US2678018A - Portable boat - Google Patents

Description

P. L. CRISP PORTABLE BOAT May 11, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 7, 1950 FIG.2.

Inventor PHILLIP .L .CRISP May 11, 1954 P. L. CRISP 2,678,018

PORTABLE BOAT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. '7, 1950 Inventor Patented May 11, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PQRTABLE BOAT Phillip L. Crisp, Marion, N. C.

Application January 7, 1950, Serial No. 137,461

l1 Claim. (Cl. 114-123) The present invention relates to boats, and more particularly has reference to a portable selfpropelled boat which is highly stable in use, thereby providing a boat which nds particular application for sporting purposes such as fishing, racing and the like.

Heretofore, it has been proposed to provide water vehicles wherein the boat body has been stably supported to prevent accidental overturning of the boat, together with pedal-operated means for imparting the necessary propulsion to the boat. However, these prior assemblies have been relatively complex in structural detail and have not been especially suitable for fishing purposes.

An object of the present invention is to provide a boat of the character described wherein the body of the boat is provided with pontoons adjustably supported by the boat whereby the pontoons rnay be folded to a nested position relative to the boat body to permit ease of transportation and facilitate storage of the boat.

A further object of the invention is to provide a self-propelled boat wherein a pedal-operated drive connection is employed for imparting the necessary movement to the propeller, and a seat structure carried by the boat is adjustable relative to the pedal-operated member.

Another object of the invention is to provide a foldable portable boat for sporting purposes which can be easily and quickly folded for transportation purposes and made ready for operation in a minimum of time without the necessity of employing skilled help or requiring the use or numerous tools.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention consists in the details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings forining part of this application, wherein like characters denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which- Figure l is a plan View of the present invention` Figure 2 is a fragmental plan view showing the manner in which the pontoons are swingably mounted to the hull.

Figure 3 is a View in side elevation, partly broken away, of the construction shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmental side elevational view, partly in section, showing propellers and the connections therefor.

Figure 5 is a front view of the boat shown in Figure 1 with pontoons shown in adjusted positions by the broken lines.

Figure 6 is a detail view showing the pivotal connection between the hull and the pontoon supporting arm.

Referring to Figure l, l have shown a hull lil having a fiat stern 'il and an arcuate bow l2 which is curved downwardly, as at i3, merging with a fiat hull bottom It, The hull may be wood, metal or any other suitable material. The hull lli is stabilized by means of a pair of pontoons i5 supported on opposite sides of the hull by connecting elements denoted generally i5.

A seat structure il is supported by the gunwales of the hull preferably adjacent the stern, and a pedal-operated unit Ed is employed to impart movement to propellers It and 2t, and a rudder 2l is detachably supported by the stern of the boat, for the usual purposes.

The pontoons i5 may be of any desirable type and since each pontoon and its associated elements is similar in structural detail, the following description will be confined to a single pontoon. A pair of spaced support plates 22 are conveniently attached to the side of the hull It, and one leaf of a hinge 23 is attached to the upper end of the plate 22, while the other leaf is secured to the lower face of an arm 251, the inner end of the arm being adapted to rest upon the gunwale of the huil when the arm is in the horizontal position as shown by the full lines in Figure 5. A pair of spaced ears 25 are provided on the plate 22 near the lower end thereof, and a similar pair of ears 2t are carried by the lower face of the arm 2d intermediate the ends of the arm. A link 2l is pivoted to the ears 25 as shown at 28, and a link 2i? having an elongated slot Sil pivoted to the ears 26, as shown at 1i i. A boit wing nut assembly 52 pivotally connects the links El and 29, and by positioning the links in alinernent (Figure 5) and by drawing up the wing nut, it will be appreciated that the arm iii will be fastly supported in the horizontal position. On the other hand, by releasing the nut and bolt assembly, the pivotal connection between the .links may be broken to enable the arm and as a consequence the pontoon to be moved downwardly relative to the hull, as will later more fully described.

The outer end of each arm 2:5 is pivotally connected to an elongated link 33 by an adjusting device fill, the opposite end of the link 33 being provided with a swivel 35 which is mounted in a swivel plate Slt mounted on the upper surface of thel pontoon l5. A wing nut or other locking device 3l cooperates with the swivel and swivel plate 35 to lock the link 33 against pivotal movement. Manifestly, with the links 33 at right angles to the arms 211, the pontoons I5 will be firmly supported relative to the hull in the position shown in the full lines in Figures 2 and 5. If it is desired, however, the pontoons may be moved to a position at somewhat greater distance beyond the sides of the hull by manipulating the locking devices 3ft and 3l so that the pontoons may be swung about the point of pivot of the links 33 to the arms Ztl, as indicated in the broken lines in the above mentioned figures. To enable the pontoons to be folded to a nested position with respect to the hull It, the pivot between the links 2l and 29 is broken whereupon the arms 2t and the pontoons may be moved to the broken line location in Figure 5, whereby the will be substantially parallel to the sides of the hull with the pontoons located beneath the bottom of the hull. The boat may, of course, be very easily transported in this condition and will reduire considerably less room for storage purposes.

The seat structure. l l' comprises a suitable tubular framework se and each end of the framework has a pair of downturned legs and the downturned legs 39 are adapted to nt into sockets or seats Il@ provided at spaced intervals along each gunwale of the hull, and a suitable locking device :il is provided for each forward leg 3,9. An arm and back harness 42 is attached to the gunwales of the hull by a ring structure i3 forwardly of the seat and the harness is provided with buckles eli to enable it to be adjusted for the particular user of the boat.

The pedal-operated unit l comprises an upstanding supporting bracket E5 in which the shaft of the llt is journaled. A sprocket 4l is carried by the pedal shaft and a chain .18 is trained around the sprocket il? and a smaller sprocket carried by the shaft 50 which is journaled in a bracket 5 l. A gear G2 is supported by the shaft el! and meshes with a second gear 53 mounted on upper end of shaft 54. The shaft 54, as indicated in Figure 3, extends downwardly through the bottom lll of the boat at an relative to the bottom through a downwardly depending fin or keel-like member 55. The outer end of the shaft 54 extends through a suitable packing 5t to prevent the admission of water into the hull Hl.

A bracket 5l depends downwardly from the bottom of the hull of the boat and has spaced arms 53 and the arm 59 being angularly disposed with respect to the arrn 58. The propeller I 9, preferably of the three-blade type, is carried by a shaft the shaft 56 being rotatably mounted in the arm 5t. The shaft 54 is coupled to a horizontally extending fitting l by means of a univers ioint t?! of any suitable type and shaft 53 which supports the propeller is operably connected with the fitting Gi. The fitting 5l comprises body having an enlarged recess Gd and a rectangular opening t5 extends inwardly from the base of the recess. The shaft S3 is provided with a ball @t and the end of the shaft is squared, as shown at tl', the squared portion 6l being adapted to enter the rectangular opening G5. Manifestly, as long as the shaft 54 is turned, it will be appreciated that the itting 6l will likewise be rotated by virtue of the universal joint E2, but with the shaft 63 in the position shown in Figure 4, the shaft will not be rotated. However, if the shaft is moved to a position whereby the squared extension 6l is within the opening 65, the shaft and the propeller 20 will rotate simultaneously with the shaft 54.

