Fender System for Vessels Which Allows Fenders to Self Adjust

Abstract

The present invention provides a fender system that is applied to a dock piling or solid faced bulkhead in order to prevent damage to a marine vessel while the vessel is moored to a fixed or floating dock, or dock piling, or solid faced bulkhead. The fender is designed to uniquely rise and fall with the level of the tide such that the fender is always in the most suitable position for protecting the vessel's hull from coming into direct contact with the piling or bulkhead. Thus, this system is useful in waters in which there is a constant ebb and flow of the tide and is especially useful in areas experiencing a storm surge.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM[0001]This application claims priority to corresponding U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 001,055, filed on Oct. 31, 2007, the disclosure and contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to a fender system that can be applied to a dock piling in order to prevent damage to a vessel whereby the fender uniquely rises and falls with the tide such that the fender is always in the most suitable position for protecting the vessel.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]With respect to commercial and recreational marine vessels, the vessels are regularly kept within a marina, harbor or port for a period of time while not being used alongside a dock area with a number of vertical dock pilings. Typically, the vessel is somehow attached or otherwise confined to the dock in order that the current and tide does not cause the vessel to stray from the dock area. As a result, the hull, transom or gunwale of the vesse...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]The present invention provides a fender system that is applied to a dock piling in order to prevent damage to a marine vessel while the vessel is moored to a fixed or floating dock or dock piling. The fender is designed to uniquely rise and fall with the level of the tide such that the fender is always in the most suitable position for protecting the vessel's hull from coming into direct contact with the piling. Thus, this system is useful in waters in which there is a constant ebb and flow of the tide and is especially useful in areas experiencing a storm surge.

[0016]The present invention is affixed to a vertical dock piling or solid faced pier and is designed to allow the fender to rise and fall automatically with the tide all the way up to the top of the piling or solid face of pier in the event of a storm surge and all the way down to the lowest water point at the lowest tide. The fender not only rises and falls with the tide, but also stays in the proper location against the piling and the vessel's rub rail in order to be an effective fender at all stages of the tide. The present invention helps protect a vessel's hull from coming into direct contact with a piling at even the most extreme tides, thus reducing the chance of damaging the vessel or dock.

Problems solved by technology

As a result, the hull, transom or gunwale of the vessel routinely encounters the dock or dock piling each time the vessel pitches and rolls against the dock area due to the underlying current and rise and fall of the tide.

Furthermore, in some instances, the vessel may even work itself under the dock if there is no structural barrier between the vessel and the dock.

Unfortunately, the pads or strips are usually only capable of handling any rubbing engagement that occurs between a vessel and a piling, and cannot withstand the full force of an impact between the vessel and the dock piling.

During a forceful impact, the pads or strips either do not have enough cushion to prevent any damage or are ripped away from their fastened position on the underlying vessel or piling structure rendering the bumpers ineffective and causing structural damage to the vessel or piling.

In addition, the bumpers are unsightly when applied to a vessel or a piling thereby ruining the aesthetic appeal of the vessel or dock area.

However, these solutions are only temporary as they degrade easily and quickly become unsightly.

Therefore, the fender cannot just rely upon its buoyancy for placing it in the right place as the water level may not be where the vessel contacts with the dock.

Determining the precise length of the fender is not a simple task and requires some trial and error, particularly when the level of the water is constantly rising and falling.

Thus, a fender suspended from the vessel is completely useless in storm conditions.

However, the inconvenience associated with locating the fender at a precise location under changing conditions still exists.

Therefore, there exists a need for a system of sufficient strength and cushion to absorb the full force impact between a vessel and a dock piling that is not difficult to correctly position and is permanently attached to the vessel or piling such that it cannot be easily moved out of the correct position.

However, although these devices are attached permanently to the dock pilings such that the dock piling can receive the impact of the vessel without the displacement of the fender or other device from its secured position, none of these devices are capable of automatically changing position in response to the rise and fall of the water level.

Therefore, these devices are not suitable for use in waters in which the water level is constantly changing.

In order to protect the dock, a number of the fenders or other devices have to be installed up and down the dock area in series, which is highly unattractive particularly in recreational marinas.

This exposes the fenders or other devices and their means of attachment to the dock area to corrosion and to the growth of bacteria, barnacles and other damaging marine life.

However, none of these devices are capable of acting as a buffer between the vessel and the dock area because they do not provide an offset from the dock.

However, unlike the mooring devices describe above, each of these systems is not automatically responsive to the actual rise and fall of the water level as they require manual intervention in order to move the fender.

Images