Patent ID: 8529306
Filing Date: 2013-09-10
Classification: B63H

Abstract:
1. A pedal powered propulsion device for a watercraft; said device to be mounted to an accommodating watercraft constructed with at least one trunk or deck opening, so as to accept said device, said device employing the foot power of an operator to move a pair of folding paddles in an arcuate path beneath the surface of the water from the direction of the bow toward the direction of the stern and back, creating a propelling thrust; said propulsion device comprised of: two first-class levers, each having a folding paddle attached to said lever's resistance arm and a rotatable foot pedal attached to said lever's force arm; two rotatable shafts; said shafts serving as the fulcrums for said levers; each of said shafts having a toothed gear mounted toward one end of said shaft and one of said levers connected with a hinge to the opposite end of said shaft; a rigid mounting plate with bushings fixed to or cast as part of said mounting plate; said bushings having bores to accept said shafts; said bores running in a generally horizontal fashion perpendicular to the longitudinal centerline between port and starboard of the host watercraft, when the mounting plate is properly mounted; said bores oriented relative to one another so as to create a simple gear train, having said shafts assembled into said bores with said gears meshed near the center of said mounting plate and each of said levers suspended just beyond the respective outer edges of said mounting plate.