This invention is directed toward user-friendly accessories found on recreational boats such as slidably adjustable boat seats or tables or the like which are mounted on the boat deck by vertical posts or pedestals. More specifically the invention is aimed at providing additional support for the accessory with a minimum amount of added bulk or weight and without detracting from the appearance of the accessory or from its adjustability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,663,057 illustrates and describes a pedestal-mounted boat seat commonly found on recreational boats. U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,887 describes in detail how the boat seat is coupled to the supporting pedestal and is mounted onto a sliding mechanism to permit the user to adjust the position of the boat seat by turning it to a desired facing and to adjustably slide it forward or backward, sometimes referred to as “fore and aft”. For those reasons the aforementioned patents are incorporated herein for reference and for that purpose only. As described in the '887 patent, a boat accessory in the form of a boat seat is attached to a generally rectangular rigid slide plate with two opposite undercurved side edges slidably engaged with corresponding side edges on a rigid supporting plate member which is part of the yoke or spider coupled to the supporting pedestal. For comfort and added utilization boat seats and similarly mounted accessories are being designed with significant greater depth and added bulk and weight requiring greater supporting structure without interfering with the ease and ability of the user to adjust the seat position to his or her liking.
The present invention provides support for added bulk and weight of a boat accessory, such as a boat seat or the like without increasing the bulk and weight or changing the design of the prior supporting and adjustment mechanisms while still maintaining the ease and ability to adjust the accessory's position. Also, the invention can be installed as a field modification As a further feature the invention achieves the foregoing without detracting from the esthetics and may even improve the overall appearance.
In a typical prior art pedestal mounted slidably adjustable boat seat a generally rectangular rigid slide plate having curved opposite side edges is slidably engaged with a plate member which is adapted to be supported on a pedestal attached to a boat deck. A rigid U-shaped elongated bracket is attached to the slide plate at each of its transverse edges and extends outward from the slide plate. The bracket is adapted to attach to the underside of the boat accessory and provide the support for the accessory. As a feature, the bracket can be made to any desired length or can be made at a uniform length and then cut down to the desired size in the field.
A spider or yoke identified generally by reference numeral 14 has a downward projecting annular section 15 which is coupled to support post 10 and has an integrally cast horizontal plate member 16 (see
Referring to
The elongated rigid members 20, 21 are adapted for attachment to the underside of a boat accessory and preferably are composed of suitable material that will rigidly and structurally provide suitable support, such as, but not limited to, metal, hardened rubber, polymer plastics or the like.
In the embodiment shown in
The elongated support members 20, 21 of