Transportable pontoon

Details Transportable pontoon Transportable pontoon

1984-04-18

1985-12-31

Blix, Trygve M.

Ships

Float structure

14 26, 14 27, 114353, 114354, B63B 3536

Patent

active

045613761

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a pontoon which can be folded for transportation upon a road vehicle. The pontoon is particularly, but not exclusively, applicable for use in bridging or as a ferry.


BACKGROUND ART

The majority of known transportable pontoons have the disadvantage of being bulky and are disproportionately expensive to transport, a very large part of the transported volume being air. Attempts have been made to improve this situation by designing nestable pontoons, but even with these, a considerable amount of air space still requires transporting. Furthermore, most existing pontoons must be launched and assembled individually and their deployment can be a time-consuming task in any bridging or ferrying operation.
The present invention seeks to provide a foldable pontoon suitable for rapid deployment and having minimal enclosed air space in the transport mode.


DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

According to the present invention a transportable pontoon includes: a multiplicity of substantially planar hull members each having a keel edge and a parallel gunwale edge, which members are successively hinged in sealed relationship at alternately conjoined keel edges and gunwale edges so as to fold respectively inwardly and outwardly in concertina fashion; and a collapsible bulkhead member extending in sealed relationship between each inwardly folding pair of hull members adjacent each end thereof, which bulkhead members define with the hull members a sequence of parallel hulls when the pontoon is extended.
The bulkhead members may each conveniently comprise a flexible membrane which will fold between the hull members when they are closed towards one another. Alternatively each bulkhead member may comprise a centrally articulated pair of plates, hinged at their outer edges to the associated hull members so as to fold inwards when the pontoon is folded.
Sealed hinged inter-connection of the hull and bulkhead members may be conveniently achieved by the use of flexible joints sealed between the respective members. Alternatively, where a more robust construction is required, the hinges are preferably of conventional, non-sealing pin type in combination with a supplementary sealing means, for example, a flexible membrane sealed to the conjoined members in parallel with the pin hinge so as to bridge the gap between the members.
The hull members are preferably of a buoyant material and weighted at the keel edges so as to have position meta-centers to ensure that the pontoon will float upright when folded. This permits the pontoon to be speedily launched whilst still folded and easily unfolded whilst water-borne thus avoiding the necessity of employing cranes.
The pontoon preferably further includes at least one gunwale spacing beam for use when the pontoon is opened, which beam is provided with spaced engagement means successively co-operative with each conjoined pair of gunwale edges so as to locate them. The beam also provides transverse stiffening to the hulls.
The spacing beam may also be used to connect together two similar pontoons by co-engaging the outer-most gunwales of both, thereby to extend the sequence of parallel hulls. These spacing beams may additionally be arranged to serve as trackways or to support subsidiary trackways.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings of which
FIGS. 1 and 2 are a plan view and an end elevation view respectively of an unfolded, 6-hull pontoon,
FIG. 3 is a view of the same pontoon folded for transportation, and
FIG. 4 is a representation of the same pontoon during launch.


BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The six-hull pontoon illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises twelve identical trapezoidal hull plates 1 of a bouyant composite material such as a resin honeycomb within an alloy skin, each plate having a keel edge 2, a gunwale edge 3 and two bulkhead edges 4. The plates 1 are successively interconnected by inner hinges 5 at the keel edges

REFERENCES:
patent: 1750224 (1930-03-01), King
patent: 2480144 (1949-08-01), Laycock
patent: 2562431 (1951-07-01), Maile
patent: 2977606 (1961-04-01), Straussler
patent: 4386441 (1983-06-01), Lundholm

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