Boat Safety Device Key Retention Mechanism
Solution Overview
Problem
Boaters often forget to reinsert the drain plug after draining water from their powerboats, leading to water ingress and potential sinking, as they lack a reliable reminder system.
Innovation Solution
A boat safety device with a base portion featuring a threaded boat plug retaining cavity and a key hole that secures a boat key, ensuring the key cannot be removed until the drain plug is reinserted, thereby prompting the boater to reinstall the plug before starting the engine.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a simple drain plug is used, then the device complexity is low, but the reliability of preventing water ingress is insufficient due to human forgetfulness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the drain plug storage function with a reminder function by integrating a keyhole mechanism into the drain plug container. The key can only be retrieved after the drain plug is properly installed, merging two functions (storage and reminder) into a single integrated system, thereby improving reliability without significantly increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The key acts as an intermediary element that mediates between the drain plug installation and engine operation. The key is trapped in the keyhole until the drain plug is correctly installed, serving as a mechanical mediator that prevents engine operation without a proper reminder system, thus improving reliability while maintaining simplicity.
2Ease of operation
If the drain plug is kept outside for easy access, then the ease of operation is improved, but the risk of forgetting to install it increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs a preliminary action by providing a designated storage location for the drain plug with an associated reminder mechanism before the boater needs to use the boat. The keyhole mechanism is already in place to remind the boater to install the plug, preventing the forgetting problem before it occurs while keeping the plug accessible in the storage container.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyhole mechanism provides immediate feedback to the boater about the drain plug installation status. If the plug is not installed, the key remains trapped and cannot be removed, providing clear feedback that the plug needs to be installed before engine operation, thus improving reliability while maintaining ease of operation.
3Reliability
If the key can be removed freely, then the ease of operation is high, but the safety reminder function is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The keyhole mechanism applies preliminary anti-action by preventing key removal until the drain plug is properly installed. The key is designed to be trapped in the keyhole by the container structure until the plug installation condition is met, creating a counter-action that ensures safety before allowing normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The keyhole structure serves as an intermediary mechanism between the key and the boater's ability to operate the engine. The key physically interacts with the container structure in the keyhole, and this interaction mediates whether the key can be removed, providing a safety reminder function while maintaining ease of operation when the plug is correctly installed.
Data Source
AI summary
A boat safety device includes a base portion that has a boat plug retaining cavity. The boat plug retaining cavity is sized for accepting and holding a boat drain plug and is optionally threaded to match threads of the boat drain plug. A key hole goes through a wall of the base portion and is sized to accept a boat key. The key hole is interfaced with the boat plug retaining cavity such that when a key is inserted fully into the key hole, teeth of the key extend into the boat plug retaining cavity so that, after installing the boat drain plug into the boat plug retaining cavity, the key is held in the key hole until the boat drain plug is later removed from the boat plug retaining cavity. Optionally, a key guard is provided to reduce chances of bending the boat key.