Ships – Mother ship – floating landing platform – and harbor – Vessel carrier
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-03
2001-11-13
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Ships
Mother ship, floating landing platform, and harbor
Vessel carrier
C114S362000, C114S382000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314902
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Power boats commonly have a swim step or platform which is attached to or formed with the transom. Such steps or platforms extend rearwardly at the waterline from the boat transom. The swim platform facilitates boarding or exiting the boat. It further provides a seating area for swimmers and enables them to easily enter the boat from the water. Swim platforms are also used by water skiers as a staging or launch area.
More recently so-called “sky skis” have been developed. The sky ski is a water sport device for supporting a seated human rider while the rider and the device are towed behind a powered water craft. The sky ski has an elongate board to which a seat and foot holders are secured on the upper surface of the board. An elongate tee bar or strut extends downward from the board and a planing blade is secured to an arm generally parallel to the board so that the planing blade provides essentially no lift when the board is horizontal. The positioning of the seat and the planing blades at the rear of the board, the use of a single vertical tee bar or strut, the size of the planing blade and the positioning of the foot holders in front of the seat provides a water sport device which is relatively easy to ride, while at the same time being highly maneuverable and capable of high jumps while being towed behind a power boat.
An improved sky ski having a shock absorbing tower which supports the seat is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/453,658 filed Dec. 3, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Briefly, the present invention comprises a power boat having a transom and a swim platform or step generally projecting from the transom at a right angle at or near the water line
the improvement wherein the swim step is adapted to the launching of a seated rider carried on a sky ski having an elongated board and a tee bar normally extending from the board into the water, said swim platform having a slot adapted to receive said tee bar and extending from the port and/or starboard margins and running generally parallel to the transom to an extent sufficient to snugly receive the tee bar while said board is supported by the platform with the tee bar extending downwardly through the slot and below the platform into the water whereby a rider can mount the seat and secure himself to the sky ski and then readily launch himself and the ski by pushing out of the slot while the rider holds onto a tow rope.
The invention also comprehends the method of launching a sky ski from the swim platform of a power boat having a transom and swim platform extending substantially across the transom at about the waterline which comprises providing a slot extending from the port and/or starboard margins of the swim platform and running generally parallel to the transom,
providing a sky ski including an elongated board having upper and lower surfaces with a seat carried on the upper surface of said board and spaced above the board, a tee bar extending below the board, said tee bar being snugly received in said slot with the lower surface of said board resting on the swim platform
positioning and receiving a rider on said seat,
the rider manually grasping a tow rope near one end with the other end being affixed to the boat, and
the rider pushing himself and the board off of the swim platform and the tee bar out of said slot while continuing to hold onto the tow rope while the bot is underway.
The combination of a power boat having a transom with a swim platform across the transom, a notch or slot in the starboard and/or port margin of said swim platform; and a sky ski including an elongate board, a seat carried by said board above the upper surface of the board, a tee bar extending downwardly below the lower surface of said board, said lower surface of the board resting on said swim platform with said tee bar being snugly being received in said slot.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2821726 (1958-02-01), Correll
patent: 2883684 (1959-04-01), Correll
patent: 3613137 (1971-10-01), Eccles
patent: 3743046 (1973-05-01), Schmidt et al.
patent: 4462485 (1984-07-01), Terry et al.
patent: 5170740 (1992-12-01), Rottschafer
patent: 5222454 (1993-06-01), Meyer
patent: 5715770 (1998-02-01), Heyworth
patent: 6089174 (2000-07-01), Slikkers et al.
Jessen Robert H.
Murphy Michael
Morano S. Joseph
Mueth Joseph E.
Wright Andrew
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