Patent Application
20100219089
The present invention relates to a case designed to transport a surfboard. More particularly,.the present invention relates to a surfboard case including cushions with varying thickness along their length and a method for making the same.
Surfboards are frequently transported inside a case from a surfer's home or location of storage to a surfing site. Surfing sites can be local, but may also include distant or international destinations. As a result, current designs of cases attempt to protect the encased surfboard from damage during transit. Specifically, current design of cases attempt to protect the surfboard from being impacted by an external force (e.g., from movement of adjacent bags, applied by the loading or unloading personnel or exerted by transporting equipment).
Commonly available designs contemplate cases made from synthetic rubber foam sheet material of uniform thickness for covering the surfboard. Unfortunately, they do not provide sufficient protection to the top and bottom surfaces of a surfboard during transit. Moreover, when not in use, these cases do not collapse or fold for easy storage.
To this end, U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,747 entitled “Protective Inflatable Surfboard Covering Device” issued to Kiger et al. offers a surfboard case design that is inflatable. Specifically, this design provides an inflatable top and an inflatable bottom cushion of uniform thickness to cover the top and bottom surfaces of a surfboard. Furthermore, this design also includes a side rail cushion having an inwardly “C-shape” that is designed to partially circumscribe the side rails.
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Unfortunately, however, the prior art inflatable case design does not adequately protect the surfboard inside. With the top and bottom cushions of uniform thickness, the design does not properly protect the pronounced rise in the curvature at front portion 12 and slight rise in back portion 14 of the surfboard. In other words, in the current design an external force impacting either a top or a bottom surface of the case does not have much to travel before it strikes either the rising front or back portions of the encased surfboard. Consequently, the top and bottom surfaces of the surfboard are not adequately protected by the prior art inflatable design.
What is therefore needed is a new surfboard design that effectively protects the rising curvature at the front and back portions of the surfboard and also the top and bottom surfaces of the surfboard from an impacting external force.
To achieve the foregoing, the present invention provides in one aspect a case capable of transporting a surfboard. The surfboard includes: (1) a top cushion designed to conform to a top surface of a surfboard; (2) a bottom cushion designed to conform to a bottom surface of the surfboard; and (3) wherein each of the top and the bottom cushions include a plurality of compartments which have varying cross-sectional dimensions along a length of the compartments. The top cushion, the bottom cushion and compartments can be made from foam like materials.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the top and bottom cushions and said plurality of compartments are inflatable and the compartments have defined therein an aperture which allows air to travel from one compartment to another compartment. The case may further include a side rail cushion that is disposed between the top cushion and the bottom cushion and is designed to be adjacent to a side rail of the surfboard when the surfboard is encased inside the case.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, at a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance measured from the front end of the case, a cross-sectional area of the compartment of the top cushion is between about 4 square inches and about 30 square inches. At a distance which equals between more than ⅓ and about ⅔ of a length of the case and the distance being measured from a front end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the top cushion in an inflated state may be between about 6 square inches and about 30 square inches. At a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a back end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the top cushion in an inflated state may be between about 4 inches and about 24 inches. At a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance being measured from a front end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the bottom cushion in an inflated state may be between about 6 square inches and about 30 square inches. At a distance which equals between about ⅓ and about ⅔ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a front end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the bottom cushion in an inflated state may be between about 4 square inches and about 24 square inches. At a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a back end of said case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the bottom cushion in an inflated state may be between about 4 square inches and about 30 square inches.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a case capable of transporting a surfboard. The surfboard includes: (1) a top inflatable cushion designed to conform to a top surface of a surfboard in an inflated state of the top cushion; (2) a bottom inflatable cushion designed to conform to a bottom surface of the surfboard in an inflated state of the bottom cushion; and (3) wherein in an inflated state, each of the top and the bottom cushions vary in thickness along their length to protect the top surface and bottom of surfboard from being impacted from an external force when the surfboard is secured inside the case.
