Patent Application
20240217631
A watercraft lift device is used to lift a watercraft out of a body of water during periods of non-use and/or storage. This is typically done to prevent damage to the vessel that can occur when wind or waves on the body of water may cause the vessel to make unwanted contact with a dock or wharf structure as may happen when the vessel is tied to such structure, to prevent excessive water infiltration into the vessel as might happen when the vessel is floating in a body of water and wind and wave action overcome the deck height of a vessel, to prevent the vessel from being damaged due to contact with the bottom of the body of water due to wave action, tides or wind driven water phenomena, and to prevent the growth of marine life on the water contacting portions of the vessel. These watercraft lift devices typically consist of a cable lift system that are connected to the upper end of pilings driven into the seafloor or attached to some other support structure that provides sufficient distance between the cable lift system and the surface of the water that a bunk system with a watercraft resting on it can be raised far enough out of the water to prevent the described damaging events, and can be lowered far enough into the water to allow the watercraft to float off of the bunk structure. The bunk system typically consists of a front and rear I-beam that span the width of the vessels, and two or more bunks that run longitudinally with, make contact with, and support the hull of the vessel. While these types of watercraft lifts control the vertical position of the bunk system and watercraft, they typically provide very little resistance to motion in a plane that is perpendicular to vertical lift direction.
While the watercraft lift device can prevent the types of damage listed, it exposes the watercraft to wind events that may cause the lift bunk system and the watercraft resting on this bunk system to move relatively unconstrained in a horizontal plane, potentially making contact with dock and wharf structures, structures and parts of the watercraft lift device not intended to make contact with the bunk structure or watercraft, ancillary equipment mounted to the dock, wharf, or watercraft lift, or adjacent equipment, vessels, pilings, docks or wharfs, or other structures in the vicinity.
One implementation of the present disclosure is a group of devices that are intended to be essentially permanently attached to each corner of a typical four-post watercraft lift device, according to an exemplary embodiment, and can act as restraint devices to prevent unwanted motion of a watercraft lift bunk system when a temporary connection is made between the watercraft lift bunk system attachment structure and the piling attachment bracket components utilizing the securing chain. The disclosed devices consist of an attachment plate, a clamping plate, connecting hardware between the attachment plate and clamping plate, a securing chain, securing chain retaining hardware, a piling connection bracket, and piling connection bracket attachment hardware. When the watercraft is sitting on the watercraft lift bunk structure in times of storage or non-use and lifted out of the water, the disclosed devices can be used to quickly secure each corner of the bunk system to the corner pilings, preventing unwanted motion of the bunk system and watercraft, and preventing damage to watercraft, bunk system, corner or other pilings, other watercraft lift structures or equipment, adjacent docks, wharfs, structures, vessels, or equipment. Additionally, the disclosed devices provide a secure attachment point to restrain the watercraft to the bunk system with ancillary tie down devices during high wind events.
See Figures Pages
Before turning to the figures, which illustrate the exemplary embodiments in detail, it should be understood that the present application is not limited to the details or methodology set forth in the description or illustrated in the figures. It should also be understood that the terminology is for the purpose of description only and should not be regarded as limiting.
One implementation of the present disclosure is a group of devices that are attached to each corner of a typical four-post watercraft lift device, according to an exemplary embodiment. A typical four-post cable actuated watercraft lift device is shown in
The disclosed devices consist of an attachment plate (
During periods of storage or non-use, the securing chain (10), which is permanently attached to the attachment structure, can be manually positioned such that a link can slide into the retaining slot (
In another embodiment of this present disclosure, additional piling attachment brackets and additional attachment structures could be attached to the watercraft lift to provide for additional stabilization of the bunk system. This is a useful embodiment when the corner support posts of the lift are not on opposing sides of the bunk system I-beams and, therefore, do not allow complete restraint of motion in the horizontal plane with only an attachment point on each corner. One, two, or more additional restraint devices may be used to prevent objectionable motion of the bunk system and watercraft.
In a third embodiment of this present disclosure, tensioning devices may be added at one or more restraining device positions to remove any inherent slack in the securing chains that a user may find objectionable. These tensioning devices may act directly on links of the chain, may act between the links of chain the piling attachment bracket, or may act between links of chain and the attachment structure. Typical examples of tensioning devices are, but not limited to, chain binders, turnbuckles, ratchet straps, and clamps.
As utilized herein, the terms “approximately,” “about,” “substantially,” and similar terms are intended to have a broad meaning in harmony with the common and accepted usage by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter of this disclosure pertains. It should be understood by those of skill in the art who review this disclosure that these terms are intended to allow a description of certain features described and claimed without restricting the scope of these features to the precise numerical ranges provided. Accordingly, these terms should be interpreted as indicating that insubstantial or inconsequential modifications or alterations of the subject matter described and claimed are considered to be within the scope of the invention as recited in the appended claims.
It should be noted that the terms “exemplary” and “example” as used herein to describe various embodiments is intended to indicate that such embodiments are possible examples, representations, and/or illustrations of possible embodiments (and such term is not intended to connote that such embodiments are necessarily extraordinary or superlative examples).
The terms “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, as used herein, mean the joining of two members directly or indirectly to one another. Such joining may be stationary (e.g., permanent, etc.) or moveable (e.g., removable, releasable, etc.). Such joining may be achieved with the two members or the two members and any additional intermediate members being integrally formed as a single unitary body with one another or with the two members or the two members and any additional intermediate members being attached to one another.
References herein to the positions of elements (e.g., “top,” “bottom,” “above,” “below,” “between,” etc.) are merely used to describe the orientation of various elements in the figures. It should be noted that the orientation of various elements may differ according to other exemplary embodiments, and that such variations are intended to be encompassed by the present disclosure.
Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements in the list. Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, and Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with the context as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may be either X, Y, Z, X and Y, X and Z, Y and Z, or X, Y, and Z (i.e., any combination of X, Y, and Z). Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended to imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y, and at least one of Z to each be present, unless otherwise indicated.
It is important to note that the construction and arrangement of the systems as shown in the exemplary embodiments is illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter recited. For example, elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements. It should be noted that the elements and/or assemblies of the components described herein may be constructed from any of a wide variety of materials that provide sufficient strength or durability, in any of a wide variety of colors, textures, and combinations. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present inventions. Other substitutions, modifications, changes, and omissions may be made in the design, operating conditions, and arrangement of the preferred and other exemplary embodiments without departing from scope of the present disclosure or from the spirit of the appended claims.
