Patent Application
20140216321
This invention relates to devices for cleaning boat hulls in the water. More specifically, this invention relates to a boat hull cleaning device which is particularly well suited for cleaning pontoons.
There are many pontoon boats at the docks and in the water in the lakes of the United States and other countries. Unfortunately, each pontoon that is left in the water accumulates unwanted material at the water/pontoon interface. The accumulations may be dirt, algae, slime, seaweed, shellfish, or other unwanted materials. In any event, accumulations of material on pontoons have the well-known effect of reducing the pontoon's efficiency to move through the water. Thus, more power, and hence, more fuel, is required to maintain a given speed. The well-known solution, of course, is to remove the accumulations frequently to maintain a clean, efficient pontoon.
In many instances it is necessary to frequently clean each pontoon to maintain an efficient boat. It is not uncommon to clean each pontoon on a weekly basis as a routine matter. Such routine maintenance amounts to a lot of work and any improvement which reduces the effort involved in cleaning pontoon hulls would be greatly appreciated by those cleaning pontoon hulls. Even a small improvement in efficiency of each cleaning effort would yield large total dividends because of the frequency of cleaning events required by routine maintenance.
There have been efforts to provide machines for cleaning boat hulls but machines can be expensive and require power for their use. There also have been efforts to provide hand tools which require only human power and which can be manipulated for cleaning boat hulls. For example, U.S. Patent No. Feb. 11, 1902 to Culpepper for APPARATUS FOR CLEANING BOTTOMS OF SHIPS, discloses an apparatus using brushes which are forcibly thrust against a ships bottom by the reactionary effect of a stream of water issuing from a nozzle which projects at right angles to the plane of the brush arms. U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,821 Jul. 24, 2001 to Hodder for CLEANING MEANS, discloses a boat hull cleaner having a telescoping handle with a buoyancy control means and a scrubbing brush. U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,290 Jul. 25, 1978, to Weiss for UNDERWATER BOTTOM CLEANING SYSTEM AND APPARATUS, discloses a system and apparatus for cleaning submerged portions of hulls with a cyclically movable brush having a motor driven by air or other gas. The Weiss apparatus has means having variable buoyancy to lift and lower the cleaning means of brush assembly into and out of varying cleaning relation with respect to the hull. U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,068 to Lester at al. for PORTABLE SCRUBBING TOOL discloses a pneumatic powered portable scrubbing tool having a scrubbing brush member that is rotated by an air powered motor.
While there has been interest in developing machines and tools for cleaning boat hulls, there remains a need for improvements with respect to tools for cleaning pontoons. Some tools would be too expensive for an average small boat owner. Other tools would be too difficult for one person to effectively manipulate. Thus, it would be desirable to have an economical, practical, easy to manipulate tool for cleaning pontoons of pontoon boats and the like. Accordingly the present invention provides a tool especially designed and particularly well adapted for cleaning the pontoons of a pontoon boat.
Further understanding of the present invention will be had from the following specification and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
A boat brush tool for cleaning a boat pontoon, said tool having a generally J-shaped tubular support member having an upper section for manipulating said tool and a lower section for cleaning a pontoon or the like, said lower section carrying a plurality of brush bristles and a having a shape curved to correspond to the outer surface of said pontoon.
Now referring to
As best shown in
It is contemplated that J-shaped support member 18 will have a lower section 22 that is shaped for use as a cleaning tool for pontoons or other suitable shapes of hulls in water. Preferably support member 18 has a lower section 22 which is curved to correspond to the shape of the pontoon to be cleaned.
Also, preferably support member 18 has a hollow interior 32. Hollow interior 32 gives lower section 22 buoyancy in water and hence applies force in an upward direction against pontoon 14 when tool 10 is in use. This upward force assists in cleaning pontoon 14. It is also preferred that J-shaped support member 18 will be comprised of PVC pipe or other relatively lightweight material which can be readily formed to conform to a desired shape to correspond to a particular pontoon.
While J-shaped support member 18 may be of various constructions, in the preferred embodiment shown in the figures J-shaped support member 18 includes a cap 34 for sealing the lower section 22 of member 18 and an upper elbow 36 and lower T-shaped joint 38 for respectively attaching and securing handles 24 and 26 to upper section 20 of support member 18.
It is preferred that support member 18 be portable for easy transportation in a boater's automotive vehicle. Since support member 18 is somewhat long, t is desirable that support member 18 be able to be broken down into two or more pieces. For this purpose, support member 18 is provided in two sections as shown in
Lower section 22 of support member 18 carries bristle sections 46 and 48 which extend from a metal sleeve 50 spirally wrapped around lower section 22 of support member 18. A gap 52 is provided between adjacent ends of bristle sections 46 and 48 to provide room for a keel of a pontoon. Optionally, a shoe or roller bearing can be attached to lower section 22 in gap 52 to be in contact with the keel of the keel to facilitate movement of lower section 22 along the keel during use of brush tool 10. Of course, various means for attaching bristles to lower section 22 may be employed within the broad scope of the present invention so long as such means is consistent with the purpose of brush tool 10.
In use, boat brush 10 can be brought to the water in two pieces and then assembled on site near the pontoon boat to be cleaned. Once assembled, lower section 22 of boat brush 10 is placed against the pontoon to be cleaned so that the curve of lower section 22 mates with the pontoon itself. Then, boat brush 10 is manipulated by the user whose hands can grasp upper section handles 24 and 26.
While the present invention has been disclosed in terms of a preferred embodiment, brush tool 10, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that this invention is subject to modification and variation within the broad scope of the invention and such modifications and variations are to be included within the scope of this invention which is limited only by the following claims.