In alternative embodiments of the present invention, the case further includes a side rail cushion that is capable of being disposed between the top and the bottom cushions. Although the inventive case need not be inflatable, in one preferred embodiment of the invention, the case is made from inflatable components. For example, the top and the bottom cushion may be inflatable such that in an inflated state the top cushion conforms to the top surface of the surfboard and the bottom cushion conforms to the bottom surface of the surfboard and the case further includes a first valve designed to inflate the top cushion, a second valve designed to inflate the bottom cushion and a third valve designed to inflate the side rail cushion.
At a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance measured from the front end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the top cushion in an inflated state may be between about 2 inches and about 4 inches. At a distance which equals between more than ⅓ and about ⅔ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a front end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the top cushion in an inflated state may be between about 2.5 inches and about 4.75 inches. At a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a back end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the top cushion in an inflated state may be between about 2 inches and about 4.75 inches. At a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a front end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the bottom cushion in an inflated state may be between about 2 inches and about 4.75 inches. At a distance which equals between about ⅓ and about ⅔ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a front end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the bottom cushion in an inflated state may be between about 2.5 inches and about 3.5 inches. At a distance which equals between about 0 and about ⅓ of a length of the case and the distance measured from a back end of the case, a thickness of the inflatable compartment of the bottom cushion in an inflated state may be between about 2 inches and about 4.75 inches.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a case. The method of manufacturing includes: (1) fabricating a plurality of longitudinal inflatable compartments having varying cross-sectional areas along their lengths; and (2) adhering some of the longitudinal compartments to form a top cushion and adhering others of the longitudinal compartments to form a bottom cushion.
The method may further include: (1) fabricating a side rail cushion; and (2) joining a portion of the side rail cushion to the top cushion and another portion of the side rail cushion to the bottom cushion for forming an envelope which is capable of receiving a surfboard.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of fabricating is carried out by either extruding or casting. The step of adhering is preferably carried out by heat welding. In certain embodiments of the inventive process, the step of fabricating the plurality of longitudinal compartments includes forming inflatable compartment which include an aperture in each of the plurality of longitudinal compartments. The step of fabricating may also include a first valve for providing air inside the top cushion, a second valve for providing air inside the bottom cushion and a third valve for providing air inside the side rail cushion.
The present invention provides inventive designs for a surfboard case and methods for making the same. Prior art surfboard case designs provide cushions of uniform thickness. In sharp contrast, the present invention offers surfboard case designs that provide cushions of non-uniform thickness. In the present invention, the surfboard case can be made from foam like material or from an inflatable material. Given that an inflatable design is easy to transport, it represents a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Similarly, at back portion 114, bottom cushion 102 has a thickness that ranges from between about 2 inches to about 4.75 inches. At a middle portion 116, bottom top cushion 102 has a thickness of between about 2.5 inches to about 3.5 inches. At a front portion 112, bottom cushion 102 has a thickness that ranges from between about 2.5 inches to about 4.5 inches.
Similarly, at back portion 114″, bottom cushion 108 has a cross-sectional area that ranges from between about 4 square inches to about 30 square inches. At a middle portion 116″, bottom cushion 108 has a cross-sectional area that ranges from between about 4 square inches to about 24 square inches. At a front portion 112″, bottom cushion 102 has a cross-sectional area that ranges from between about 6 square inches to about 30 square inches.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that although cross-sectional areas and thickness values for the cushions and compartments that make up the inventive case are described for an inflatable design, such values equally apply to non-inflatable designs where the cushion and the compartments are made from foam like material.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a process of manufacturing a surfboard case, such as the one shown in
Regardless of whether an inflatable or non-inflatable design is being implemented, certain of the compartments will adhere to form a top cushion as shown in
Next, a side rail cushion 118 as shown in
Although certain examples have been described in terms. For example, the inventive case has been explained in terms of a surfboard, but can be used to transport any kind of board used for water sports, skiing etc.
