US2534180A - Propulsion means for rowboats - Google Patents

Description

F. W. RACY PROPULSION MEANS FOR ROWBOATS Filed March 14, 1949 Dec. l2, 1950 Patented Dec. 12, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEI PROPULSION MEANS FOR ROWBOATS Frank W. Raicy, Portland, Oreg.

Application March 14, 1949, Serial No. $1,248

2 Claims.

My invention relates to means for propelling row boats and skiffs particularly those used for hunting and nshing. The objectives and advantages of this invention over the prior art will come to the surface as the specication proe gresses.

Wild game is becoming scarce and hunters are becoming plentiful as the country is opened up and better roads are made available. Ducks and geese are difficult to approach. Operators of row boats make their presence known audibly and visually because of the implements they use to move their boats and because of the gyrations they go thru in doing so. When they troll or cast for iish the turbulence created by oars frightens the fish.

To remedy the above is the principal objective of my invention. There are many other objectives such as enabling the operator to face in either direction while travelling, to propel the boat without noise or turbulence, and to propel the boat while out of sight.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section thru a boat and shows the propelling apparatus in position; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the propelling apparatus; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the propelling apparatus; Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevation of a blade; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

Thruout the drawings and the specification similar numerals refer to similar parts.

Fig. 1 is a vertical section thru the stern of a row boat I with my propelling apparatus 2 detachably secured thereto. I employ a rudder 3 provided with a tiller 4 positioned at right angles thereto. The rudder 3 is provided with an upper pintle 5 and a lower pintle 6. On the end board 'I of the boat I is secured the upper and lower sockets 8 and 9 spaced to receive the rudder pintles 5 and Ii, respectively, whereby the rudder 3 and incidently the rest of my apparatus is pivotally attached to the boat and adapted to be turned by the tiller 4 from side to side. From the above it is evident that the whole propelling and steering apparatus may be detached from the boat as a unit by lifting it upwardly till the pintles are removed from their sockets and said apparatus may be put in operative position by reversing the operation.

The rudder 3 is not limited in configuration but in this instance it is shown as an oblong sheet of thin material extending about six inches below the bottom of the boat I. Its upper end is formed with an extension I0 provided with a boss I! on each side thereof to provide an adequate length of bearing for the hinge pin IZ on which the blade-carrying arms I3 and It are hinged and also to provide ample clearance for the movement of the blades I5 when in open position or on the .push stroke.

The blades i5 are positioned within the bifurcation formed in the lower ends of the arms i3 and Iii and project an equal distance on each side of said arms and are secured thereto by the screws Il therein which pass thru the blade I5. The blades I5 are made of a circular sheet of flexible material as rubber I8 with two semi-circular pieces of spring wire IQ moulded in to provide stiffness to portions of the perimeter. The central portion 2G of the blade I5, or that portion within the bifurcation, is without reinforcement so that the blade I5 may be readily folded as is shown in Figs. 1 to 3, at 21. This folding operation of the rubber blade I5 takes place during the back stroke of the arms I3 and I4. To prevent the blade I5 from opening too far on the front or push stroke the reinforcing wire I9 has its ends 19A bent at right angles to the body portion ISB to lay against the sides of the arm I3 or I4 when the blade I5 is fully opened as it should be during said push stroke. This is clearly shown in Fig. 5, and is the preferable construction. In the upper portion of Fig. 4, the end ISA is first bent upwardly and out of the sheet of rubber I8 and then at right angles. This latter construction is also clearly shown in Fig. 1, at 22.

The rudder 3 has been shown cut from a single piece of material and since it is thin it has been reinforced by two side strips 23 and 23 which provide stiiiness for the tiller 4 of which they form a part. Their outer ends are spread to form a fork 24 for the reception of an operating arm 25 formed with a hand grip portion 26 on each end thereof. The pin 2l journalled in the fork 24 permits the operating arm 25 to be reciprocated by the occupant of the boat. The arm I3 is shown connected to the upper end of the operating arm :25 by the bent connecting rod 28 which is hingedly connected to the arm I3 and the operating arm 25 by the hinge pins 29 and 30, respectively. In a like manner the arm I4 is shown connected to the lower end of the operating arm 25 by the bent connecting rod 3| which is hingedly connected thereto by the hinge pins 33 and to the arm I4 by the hinge pin 32. Because of the above hook-up the occupant of the boat may alternately reciprocate the blades I5 and thus move his boat forward. He may do this from the seat 354 when facing in the d direction of travel or he may reciprocate the operating arm 25 from the seat 35 while facing the stern of the boat which he would probably do when casting or trolling for fish. If he wants to sneak up on ducks without being seen he may remove the seat 35 and reciprocate the operating arm 25 while lying out of sight on the oor boards 36 of the boat i. The blades l5 are normally about 6" below the bottom of the boat l and never break the surface while operated hence they do not create a turbulence as do oars.

The apparatus described and shown is of the utmost simplicity yet it admits of many modifications in shape, arrangement, and adaptation, and while the prior art have been active they have not approached the subject matter Of the appended claims and hence I claim all that comes fairly within their scope.

I claim:

l. In an apparatus for the propulsion of boats, a rudder having a tiller, an operating arm fulcrumed o n a pin in the endr of the tiller, a hinge pin carried by theI rudder, a blade-carrying arm mounted on the hinge pin on each side of the rudder, a connecting rod hingedly connected to one blade-carrying arm, and t0 one end of the operating arm, a connecting rod hingedly connected to the other bladeecarrying arm and to the opposite end of the operating arm, and a blade carried by each arm adapted to fold on the backward movement of its arm and open on the forward movement thereof.

2. In an apparatus for the propulsion of row boats having a pair of blade-carrying arms alternately movable forward and back, a blade formed of a sheet of rubber having opposite portions of its peripheral edge reinforced and its intervening middle portion unreinforced said reinforcement consisting of a pair of semi-circular metal members having their ends bent at right angles to the intervening portion of said blade.

' FRANK W. RAICY.

EEFERENCES CITED The ufollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 415,082 Wight g Nov. 12, 1889 892,418 Hallman N U v July 7, 1908 1,655,762 Englehrt V Jan. 10, 1928 1,789,749 Herring Jan. 20, 1931 1,807,289 Herring V a May 26, 1931

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