Dock and dock kits

Abstract

A dock and dock kit suitable for shipping from a manufacturing site to an erection site where a dock can be erected having elongated dock beams with a length that is greater than the length of any of the beams in the dock kit and the mateable beams have surfaces that are mateable and securable to each other through fasteners to form elongated dock beams with each of the mateable beams having supports thereon for receiving and holding a plurality of dock planks thereon.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]This invention relates generally to docks and dock kits and, more specifically, to a universal dock kit.CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0002]NoneSTATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0003]NoneREFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX[0004]NoneBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0005]The length and width of lake docks vary depending on the type of lakeshore as well as the preference of the lakeshore owner. The requests for various widths and lengths of docks usually requires that docks be made to order for each application sometimes in dock lengths which preclude conventional shipping methods. That is, most conventional carriers have a maximum length for goods that they will transport or if they do transport longer length goods the costs of the transport becomes so costly it becomes uncompetitive to make and ship the dock to a customer in a remote location.[0006]While posts for supporting a dock can be located at different positions alon...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent is about a universal dock and kit that can be easily moved to a new location and assembled using existing materials. The dock beams are made up of male and female parts that can be easily joined together to create a longer beam that supports dock planks. This allows the same kit to be used for different length docks by adding or removing deck planks. The technical effect of this patent is the creation of a versatile and easy-to-assemble dock system.

Problems solved by technology

That is, most conventional carriers have a maximum length for goods that they will transport or if they do transport longer length goods the costs of the transport becomes so costly it becomes uncompetitive to make and ship the dock to a customer in a remote location.

Aside from the difficulty in shipping docks in dock kit form another difficulty is that different length dock beams need to be fabricated for each different dock length that a customer orders, which results in requiring a large inventory of dock beams in order to anticipate the orders for different length docks.

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