Foldable Cellular Foam Decoy for Compact Storage and Realistic Flotation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decoys lack life-like motion and realistic flotation, making them ineffective in attracting wild game, and there is a need for a compact and transportable buoyant decoy apparatus that can represent various wild game species.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight, flexible decoy device made of cellular foam, foldable into a three-dimensional configuration with an attachment mechanism, featuring gender and species-specific markings, allowing for compact storage and transport, and optionally including a stabilizer for upright positioning on water.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If decoys are made stationary, then they are easy to manufacture and store, but they lack life-like motion and fail to attract game
Solution Approach 1:
The decoy incorporates a flexible body made of cellular foam material that can dynamically change shape between a flat stored configuration and a three-dimensional floating configuration. This dynamic capability allows the decoy to transition from a stationary stored state to a life-like floating state that attracts game, resolving the contradiction between ease of storage and effectiveness in attracting game.
2Reliability
If decoys are made with flotation, then they can float on water, but the flotation is generally one-dimensional and not sufficiently realistic to attract game
Solution Approach 1:
The decoy uses cellular foam material that changes its physical parameters when submerged in water. The foam expands and becomes buoyant, transitioning from a flat two-dimensional state to a three-dimensional floating state. This parameter change provides realistic flotation without requiring complex flotation structures, resolving the contradiction between realistic flotation and device complexity.
3Reliability
If numerous decoys are stored separately, then each decoy can be properly maintained, but storage space and transport volume increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The decoy is designed to nest within itself when not in use. The flexible body can be collapsed into a compact flat configuration that fits within the hollow interior of the decoy itself, creating a nested structure. This nesting capability allows numerous decoys to be stored in a single compact space while maintaining proper maintenance of each decoy, resolving the contradiction between decoy maintenance and transport volume.
4Stability of the object's composition
If decoys are made from rigid materials, then they maintain their shape, but they cannot be folded into compact configurations for storage and transport
Solution Approach 1:
The decoy uses a flexible cellular foam body that combines shape stability with foldability. The foam material maintains its structural integrity and shape when floating, but can be folded into a flat configuration for storage. This flexible yet stable material property resolves the contradiction between shape stability and ease of folding.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The decoy device effectively attracts wild game with its realistic appearance and buoyancy, facilitating compact storage and transport, and maintains stability on water surfaces, enhancing hunting effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
a lightweight, flexible body formed or die cut into a planar decoy blank, the body is foldable to a buoyant, three-dimensional configuration
Implementation Method 2
an attachment means for securely holding the body in the three-dimensional configuration
Data Source
AI summary
A decoy device is constructed of a lightweight foam material formed as a planar decoy blank. The decoy body is easily foldable from a flat configuration to a buoyant three-dimensional decoy. The decoy body is releasably secured in the three-dimensional condition via an attachment means. A double-headed element is included having a male gender at one end and a female gender at an opposing end thereof. The body and double-headed element include opposing sides, each adorned with markings such that they resemble a particular wild game species, including gender, desired for exposed representation.