US20070068442A1

US20070068442A1 - Inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide

Info

Publication number: US20070068442A1
Application number: US11/523,538
Authority: US
Inventors: Yu-Yi Li
Original assignee: Shan Shin Rubber Corp
Current assignee: SHAN-SHIN RUBBER Corp; Shan Shin Rubber Corp
Priority date: 2005-09-23
Filing date: 2006-09-20
Publication date: 2007-03-29
Also published as: TWM285525U

Abstract

An inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide is provided with a bow and a stern which are extended upward, along two sides of a hull. The bow and stern are respectively formed with A-shape openings, plural independent air bags are transversally crossed over two sides of the hull, and at proper positions of seems between the hull and a bilge are opened with drain-holes. Upon surfing in a riptide, the inflatable boat can be keep on sailing steadily, and if the boat is turned over, persons on-board can be prevented from being pressed under the bilge, and the hull can be put straight quickly and easily.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide, and more particularly to a inflatable boat which can keep on sailing steadily under a poor condition such as a riptide or an unstable wave, having an unique design that can facilitate a life-saving without being easily turned over, and that a hull can be quickly and easily put straight after being turned over.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
As a popularity of marine sports, a chance to use an ordinary inflatable rubber boat is largely increased. As the inflatable rubber boat is easy to use and collect, it is the most accepted boat by an ordinary person. In addition, the inflatable rubber boat can be also used for a marine life-saving and an alerting for related marine activities, and can be turned into a lifeboat with power after an outboard motor is externally installed; therefore, its application is rather broad. Referring to FIG. 1, a hull a of a conventional inflatable boat is primarily composed of a frame a1 having an arc edge at one end, a bilge cover surface a2, and a vertical plate a3. The other end opposed to the arc edge of frame a1 is transversally provided with the vertical plate a3, to close an embosomed area formed by the frame a1, and a bottom rim of the embosomed area and a bottom rim of the vertical plate a3 are fixed at an edge of the bilge cover surface a2, enabling each part which is connected to the bilge cover surface a2 to have no gap for leaking. The frame a1 and the bilge cover surface a2 can be made by overlapping a plurality of air bags, to form a plurality of air chambers a4 for improving safety. On the other hand, along an outermost rim of the frame a1 is provided with a long and flat buffer band a5, and at least one drain-hole a6 is opened at an end of the vertical plate a3 close to the bilge cover surface a2. The drain-hole a6 is sheathed to a water-proof soft sheath a7 to expel a bilge water in the boat. In using the boat, as a front end of the hull a and the hull a are approximately at a same plane, the conventional boat is directly collided with waves stirred on a surface of water under a poor condition such as a riptide or an unstable wave, which results in that the hull a is sailing at an extremely unstable condition, causing an operator difficult to manipulate a direction of boat movement. Moreover, if the boat is used for saving lives, victims will always grab on the buffer band at the outer edges of two sides of the frame to step on the boat, when the boat is approaching to them. However, under a critical condition, most of the victims are in a nervous situation and therefore are easy to rush to board the boat, which will cause water to come in from two sides of the boat at a same time. Therefore, under a condition that the water is poorly drained, the boat will be turned over easily. In addition, after the conventional boat is turned over, the edges of frame will be tightly affixed on the surface of water to result in a vacuum suction force, which enables the persons in the water difficult to put straight the boat under a condition that there are not enough pivots for exerting force, therefore creates more severe casualties. Accordingly, an inflatable boat structure which is not easily turned over under the poor condition, facilitates a rescue to the victims, and allows the persons in the water to quickly and easily put straight the boat, to reduce the casualties when rescue crews are proceeding with an emergency help, is designed by the present inventor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of present invention is to provide an inflatable boat structure which can keep on sailing steadily under a poor condition such as a riptide or an unstable wave, can facilitate a life-saving without being easily turned over, and can be quickly and easily put straight after being turned over.
Accordingly, an inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide of present invention includes a hull which is formed by looping and connecting a plurality of independent tubular air bags, and a bilge periphery which is constituted by aligning the tubular air bags is fixed on a bottom surface of the hull, wherein two ends of the tubular air bags at two sides of the hull are extended outward and upward respectively to two ends for forming a bow and a stern which are provided with A-shape openings respectively, plural independent air bags are transversally crossed over two sides of the hull to form connection parts, and the bilge is formed by aligning the plural tubular air bags along the hull. Therefore, at proper positions of seems between the hull and bilge are opened with a row of drain-holes. In addition, inner rims of the A-shape openings at the bow and stern are provided with fastening pieces for fixing object-placing nets; whereas at a proper position of the connection part on a bottom rim of the A-shape opening at stern, is provided with a hard board to install an outboard motor for providing power.
