Pivoting Wake Tower with Auto-Locking and Gas Spring Counterbalance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wake towers face issues with dimensional distortion and stress due to welding, and the added weight of accessories makes manual operation and locking challenging, requiring significant force and often two people to manage.
Innovation Solution
A wake tower design featuring a pivoting structure with an auto-locking mechanism, constructed from machined billet aluminum without welding, using gas springs for counterbalance and lap joints for assembly, allowing single-person operation and precise locking in upright or lowered positions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If welding is used to construct the wake tower, then the components can be joined together to form the structure, but dimensional distortion and stress occur in the assembled components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the welding process entirely from the construction method. Instead of joining components through welding, the tower is constructed from a single piece of extruded aluminum alloy, eliminating the harmful welding step while maintaining structural integrity and dimensional accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the fundamental construction parameter from assembled welded components to a single-extrusion process. This parameter change eliminates dimensional distortion and stress by avoiding multiple joining operations, while the extrusion process itself provides precise dimensional control.
2Adaptability or versatility
If accessories and bimini tops are added to the tower, then the tower can provide additional functionality, but the combined weight makes manual raising and lowering difficult or impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates gas springs as counterbalance mechanisms that provide upward force to offset the weight of the tower and its accessories. This allows the tower to be easily raised and lowered manually despite carrying heavy equipment, as the gas springs bear the majority of the gravitational load.
3Strength
If the tower is constructed with welding, then the structure can be assembled, but the heat affected material adjacent to welds tends to be weak
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the welding process completely by using a single-extrusion construction method. This removes the source of heat-affected zone weakness while maintaining structural strength through the continuous grain structure of the extruded aluminum alloy.
4Manufacturing precision
If welding jigs and fixtures are used to hold parts in place, then distortion can be minimized during assembly, but significant dimensional distortion still occurs after release from the fixture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the welding process that causes dimensional distortion, making welding jigs and fixtures unnecessary. The single-extrusion construction method produces the tower in its final dimensional state without requiring assembly or post-weld distortion correction.
Data Source
AI summary
A wake tower assembly for use with a watercraft, including an arch portion extending across a width of the watercraft, first and second pivoting structures coupled to first and second ends of the arch portion, the first and second pivoting structures configured to attach to port and starboard portions of the watercraft to facilitate rotational movement of the arch portion between a lowered position and an upright position, and a first locking mechanism provided to the first pivoting structure including a biased pin member configured to engage an opening of the first end such that when the arch portion is rotated from the lowered position to the upright position, a biasing force of the biased pin member causes the biased pin member to engage the opening to mechanically lock the arch portion in the upright position.