Patent Grant
6851654
This invention relates to the field of sport fishing, and particularly to an outrigger mounting system having a multi-purpose support plate capable of withstanding high forces and permitting rotational movement of an outrigger.
Saltwater sport fishing typically consists of anglers positioned on boats that are then dispatched to prolific offshore fishing areas. One useful method of catching gamefish involves a technique known as trolling. Trolling is the practice of baiting hooks that are subsequently lowered and dragged behind the stern of a slow moving vessel by the angler. In order to increase the chances of hooking a fish, it is beneficial to have as many lines in the water as possible. To a gamefish, the wake of a vessel generally creates the appearance of a large school of smaller fish to be preyed upon. The angler can strategically simulate bands of straggling or displaced fish from the school with numerous baited lines. These simulated straggling fish are misinterpreted by the gamefish to be the disadvantaged and weakened fish that gamefish frequently utilize as a food source.
As stated above, an angler will often drag as many baited lines from behind the boat as possible, thereby increasing the chances of hooking a fish. However, as more baited lines are used, the probability of the lines becoming entangled with one another increases. This is a problem that occurs in a variety of situations, such as with a narrow beam boat or any boat that is in the process of being turned. As a result, sport fishing outriggers have been developed to assist in keeping the various lines separated. However, the positioning and lowering of outrigger booms presents additional problems of rotational movement and preventing the booms from contacting the water. This problem has brought forth various attempts to create mechanisms to rotate the boom and that prevent the boom from contacting the water.
Outriggers consist of a long pole, or boom, having one end secured to the boat with deployment resulting from an outward lateral extension of the boom from a side of the boat. Baited fishing lines often have integrated release clips that are attached to the outriggers, thereby providing sufficient separation between the lines to prevent tangling. When a fish is hooked on the bait line, the line clip releases from the outrigger, thus allowing the angler to reel in the fish.
Outriggers are required to be freely stowable to a position beside the boat for close quarters operation and docking. For practicality, the outrigger should be swung laterally outward to its deployed position. The prior art includes various types of mounting schemes including outrigger units for horizontal and vertical mounting, on center consoles, flybridges, half towers, tuna towers, radar arches, and/or T-tops. Prior patents disclose a variety of methods for mounting such outriggers into place (see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,213,441 and 5,685,107), with each having distinct drawbacks. Such drawbacks include overall mechanical complexity; powered operation; non-durable construction; and/or ineffective position adjustment and locking mechanisms that slip and/or wear out.
Outrigger poles often extend outwardly from the boat to a significant distance while in their fishing position. Due to the forces applied to the mount by a combination of the weight of the outrigger assembly with the outrigger, the rotational movement of the boat, the wind force and the forces associated with trolling, an extremely sturdy structure is essential in order to provide suitable performance over a period. Various outrigger mounts currently supply bracing struts and rods to provide the requisite strength. These structures can be cumbersome in operation, particularly when it becomes necessary to reposition the outrigger.
A number of outrigger mounts employ telescoping or sliding joints that are particularly susceptible to corrosion and sticking, particularly in conjunction with salt water fishing. Furthermore, outrigger mounts of the prior art often require an array of independent attachments to the boat structure in specific relation to each other, thus necessitating skilled and protracted installation, as well as additional structural reinforcement to the boat.
In addition, the prior art outrigger mounts present extended sleeve sockets for the slidable receipt of the proximal ends of the outriggers. Due to the degree of support required for the outrigger, a secure fit between the proximal end and the sleeve socket is essential. Thus, the outriggers are frequently extremely difficult to remove from the sockets after a prolonged period of usage, particularly in salt water, and often call for dismounting at least a portion of the outrigger mount.
The prior art presents a variety of approaches that have been engaged to suspend an outrigger in place while trolling for fish. Notwithstanding these efforts to provide suitable outrigger mounts, the existing prior art devices are limited in numerous respects. Accordingly, what is lacking that the prior art has not provided is a simple multi-purpose support plate for a boating accessory assembly, such as an outrigger assembly, that is capable of withstanding high forces while permitting rotational movement of an outrigger without using bracing struts and rods or sleeve sockets.
The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned needs for support plate by providing a multi-purpose support plate for a boating accessory assembly that is capable of withstanding high forces while permitting rotational movement.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a multi-purpose support plate for use with a boating accessory assembly. The multi-purpose support plate includes a first mounting end portion having a first strengthening rib, a center portion having a top layer and a bottom layer, and a second mounting end portion having a second strengthening rib. The first and second mounting end portions include a first or second thickened mounting area, respectively, from which the first or second strengthening rib extends to either the top or bottom layer. The center portion of the support plate further includes a center bore. The center bore passes through the top layer and bottom layer to accommodate at least one boating accessory.