In order to move the shaft 63 longitudinally, the shaft is provided with a bearing 66 which will enable the shaft to turn but will prevent lengthwise displacement of the shaft. An arm 69 extends upwardly from the bearing 38 and downturned end la of a connecting rod ll is pivotally connected to the arm, as shown at l2. The rod ll is journalled in bearings 73 attached to the bottom I4 of the hull l t. The rod 'il is provided with a control lever 'M which is parallel to the side of the hull, and the lever cooperates with a notched plate l5 supported by the side of the hull adjacent the seat Il. By placing the lever 14 in the desired notch, the lever and its associated parts will be locked in that particular position. Manifestly, to move the squared extension 61 into the recess t5, movement of the lever in the proper direction will swing the downturned end 7&3 toward the bow of the hull and this movement will be imparted to the arm E9, whereupon the shaft 63 will be moved forwardly, thus connecting the shaft 63 with the tting Si. The lever is then locked in this position and both propellers will turn so long as pedals are operated. To disengage the propeller 2S, the lever is swung in the opposite direction whereupon the shaft 63 will assume the position shown in Figure 4 and the fitting 6l will rotate independently of the shaft 63.

The operation of the boat may be briefly summarized as follows:

The boat is normally transported to the water body with the pontoons in the position shown by the dotted lines in Figure 5 and, before launching, the arms 2d are moved upwardly about the pivots, and the arms are maintained in the horizontal position by tightening the bolt and wing nut unit 32 when the links 2l and 29 are in alinernent. When the pontoons have been moved to the desired location relative to the side of the hull, the adjusting devices 3d are tightened to thus maintain the pontoons in the desired position.

The operator then sits in the seat with the harness in proper position and by operating the pedals 4S a propeller I8 will be rotated through the drive connection between the pedals and the propeller. f it is desired to also employ the propeller 2S, the control lever 'le is manipulated so as to move the shaft E3 to a position where the extension il? is lodged in the recess 35 and conscquently the propeller 2! will be moved in unison with the propeller i9. Of course the movement of the lever 1li in the opposite direction will disconnect the propeller from the coupling and the tting t! will turn independently of the propeller shaft G3.

The rudder 2! includes a blade 'IS of any suitable design, the blade being attached to a vertical rod or the like ll'. The rod 1l has an integral horizontally extending portion "I8 which terminates in a control element T9. As shown in Figure 3, a notched bar 8G extends transversely of the hull and conveniently attached at its ends to the gunwale. By disposing the horizontal portion 'I8 in one of the notches in the bar, the rudder will be maintained in that position. The rod Il is mounted to the stern of the boat for vertical pivotal movement by means of upper and lower clamps 8| and 82, respectively, the clamps being of the type which can be readily attached to or disconnected from the stern.

It will be appreciated, therefore, that I have provided a portable boat structure which is very stable, thereby making the boat especially adaptable for shing and the like. Furthermore, the boat may be readily dismantled and assembled by the user, and these operations can be accomplished by merely employing a suitable Wrench or wrenches. The boat in its folded or collapsed position may be easily transported and will occupy a minimum of storage space.

I claim:

In a portable boat of the character described, a, hull, arms extending outwardly from each side of the hull, a pivotal connection between each arm and the hull whereby each arm may swing from a horizontal position downwardly into substantial parallelism with the side wall of the hull, a hinged brace means cooperating with each arm and the hull to maintain said arms in the horizontal position, a pontoon located on each side of the hull, a link pivoted to the free end of each arm for movement about a vertical axis. a swivel connection between the link and the pontoon, and means cooperating with said pivotal connection between the link and arm to secure said link and pontoon in the desired adjusted position, the position of the link relative to the arm determining the distance between the side wall of the hull and the pontoon.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 219,405 Kunstadter Sept. 9, 1879 337,479 Clark Mar. 9, 1886 346,642 Clapham Aug. 3, 1886 1,005,478 Sandberg Oct. 10, 1911 1,125,881 Pivarchy Jan. 19, 1915 1,270,608 Davis June 25, 1918 1,369,670 Kauffman Feb. 22, 1921 1,576,409 Cashoty Mar. 9, 1926 1,709,219 Hille Apr. 16, 1929 2,299,178 Reiter Oct. 20, 1942 2,331,073 Harvey et al Oct. 5, 1943

Images