixing onto the respective fender is constituted by two angle brackets located respectively at the top and at the bottom of the transom. By preference then, each angle bracket is bolted onto at least one approximately radial threaded rod supported on the fender with the aid of a mounting base.
For the connection of the transom to the angle brackets, it is possible to plan for the angle brackets to be projecting lugs forming an integral part of the transom; or again for the transom to be fixed to each angle bracket by screwing and/or bolting and/or riveting.
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patent: 3168751 (1965-02-01), Cavaignac et al.
patent: 4329751 (1982-05-01), Cigognetti
patent: 4449473 (1984-05-01), McCrory et al.
patent: 4628854 (1986-12-01), Harding
patent: 4938162 (1990-07-01), Hanlon
patent: 4966091 (1990-10-01), De Suarez D Anlan
patent: 4976213 (1990-12-01), Smith
patent: 5518431 (1996-05-01), Staley
patent: 0297920 (1989-01-01), None
patent: 0321235 (1989-06-01), None
patent: 576561 (1946-04-01), None
patent: 2054474 (1981-02-01), None
French Preliminary Search Report dated Mar. 24,
Garnier Gerard
Lock Frédéric
Kilpatrick & Stockton LLP
Morano S. Joseph
Muldoon Patrick Craig
Russell Dean W.
Zodiac International
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