The present invention is further directed to a multi-purpose support plate for use with a boating accessory assembly including a first mounting end portion having a first strengthening rib and a first thickened mounting area, wherein said first thickened mounting area has at least one bolt hole to secure a boating accessory; a center portion having a top layer, a bottom layer, and a center bore therethrough, wherein said center bore accommodates said boating accessory; and a second mounting end portion having a second strengthening rib and a second thickened mounting area, wherein said second thickened mounting area has at least one bolt hole to secure said boating accessory.
The present invention is further directed to a method for supporting a boating accessory. The method includes the steps of providing a multi-purpose support plate having at least one strengthening rib and at least one accessory bore, mounting the multi-purpose support plate to a surface, supplying the boating accessory through the accessory bore, and mounting the boating accessory to said multi-purpose support plate.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to disclose a sport fishing multi-purpose support plate that is capable of both withstanding high forces and permitting rotational movement of boating accessories.
Referring now to
The first mounting end portion 30 includes a first thickened mounting area 33. In the preferred embodiment, the first thickened mounting area 33 has a first strengthening rib 31 that extends from the first thickened mounting area 33 to a layer, such as top layer 21 or bottom layer 22. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first thickened mounting area 33 is formed from the top layer 21, thus the first strengthening rib 31 extends from first thickened mounting area 33 to the bottom layer 22. Preferably, the first thickened mounting area 33 is located on the inner side 26 of the top layer 21 so that the first strengthening rib 31 is at the desired height. It is also contemplated that one skilled in the art could also position the first thickened mounting area 33 so that it is located on the inner side 27 of the bottom layer 22. In such a situation, the first thickened mounting area 33 would be formed from the bottom layer 22 and the first strengthening rib 31 would extend from the first thickened mounting area 33 to the top layer 21.
The second mounting end portion 40 includes a second thickened mounting area 43. In the preferred embodiment, the second thickened mounting area 43 has a second strengthening rib 41 that extends from the second thickened mounting area 43 to a layer, such as top layer 21 or bottom layer 22. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second thickened mounting area 43 is formed from the top layer 21, thus the second strengthening rib 41 extends from second thickened mounting area 43 to the bottom layer 22. Preferably, the second thickened mounting area 43 is also located on the inner side 26 of the top layer 21 so that the second strengthening rib 41 is at a desired height that is the same as the desired height for the first strengthening rib 31. It is further contemplated that one skilled in the art could also position the second thickened mounting area 43 so that it is located on the inner side 27 of the bottom layer 22. In such a situation, the second thickened mounting area 43 would be formed from the bottom layer 22 and the second strengthening rib 41 would extend from the second thickened mounting area 43 to the top layer 21. Additionally, it is further contemplated that it may be preferable to provide a mounting plate having thickened mounting areas displaced on layers opposite of one another, thereby resulting in a one strengthening rib extending to the top layer and the other strengthening rib extending to the bottom layer with respect to the thickened mounting areas that form the strengthening ribs.
To reduce the mass of the support plate 10, the top layer 21 of the preferred embodiment can have a variable thickness. In addition, it may also be desirous to provide the bottom layer 22 with a thickness that can be varied as well. In the preferred embodiment, the strengthening ribs 31 and 41 are provided to impart the present invention with the ability to withstand strong forces. To accomplish this goal, strengthening ribs 31 and 41 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention include outer walls 34 and 44 that define cavities 32 and 42. The cavities 32 and 42 provide additional structural strength in a manner similar to that used in the hollow bones of birds.
As shown in
Referring back to the center portion 20 in
As illustrated in
In practice, the preferred embodiment of the present invention is fixed to a boat or a support structure on a boat. The preferred method for attaching the support plate 10 is by welding, although it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other means, including pins, bolts, clamps, or the like can also be used to secure the support plate to the boat or the support structure on the boat. As illustrated in
Referring now to
As shown in
In carrying out the method of the present invention for supporting a boating accessory, it is preferred that a multi-purpose support plate 10 having at least one strengthening rib 31 or 41 and at least one accessory bore, such as central bore 24 be mounted to a surface, such as a boat surface or boat support structure. It is further preferred that the boating accessory assembly be supplied through the accessory bore, such as central bore 24, and mounted to the multi-purpose support plate.
Although only a few exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that numerous modifications are to the exemplary embodiments are possible without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this invention as defined in the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/369,054, filed on Apr. 1, 2002, entitled MULTI-PURPOSE SUPPORT PLATE.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3298646 | Buren, Jr. | Jan 1967 | A |
| 5445102 | Rupp | Aug 1995 | A |
| 5685107 | Sweet | Nov 1997 | A |
| 5685517 | Salibra | Nov 1997 | A |
| 5921196 | Slatter | Jul 1999 | A |
| 6007042 | Baynard et al. | Dec 1999 | A |
| 6213441 | Baynard et al. | Apr 2001 | B1 |
| 6668745 | Slatter | Dec 2003 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20040000623 A1 | Jan 2004 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60369054 | Apr 2002 | US |
