US2557972A - Slide-seat rowing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

June 26, 1951 N. J. JEWETT SLIDE SEAT ROWING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July l0, 1946 Fig.

ATTORNEY `lune 26, 1951 N. J. JEWETT 2,557,972

SLIDE SEAT ROWING APPARATUS Filed July l0, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. l0.

wmv! VIII/Ill A [NVM/TOR. NELSON J. Jgwf rr Mmmm Patented June 26, 1951 UNITED STATES Pri-Tsui* oFF-ICE SLIDE-SEAT ROWING APPARATUS Nelson J. Jewett, Arlingtonv County, Va.

Application July 10, 1946, Serial N'o. 682,562

(Cl. 9a.-7;)

6 Claims.

, l The invention relates to manually propelled boats' and has as an object the provision ofapparatus for readily adapting the common skin?, punt, canoe or the like for slide seat rowing.

Rowing, as it is done in shells, is recognized as a very beneficial and enjoyable form of exercise. However, this form of exercise is not'Y open to the masses for several reasons amongwhich are: that shell rowing to the novice is akin to tight rope walking in the diiiiculty encountered in keeping right side up, and learning to row in this manner involves numerous involuntary baths; rowing shells are expensive and are of no value for use in any other manner.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a unitary sliding seat and foot rest assembly structure that can be placed upon a seat or thwart of any' usual craft designed for rowing or paddling toadapt the same to propulsion in the well known racing manner, and be as read-ily removable to leave the craft in its former condition, to

- provide a, two purpose craft.

In usual iixed seat rowing the travel of the handle end of the oar is limited to the reach of the arms and movement at the hips. In sliding seat rowing the leg motion is added. It follows that oars dimensioned for fixed seat. rowing -are not usable with a sliding seat. There must be more travel of the handles which means that the grip of the oar must be further from the lock. Therefore. in accordance with the present invention supplemental Outrigger oar locks are provided so formed as to be readily placed and removed Without interference with later normal iixedseatpropulsion ofthe craft.

vof Figure l;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

.. g Figure 4. a detail section on line 14H4, of Fig- ;ure 1;-

Figure 5 is a detail section ofa roller shownr in sectioncn Figure 3. drawn to an enlarged Scale;

Figure 6 is a bottom, plan ViewY of the roller als- .sembly of Figure 5, omitting the supported parts;

Figure 7 is a plan View of a boat with the apparatus of the invention installed;

Figure 8 is a perspective view of a supplemental Outrigger oar lock of the invention;

Figure 9 is a plan view of the structure of FigureS;

Figure 10V is a detail section on line Ill-Ill of Figure .9;

Figures 11, 12 and 13 are perspective views on an enlarged scale of parts;

Figure le is a detail view in perspective and end section of a clamp; v

Figure 15 is a perspective View looking downwardly of a for-m of Outrigger', shown as applied to 'a canoe with a wall of the canoe in section;

Figure- 16 is a, central section drawn to an 'enlarged scale, of a pad shown in Figure 15;- and Figure 17 is a face view of the pad of Figure 16. 1 As shown, the sliding seat of the invention comprises a relatively thin member 2t formed with thickened edges 2l, 22, 2-3 adapted to rest on any usual thwart or seat 24. The entire sliding seat assembly or structure 90 should be designed to raise the seat surface as little as possible above the existing seat surface of the craft.

Therefore, the member 20 may be made of sheet metal or preferably of plywood. To achieve the stated objects of the invention, the assembly must be inserted with the thwart-seat Istill in place, the thwart being a hull stiflening member. Since the existing oar locks are to be utilized, the assemblyl must occupy substantially the same fore and aft, location as the thwart and hence will overlie the thwart. As described below, the assembly preferably has partial support 58 and 42 from the bottom of the hull. It is apparent that the entire support may thus be had, although partial or entire support by the thwart is preferred. The words over the thwart, as used in some of the following claims are, therefore, to be interpreted as location defining words.

To guide rollers upon which the seat. may slide, tracks. 2'6, 2l, 28 are Ishown and indicated as half round to coact with the grooved rollers. As shown three tracks and rollers are shown, giving three point` support for the sliding seat 29. The edges of the seat '29 are shown as beveled and the thickened edges 2|, 22, 23 are shown as inwardly .beveled to agree, by virtue of .which structure if; the rollers get off' the tracksv they will be guidedback. to place.-

To hold the member 20 in place on a thwart there are shown strips 30, 3l spaced downwardly by blocks or strips. 352. 33, the latter being equal thickness to, the usual thwart or boat seai- The structure may be clamped to the thwart by means of bolts 34 equipped with wing nuts.

To support a foot rest to which the driving reaction of the oars is transmitted, la, strut 35 is shown rigidly connected to the seat structure and carrying the foot rest structure 36.

