Inflatable Water Walking Pontoons with Integrated Footwells

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing water walking devices face issues with user comfort, stability, and ease of use, as they often require the foot to be attached or held in footwells, leading to cumbersome designs and limited functionality for prolonged water use.

Innovation Solution

The design features inflatable pontoons with integrated footwells that allow for easy foot entry and exit, a narrow support board for stability, a detachable platform for sitting and paddling, and a ladder for safe entry and exit, along with scoops that create resistance without obstructions, enhancing user experience and safety.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the foot is held into the footwells or attached to the top of the pontoons, then the user can maintain position on the water, but the device becomes cumbersome and difficult to operate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefoot position stabilityVSAvoidfoot entry and exit ease

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the physical parameters of the footwell by making it larger and integrating it directly into the pontoon structure. This allows the foot to be held securely by the well's geometry and buoyancy forces without requiring attachment mechanisms, thus maintaining reliability while improving ease of operation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The footwell is merged with the pontoon structure as an integrated component rather than a separate attachment. This combination eliminates the need for separate fastening mechanisms while maintaining the foot-holding function, resolving the contradiction between stability and ease of operation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Adaptability or versatility

If a platform is attached to the pontoons, then the user can sit and rest after walking on water, but the device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveresting functionalityVSAvoidplatform attachment structure

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The platform is designed to be detachable rather than permanently fixed, allowing it to be attached when resting is needed and removed when walking is required. This dynamic configuration provides versatility while minimizing complexity during active use.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The platform is designed as a separate, removable component from the pontoon system. This segmentation allows the platform to be attached only when needed for resting, adding versatility without permanently increasing device complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Ease of operation

If the footwell is large enough for free foot entry and exit, then the ease of operation improves, but the volume of the pontoon increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefoot entry and exit easeVSAvoidpontoon volume

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSVolume of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The footwell is merged into the pontoon's internal structure as an integrated cavity rather than an external addition. This allows the footwell volume to be part of the overall pontoon volume, providing easy foot access without proportionally increasing the total device volume.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

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 solution provides improved stability, ease of use, and extended water usage capabilities, allowing users to comfortably walk, sit, and paddle while maintaining safety and convenience, with features like a ladder for easy reboarding and scoops for smooth movement.

Implementation Method 1

The present invention employs a number of new approaches for solving the problems that exist in water walking devices... inflatable pontoons... The pontoons are fabricated from Styrofoam or other similar buoyant materials

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectBuoyancy: Archimedes' Principle (Buoyancy)

Implementation Method 2

a narrow support board at the bottom of the pontoon gives the pontoon its rigidity, and acts as a keel for the pontoon. This gives the user greater stability and easier handling of the apparatus when walking on the water

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectRigidity:

Implementation Method 3

the scoops that create resistance to the pontoons from going backwards, are attached to the bottom of the pontoons, and go freely over the water when going forward

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectHydrodynamic resistance: Drag

Data Source

PatentUS9517819B2Apparatus for walking and resting upon the water with improved walking stability

Publication Date: 2016.12.13 SOUTER KELLY K

AI summary

A water walking apparatus having two inflatable pontoons, each with respective holes in their top surfaces for a footwell. A platform support may expand and contract when in use so as to accommodate variable spacing between the pontoons. The platform support may include curved saddle, which straddles over the curved outer surface of a pontoon, securing the platform support to the pontoons. A platform upon which a user may sit may be connected to the platform support by a neck received into a hole in the bottom of the platform. The platform may include a backrest member, and a strap that may serve as a ladder step when the backrest member is rotated rearwardly and down, into the water to allow a user to step on the continuous strap and climb up onto the platform.