Convertible Boat Hard Top and Windscreen Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional boats are typically configured for specific applications, limiting the flexibility of their covered areas for different uses.
Innovation Solution
A boat design featuring an extensible and retractable windscreen and an erectable and collapsible hard top, pivotally attached to the side walls via dual hinged arms, allowing for multiple configurations of covered areas, including a platform, enclosure, and canopy, controlled by actuators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the boat is configured with fixed covered areas for specific applications, then the boat structure is simple and stable, but the adaptability for different applications is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the boat's covered areas movable and adjustable rather than fixed. The hard top can be pivoted between erected and collapsed positions, and the windscreen can be extended or retracted, allowing the boat structure to dynamically adapt to different application requirements while maintaining operational simplicity through automated actuation systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements universality by designing the hard top and windscreen system to serve multiple functions across different configurations. The same structural components provide protection for fishing, cruising, and work applications by adjusting their positions, eliminating the need for separate boats for different purposes and maximizing the versatility of a single vessel.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the windscreen is extended and hard top is erected to form an enclosure, then protection and comfort are improved, but the complexity of the covering system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the windscreen and hard top into an integrated covering system that works together to provide comprehensive protection. Both components are controlled by the same actuation mechanism and coordinate their movements to form complete enclosures when needed, simplifying the control system while maximizing protective coverage through coordinated operation of multiple components.
Data Source
AI summary
A boat having opposing side walls with gunwales thereon, a foredeck between the side walls and below the gunwales, wales, an extensible and retractable windscreen in front and around the sides of the foredeck, a helm console behind the foredeck, and an erectable and collapsible hard top pivoted to the side walls of the boat, wherein the boat is selectively convertible between: a first configuration in which the windscreen is retracted below or just above the gunwales, and the hard top is collapsed forwardly to overlap the retracted windscreen and/or the gunwales to form a platform covering the foredeck; a second configuration in which the windscreen is extended above the gunwales, and the hard top is partially erected to overlap the extended windscreen, so that together the windscreen and hard top form an enclosure over, above and around the front and sides of the foredeck; and a third configuration in which the windscreen is retracted below or just above the gunwales, and the hard top is fully erected over and above the helm console.