US2699559A - Boat trailer attachment - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 18, 1955 P. z. CARRAWAY BOAT TRAILER ATTACHMENT Filed June 5, 1952 PIC-Ll.

INVENTOR FLOYD Z. CARRAWAY ATTOR Y United States Patent 2,699,559 Patented Jan. 18, 1955 BOAT TRAILER ATTACHMENT Floyd Z. Can-away, Malvern, Ark. Application June 5, 1952, Serial No. 291,861

1 Claim. (Cl. 9-1) The present invention relates to a boat and more particularly to a boat employed for fishing and aquatic s orts.

Fishermen and others to whom appeal the sport of boating, frequently live a distance from a body of water or may desire to fish or boat in distant waters. While in the more populated areas it is possible to rent boats for limited periods of time, there are many frequenters of such places that prefer to use their own boating equipment. Moreover there are many who prefer to fish or boat in places where rental equipment is not available. Hence there is a large number of boatmen who own their own boating equipment and who transport their boats to and from their homes when engaging in boating or fishing. The transportation of boats by such persons has heretofore presented the problem of how best to convey his boat over dry land and to this end boat trailers have been employed upon which a boat had to be loaded onto or unloaded from its trailer. Another factor that has required consideration is the storage of the boat trailer during the period the boat is in use in a body of water.

The primary object of the present invention is to avoid the necessity of providing a separate trailer for the transportation of a boat over dry land.

Another object of the present invention is to solve the problem of storage of the trailer during the period that the boat is in use in a body of water.

Still another object of the present invention is to detachably connect wheels to a boat so that when the wheels are not in use they may be conveniently stored in the boat.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this invention which embodies among its features, a pair of tubes carried by the bottom of a boat and extending vertically within the boat, plungers mounted for vertical movement in the tubes and extending through the bottom of the boat, and ground wheels carried by the plungers beneath the bottom of the boat.

Other features include compression coiled springs mounted in the tubes above and in engagement with the plungers for yieldingly supporting the boat on the wheels, and flexible members connected to the plungers and detachably connected to the plungers for limiting downward movement of the plungers within the tubes.

Still other features include oar locks carried by the tubes above the upper ends thereof and means carried by the oar locks and engaging the springs for holding the oar locks in place.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of proved carrier in place.

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional View taken substantially on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end view of one of the wheel mounts removed from the boat.

Figure 4 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through one of the tubes showing the spring and oar lock in detail.

Referring to the drawings in detail a boat designated generally is provided with a bottom 12 and gunwales 14 which conventionally diverge as they recede from the bottom 12. The boat is of conventional construction and forms no part of this invention save as it may enter into the combination.

a boat and showing this im- The bottom 12 of the boat is provided intermediate its ends with laterally spaced rectangular openings 16 and secured to the inner side of the bottom 12 in axial alignment with the openings 16 are vertically extending rectangular tubes 18 which terminate at their upper ends in a plane slightly above the top edges of the gunwales 14. Caps 20 enclose the upper ends of the tubes 18 and are provided with openings 22 which align with said tubes 18. The caps are welded to said tubes by welds 47, as shown in Figure 5. The caps 20 are provided with laterally extending brace arms 24 carrying at their ends remote from the caps 20 with hooks 26 which engage adjacent gunwales 14 to reinforce the upper ends of the tubes 18. Eyes 28 are carried by the hooks 26 and project outwardly from opposite sides of the boat 10.

Mounted for vertical sliding movement through the openings 22 in the caps 20 and extending into their respective tubes 18 are rods 30 which carry at their upper ends oar locks 32 which engage the top sides of the caps 20 as will be readily understood upon reference to the drawings. Carried by the rods 30 within the tubes 18 are laterally extending annular stops 34 and surrounding the rods 30 between the caps 20 and stops 34 are compression coiled springs 36 which not only serve to yieldingly hold the oar locks 32 against the caps 20 but also serve to yieldingly support the boat 14 on the ground wheels to be more fully hereinafter described. The structure so far described may be readily employed for navigation in a body of water and is adapted for transportation over dry land by using the equipment to be hereinafter described.

When the boat is to be transported over land, rectangular plungers 38 are entered into the tubes 18 through the openings 16 in the bottom 12 of the boat 10 so that their upper ends bear on the lower ends of the rods 30. Yokes 40 are carried by the plungers 38 adjacent the lower ends thereof and mounted for rotation on the plungers between the adjacent yokes 40 are ground wheels 42. In the preferred form both the tubes 18 and plungers 38 are rectangular in cross section so as to hold the ground wheels 42 for rotation about horizontal axes which lie perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the boat 10. Fixed to the yokes 40 are flexible members 44 carrying their ends remote from the yokes snap hooks by means of which the flexible members 44 may be detachably coupled to the eyes 28 to hold the plungers 38 in the tubes 18.

in use with the parts assembled as above described, the boat 10 may be attached to a traction vehicle and transported on the wheels 42 to a desired location. Obviously road shocks encountered during such transportation will be absorbed by the springs 36 so as to avoid rough handling of the boat and possible injury thereto. The boat may be launched by rolling it on the wheels 42 down a beach or bank and if so desired, the wheels 42 may be detached simply by disengaging the snap hooks 46 and allowing the plungers 38 to move downwardly in the tubes 18 until they are clear of the bottom 12 of the boat, at which time they may be hauled into the boat 10 by the flexible members 44 and stored for future use. In this way no problem of trailer storage is presented and when it is desired to again transport the boat 10 over dry land, the plungers 38 are returned to their respective tubes 18 and the flexible members 44 connected to their respective eyes 28.

While the present invention has been disclosed in connection with certain specific embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that these are by way of example rather than by way of limitations, and that the invention is to be defined by the attendant claim which should be given a scope as broad as is consistent with the prior art.

What is claimed is:

In a boat having rectangular transversely spaced openings extending through the bottom thereof, spaced rectangular tubes carried by the boat and extending upwardly thereinto in alignment with the openings, caps carried by the tubes and closing the upper ends thereof, arms carried by the caps and extending laterally therefrom, hooks carried by the arms and adapted to engage the gunwales of the boat, eyes carried by the hooks and extending outwardly from opposite sides of the boat, rectangular plungers extending through the openings in the bottom of the boat and into the tubes, ground wheels carried by the plungers below the boat, compression coiled springs within the tubes and engaging the caps and the plungers for yieldably supporting the boat on the ground wheels, and flexible members connected to the plungers and detachably coupled to the eyes for limiting downward movement of the plungers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Vondersaar Feb. 16, Yonkese Feb. 18, Langer Livermon May 3, Pinter, Sr., et a1. May 9, Good 1 Mar. 16, Holsclaw Aug. 29, Oeth Nov. 14,

McClintock Jan. 30,

Images