Inflatable Decoy Platform for Waterfowl Hunting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional waterfowl decoy display rigs face issues with tangling, difficulty in achieving a tight configuration, and safety concerns, particularly in open water hunting, where multiple decoys are cumbersome to handle, deploy, and retrieve, and pose risks to hunting dogs due to entanglement in fishing nets.
Innovation Solution
A semi-solid, flexible platform made of vinyl plastic fabric with built-in handles and a single anchor point design, featuring attachment mechanisms like barrel swivels and clips that allow decoys to adjust to wind and tide, reducing tangles and enabling easier deployment, retrieval, and storage, while maintaining a realistic decoy configuration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple decoys are displayed in a tight configuration using conventional rigs, then the attraction effectiveness to waterfowl is improved, but the complexity of deployment and retrieval increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple decoys into a single integrated inflatable structure that can be deployed as one unit. The decoys are merged with the inflatable platform, eliminating the need to handle and deploy numerous separate decoy items, thereby reducing deployment complexity while maintaining the tight configuration for attraction effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses an inflatable platform made of flexible material that can be easily deployed and collapsed. This flexible shell structure allows the entire decoy array to be inflated into position and then collapsed for simple retrieval and storage, significantly reducing the complexity of deployment and retrieval operations.
2Ease of operation
If conventional decoy rigs are used in open water, then the decoys can be deployed, but the safety risk to hunting dogs increases due to entanglement hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The inflatable platform creates a smooth, continuous surface without the tangled nets and lines of conventional rigs. This flexible shell structure eliminates protruding elements that could entangle hunting dogs, maintaining ease of deployment while removing the entanglement hazard.
3Quantity of substance
If dozens of individual decoys are handled and deployed, then the desired decoy density is achieved, but the time and labor required increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple decoys into a single inflatable structure that can be deployed as one unit. This combination allows the hunter to achieve high decoy density without the time-consuming process of individually handling and deploying dozens of separate decoys, dramatically improving deployment efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The inflatable platform can be rapidly inflated and deployed, allowing the hunter to quickly establish a dense decoy configuration without the labor-intensive process of manually positioning each individual decoy, thereby improving productivity.
4Reliability
If conventional decoy rigs are used, then decoys can be displayed, but the difficulty of retrieval and storage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The inflatable platform can be easily deflated and collapsed into a compact form for simple retrieval and storage. This flexible shell structure maintains decoy display stability when inflated but transforms into a convenient, space-saving package for storage, significantly improving retrieval ease.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems and apparatuses are disclosed for attracting and/or repelling animals, more particularly methods systems and apparatuses for deploying and retrieving decoys, such as, for example, waterfowl decoy displays typically used in hunting, and particularly to attract overflying waterfowl.