According to the aforementioned structures, when the boat is sailing, the bow is at a front end of the sailing direction, and waves stirred on a surface of water will be flushed in from the A-shape opening at the bow, and will be expelled out from the A-shape opening at the stern and the drain-holes on the bottom of hull. As the drain-holes of bilge are lower than the tubular air bags at sides, the water is expelled naturally. Therefore, the waves will not directly impact the bow to cause the boat difficult to control, which results in a very stable sailing. In addition, the water which flows into the hull will be expelled again through the drain-holes. If the boat is used for saving lives, victims can grab on and step on the periphery of bow to board the boat from the A-shape openings, when the bow is close to the victims; and the victims who have been rescued can sit on the object-placing net at the stern to balance the entire hull. Moreover, at the proper position of connection part on the bottom rim of A-shape opening at the stern, is provided with the hard board, for facilitating the installation of the outboard motor for providing power, so as to change the inflatable boat of present invention into a power boat.
To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a conventional inflatable boat.
FIG. 2 shows a top view of the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows a side view of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the present invention.
FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of using the present invention for saving lives.
FIG. 6 shows as a schematic view of expelling water when the present invention is moving on a surface of the water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, an inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide of present invention includes a hull 10 which is formed by looping and connecting a plurality of independent tubular air bags, and a bilge 20 periphery which is constituted by aligning the tubular air bags is fixed on a bottom surface of the hull 10, wherein two ends of the tubular air bags at two sides of the hull 10 are extended outward and upward respectively to two ends for forming a bow 11 and a stern 12 which are provided with A-shape openings 11 a, 12 a respectively, plural independent air bags are transversally crossed over two sides of the hull 10 to form connection parts 13, and the bilge 20 is formed by aligning the plural tubular air bags along the hull 10. Therefore, at proper positions of seems between the hull 10 and bilge 20 are opened with a row of drain-holes 21. In addition, inner rims of the A-shape openings 11 a, 12 a at the bow 11 and stern 12 are provided with fastening pieces 14 for fixing object-placing nets 14 a; whereas at a proper position of the connection part 13 on a bottom rim of the A-shape opening 12 a at stern 12, is provided with a hard board 13 a to facilitate an installation of an outboard motor 2 for providing power.
Referring to FIG. 5, in using the present invention for rescuing, the A-shape opening 11 a at the bow 11 can be used as a boarding position for a victim 3, which is provided with more grabbing positions for the victim 3, and can prevent the hull 10 from being turned over due to that water is a poorly expelled from a leaking in at multiple locations.
On the 6other hand, referring to FIG. 6, when the boat is sailing, the bow 11 is at a front end of the sailing direction, and waves stirred on a surface of water will be flushed in from the A-shape opening 11a at the bow 11, and will be expelled out from the A-shape opening 12 a at the stern 12 and the drain-holes 21 on the bottom of hull 10. As the drain-holes 21 of bilge 20 are lower than the tubular air bags at sides, the water is expelled naturally.
Accordingly, under a poor condition such as a riptide or an unstable wave, the bilge water in the inflatable boat structure of present invention can be quickly expelled out, and the inflatable boat can still keep on sailing steadily, which will facilitate to save lives without being easily turned over. In addition, the boat can be quickly and easily put straight after being turned over.
It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. An inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide comprising a hull which is formed by looping and connecting a plurality of independent tubular air bags, and a bilge, a periphery of which is constituted by aligning the tubular air bags, which is fixed on a bottom surface of the hull; two ends of the tubular air bags at two sides of the hull being extended outward and upward respectively to two ends for forming a bow and a stern which are provided with A-shape openings respectively, plural independent air bags being transversally crossed over two sides of the hull to form connection parts, and at positions of seems between the hull and bilge being opened with drain-holes.

2. The inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide according to claim 1, wherein the drain-holes are opened as a row.

3. The inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide according to claim 1, wherein inner rims of the A-shape openings at bow and stern are provided with fastening pieces for fixing object-placing nets.

4. The inflatable boat structure which is stabilized upon surfing in a riptide according to claim 1, wherein at a position of the connection part at a bottom rim of the A-shape opening at stern is provided with a hard board to facilitate an installation of an outboard motor for providing power.