Patent ID: 11919344
Assignee: nan
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 10:
11. A method of dislodging a vehicle positioned on an ice layer atop a body of water, the method including the steps of:
extending an anchor attached to a tether through a hole in the ice layer, the tether is elongated and has a first end and a second end, the anchor being attached to the second end of the tether, the anchor having length dimension extending from a first lateral edge to a second lateral edge and a width dimension extending from a front side to a rear side, the length dimension being elongated with respect to the width dimension, the length dimension being greater than a diameter of the hole in the ice layer, the width dimension being smaller than the diameter of the hole;
letting the anchor completely sink below a bottom surface of the ice layer such that a longitudinal axis of the anchor extending through the first and second lateral edges moves toward a horizontal orientation;
lifting the anchor with the tether such that a top side of the anchor adjacent to each of the first and second lateral edges abuts the bottom surface and the anchor completely traverses a bottom entrance of the hole;
securing the first end of the tether to a vehicle and removing slack in the tether between the vehicle and the anchor;
shortening a length of the tether such that the anchor provides a stop relative to the vehicle and the vehicle is pulled toward the hole and dislodged from a stuck position relative to the ice layer;
lowering the anchor away from the ice layer to facilitate free movement of the anchor relative to the ice the layer;
actuating a biasing member attached to the anchor to urge the longitudinal axis toward a vertical orientation; and
pulling the anchor upwardly through the hole with tether.