As shown, the strut 35 comprises spaced bars having rigidly secured between them an upright 31 formed with a shoulder 38 to which the end of a narrow projection 39 of the base member 20 is secured, and the central track 26 extends to the upwardly projecting end 40 of the upright. There is thus provided a support Vfor the track 26 and a stop for forward sliding of the seat. rIhe triangular structure comprising the strut 35, the upright 31 and the portion 38 of the seat will the side of the boat. Coacting with the fitting 12 there is shown a clevis 13 and clevis pin 14 for its ready detachment. The clevis is shown as formed with a hollow internally screwthreaded socket to screw on the threaded end of the brace 1I, whereby the length of the brace may be adjusted. The upper end of the brace 1I may be welded to the socket 64 and arm 63.

For use with craft not equipped with a gunwale socket the form of Figure l5 may be utilized. As there shown the arm B3 which rests on the gunwale carries the central member 15 of a double hinge to one leaf of which is secured the bar 16 provide great strength and rigidity with lightness.

To support the strut from the bottom of the boat, indicated at 4|, an upright member 42 is shown received between the spaced members of the strut, and formed with a slot 43 to provide adjustment on'a clamp bolt 44. If desired the base of the upright 42 may be removably secured to the bottom of the boat by means of screw eyes 45 and links or hooks 46.

As shown the foot rest structure 36 comprises an upright central member 41 and an angle portion comprising a foot rest proper 48 and a cap member 49. Secured in the angle of these members there are shown spaced blocks 50, 5l through which and through the upright a clamp bolt 52 passes by which structure the foot rest may be angularly adjusted. End blocks 53, 54 are also shown secured in the angle. A strap 55 is shown providing toe loops 56 and 51 against which the forward pull on the sliding seat is exerted.

A pair of clamp bolts are shown to secure the foot rest structure to the strut 35 with extra holes for variation of the height of the foot rest and for length of limb of the user.

If desired a rear support 58, may be provided .made for length adjustment as illustrated.

As shown, the roller structure comprises a pair of metal angles 59, 60, rigidly connected by the axle 5| upon which the roller 25 freely revolves. lThe angles 59, 60 and the axle Bl are the only portions of the seat structure necessarily formed of metal.

4is shown a pin 65 rigid with the arm, entering the gunwale socket and retained by a cctter pin.

To brace the arm 63 horizontal braces 6B, 61 are shown, illustrated as continuous past the socket E4 to which the arm 63 and the braces v may be welded. To secure the braces to the gunwale for ready removal, a clamp 68 is shown at the free end of each brace.

As shown in Figure 14, the clamps are Swivelly connected to the ends of the respective braces, as shown in Figure 14 whereby the clamp nut 59 may be placed either inboard or outboard.

To protect the gunwale a shoe 10 is shown at the end of .the clamp screw.

To secure the diagonal brace 1I, a fitting 1 2 is shown which may be permanently attached to and to a second leaf is secured the angularly formed bar 11. A diagonal brace 1l is adjustably secured to the bar 11 and the ends of bars 16 and 11 carry pads 18. To clamp the bar 63 to the craft an end 19 is turned downwardly and equipped with a clamp screw 68 to press the inner pad against the wall of the craft.

The pad 18 may be formed from a readily available rubber cup filled with relatively soft but sufficiently resistant material as cork composition. To complete this form of the Outrigger the Ybraces and 61 may be constructed as in the first form described. l

The apparatus of the invention may be made and sold for use in existing boats or canoes. Also it is contemplated that boats may be especially designed as two-service boats and supplied to the user with the apparatus of the invention and with conventional oars, and oar locks. Sucha special boat might well have a somewhat less beam per length and slightly lower sides whereby they may be amply safe for quiet waters and yet -may go through the 'water with less resistance.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the invention within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim: i

1. Slide-seat rowing apparatus for use with manually driven craft having a thwart, comprising in combination: a base member for support on the thwart; a plurality of tracks secured to said base member in parallelism; a seat slidable on said tracks; a foot rest strut secured to said base member and projecting therefrom; and a foot rest secured to said strut.

2. The structure of claim 1 with means to adjust the foot rest on the strut for height and angularity.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the base member is formed with a central projection over and supported on said strut; the tracks are three in number, the central thereof extended on said projection; and the seat has means for threepoint support on said tracks.

4. In apparatus of the class described, in combination: a boat structure including a thwart; a slide-seat assembly comprising a base member to over-lie said thwart, a plurality of tracks arranged in parallelism upon said base member, a seat slidable on said tracks, a plurality of rollers projecting below said seat to coact with said tracks; and readily detachable securing means coacting between said thwart and said assembly acting to prevent relative movement therebetween.

5. In apparatus of the class described, in combination: a boat structure including a thwart; a slide-seat assembly comprising a base member to over-lie said thwart and including a narrowed projection to extend toward the stern of the boat; a pair of tracks secured in parallelism at oppo-v site sides of the base member in positions to be substantially parallel with the gunwales of the boat, a third track secured on said base member parallel with the rst named tracks and extending along said narrowed projecting; a seat slidable on said tracks, and readily detachable securing means coacting between said assembly and said thwart acting to prevent relative movement therebetween.

6. The combination of claim 5 with a foot rest strut secured to said base member and said narrowed projection; and with a foot rest secured to its free end.

NELSON J. JEWEI'I.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

Number Number Great Britain Oct. 13, 1939

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