47 results about "Sponson" patented technology

An amphibious vehicle achieves a stable ride, maneuverability, and high speed. The vehicle includes a hull having a “V” center portion with outboard sponsons. The sponsons reside between the front wheel wells and the rear wheels wells for improving lift and transition to planing. Shallow tunnels begin in rear portions of the front wheel wells and taper into the sponsons to release water trapped in the wheel wells. Inward facing turning edges also reside between the front and rear wheel wells and improve in-water handling. Wheels are retractable by pneumatic cylinders in parallel with air shock absorbers and suspension cutout in the hull allow the suspension to lower through the hull. Flaps reside under suspension members and rise to cover the suspension cutouts when the wheels are retractable when the wheels are raised to reduce drag. A Morse cable couple a rack and pinion unit to a jet drive.

A personal watercraft includes an improved hull design which reduces drag on the watercraft and inhibits porpoising of the watercraft at high speeds, while providing adequate buoyancy when the watercraft is at rest. The watercraft hull includes a pair of steppers positioned toward the aft end of the watercraft hull. The rear stepper has a greater height than the front stepper. This design reduces the wetted area of the hull when the watercraft is up on plane. The second stepper, however, provides additional surface contact should the watercraft to porpoise in order to stabilize the watercraft. The hull design also includes improved foot steps and adjustable sponsons. The foot steps are sloped upwardly in order to provide greater control of the watercraft when leaning the watercraft in a turn.

An improved stern design for many types of small watercraft to eliminate “tail dragging”, porpoising, oversteer and “slide out”, improve longitudinal tracking, and provide faster planing at lower speeds. This hull extension, consisting of two buoyant sponsons extending astern of the motor output, supports the weight of the entire motor propulsion unit, extends the planing surface, shifts the center of buoyancy rearward, resulting in an ability to maintain an even fore-aft keel in a very lightweight hull. Under acceleration and cruising, high pressure under the extensions along with an improved center of gravity keeps the boat from tail dragging. Interior chines formed as part of the inner lower surface of the sponsons provide straight tracking under power, even without other hydrodynamic aids, and provide resistance to oversteer or “slideout” in turns. The long sponson extensions protect an outdrive system from contact at the stern or sides of the boat.

A rigid hull inflatable style boat constructed of rigid-shell modules. Modular gunwale sections are mounted to the trailing ends of a modular bow section to form the a flotation collar. Boats having greater/shorter lengths can be constructed by increasing or decreasing the number of gunwale modules. The bow and gunwale modules may be formed of molded polyethylene filled with hydrophobic foam material. The floor/hull module can be mounted at varying heights within the flotation collar to alter the performance characteristics of the craft. The hull module may have a V-shaped hydrodynamic contour, so that when the hull module is mounted relatively high within the collar the boat has a sponson-type hull form, and when the hull module is mounted relatively low within the flotation collar the boat has a V-type hull configuration. The flotation modules have a generally D-shaped configuration, with flat, vertically extending inboard walls that mate with a vertically-extending flange on the floor/hull module so that the latter can be adjusted to a higher or lower position within the collar during assembly.

A component for a hull-type seaplane is disclosed. The component includes a first sponson-shaped element that provides buoyancy in water. The component further includes a first planar element coupled on one end with the first sponson-shaped element and coupled on another end to a hull on one side of the seaplane, wherein the first planar element allows a passenger to stand on it. In one alternative, the component further comprises a second sponson-shaped element that provides buoyancy in water and a second planar element coupled on one end with the second sponson-shaped element and coupled on another end to the hull on another side of the seaplane, wherein the second planar element allows a passenger to stand on it.

A pontoon with an improved running surface and methods for construction the same are provided. The pontoon comprises an interior concave main running surface formed along the longitudinal centerline of the pontoon which is bounded by two sponsons, which in turn are bounded by two distal concave surfaces, or integrated lifting strakes. The associated methods provide a process for retrofitting prior art pontoons or constructing the pontoon to avoid the need for welds below the waterline of the pontoon. The pontoon provides improved pontoon boat performance by maximizing lift and minimizing leakage. The pontoon also reduces construction costs by lowering the number of welds required to form a pontoon with lifting strakes.

A Towed Body Recovery Drone facilitates the safe recovery of fragile towed sensors by surface craft. The TBRD comprises a buoyant sponson section sized to give the TBRD minimal buoyancy necessary to keep the sensor on the surface in a static condition. Structural elements and skids are arranged to protect the sensor from impact with rigid objects and allow the TBRD to be pulled aboard a surface craft by means of a ramp structure. A capture device manages the sensor's tow cable and restrains the sensor within the TBRD structure.

The invention relates to a small waterplane area twin-hull ship which is formed by connecting a left sheet body and a right sheet body through a connection bridge, wherein, the left sheet body is formed by connecting a left sponson, a left support and a left submerged body; the right sheet body is formed by connecting a right sponson, a right support and a right submerged body. The small waterplane area twin-hull ship is characterized in that the left submerged body and the right submerged body are respectively provided with a left righting compartment and a right righting compartment which are watertight compartments and are respectively provided with a sea chest; a butterfly valve is installed on the lateral plate of the sea chest, and is connected with a manually operated mechanism. The left submerged body and the right sheet body of the invention are respectively provided with a righting compartment; when the compartment of sheet body at one certain lateral is damaged, the sea water can rapidly enter into the righting compartment at the other side through the sea chest and the butterfly valve, thus righting the catamaran within the range of transverse inclination according to the standards. The small waterplane area twin-hull ship of the invention has simple, light and handy structure, small occupied space and good righting effect, and conforms to standards stipulated by China Classification Society, thus effectively ensuring the safety of the damaged ships.

A hull form design which incorporates bi-lateral semi-sponsons disposed on either side of a non-stepped V-shaped center hull section. The semi-sponsons extend the entire length of the hull form and comprise protrusions extending away from the center section. The semi-sponsons are delimited by longitudinal steps extending below the hull bottom an equal distance from the centerline on opposite sides of the hull. This design is a hybrid of conventional “V” hulls and catamarans and improves the roll and turn initiation time of convention monohull designs.

A patient transporter having sponsons that provide buoyancy when deployed on water is provided. A sponson assembly formed by two sponsons connected to each other by a material, and which can be positioned beneath a patient transporter to provide buoyancy, is also provided.

A sponson comprises a floatable tubular section (110) with longitudinal, attached guideways or channels (105, 115) that house drawstrings (106, 116). The sponson is secured to the gunwale (130) of a personal watercraft by positioning a first guideway or channel above the gunwale and a second guideway or channel below the gunwale then pulling the drawstrings tight and securing them with knots (107, 117) or other means. The sponson has been filled with air, a foam material, or a combination in order to provide flotation. It also acts as a bumper to prevent damage to the craft in case of a collision with another object. The sponson is positioned above the water line and so does not cause drag when the craft is in normal use. The design is usable without modification for a variety of craft. An alternative embodiment includes an extra guideway or channel (120) for attachment to a fixture (125) previously installed on a craft.

A modular sponson for a small boat has discrete sections disposed in a series from the bow and along both sides to the stern. Each section has an axially extending length of tubing defining a longitudinal opening and a plurality of elongate pieces of closed cell foam material secured to the outside of the tubing for the length of each section. Flotation structure outwardly disposed from and in contact with the elongate pieces is covered by a protective covering that reaches inwardly to opposite ends of each length of tubing. A bonding agent is provided on the tubing, elongate pieces, and flotation structure to hold them together in each discrete section of the modular sponson. An elongate cable extends through the longitudinal openings of the series of sections and exerts a tensile force to hold the sections adjacent one another in compression.

Personal watercraft and watercraft power systems that include a power pod for supporting a power plant and a propulsion unit. An engine or an electric motor and a pump assembly are enclosed in the power pod. One or more sponsons removably cooperate with the power pod via a mechanical interface, such as dovetail joints and/or interlocking channels, formed between the power pod and the respective sponsons. A plurality of tool-lessly operable mechanical interfaces, locking mechanism(s), and fluid or electrical signal connectors allow the sponson(s) to be selectively secured to the power pod such that the resultant watercraft is modular and transportable by a single person when necessary.

A hybrid personal watercraft combines features of pontoon boats and deck boats, in a cost-effective and versatile package. The watercraft includes port and starboard sponsons which combine a pair of outboard flotation cavities. A space below the deck and above the hull bottom creates at least one, and potentially up to three additional flotation cavities, which may also be used as storage areas accessible by an access door in the bow of the watercraft and/or a set of hatches in the deck. The watercraft may be efficiently produced assembled from polymer materials, such as thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO).