Abstract:
The present invention comprises two V-shaped tubes held in a nested and tensioned relationship with each other such that the assembly is free of tensioning straps or rigid supports while easily maintaining its relative legs angled relationship effectively supporting in fishing activity in wave agitated lakes and bodies of water persons weighing up to and over 250 pounds.

Description:
[0001]    This application is a continuation in part of application 60/232506 filed Sep. 13, 2000. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates to U-shaped and V-shaped inflatable float devices for humans engaged in fishing activities. The state of the art of float tube technology is well disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D341866, 5,217,400 and 5,171,178. The float tubes of those patents have a common complexity that would be desirable to eliminate. None of the float tubes have shaken free of the tensioning strap required for maintenance of the U-shape or V-shape disclosed therein as so necessary to effective use of the device. It appears that others have solved the tensioning problem by inserting a stiff support between the legs of the U-shaped devices to keep the free ends of the U-shape from laterally drifting or being moved substantially out of their original relationship with the person sitting on the seat. The tension belt and rigid support are directed to this problem.  
           [0003]    It is easily appreciated that wave action and turning action initiated by the user causes lateral drag on the leg extensions of U-shaped and V-shaped float devices. The downward force of the user&#39;s weight on the seat inevitably draws those legs laterally together. Wave action on one side of one of the legs tends to cause it to be driven towards the other free leg, reducing the flotation stability of the device. A round float tube doesn&#39;t have these limitations, although the above patents describe other problems that arise from their use.  
           [0004]    There is a need for a float tube that preserves the open entry of the prior art U-shaped and V-shaped float tubes while eliminating the tensioning belts or rigid supports.  
         INVENTION SUMMARY  
         [0005]    The present invention comprises two V-shaped tubes held in a nested and tensioned relationship with each other such that the assembly is free of tensioning straps or rigid supports while easily maintaining its relative legs angled relationship effectively supporting in fishing activity in wave agitated lakes and bodies of water persons weighing up to and over 250 pounds.  
           [0006]    The present invention nesting of its two tubes provides a very significant degree of safety for the fishing user. The relative nesting structure and gas volumes of the two tubes makes it possible to have the outer tube punctured and deflated by a hook or other pointed object while maintaining flotation for the fully equipped user. It has been found that the relatively equal gas volumes in the two tubes that provides such effective angled orientation support also provides survival flotation for the user if one of the tubes is punctured.  
           [0007]    The present invention further comprises several embodiments of relatively low above-water profile float devices such that wind blowing on a user in a body of water leaves the user relatively unmoved. It is well known that wind drives in undesirable directions the users of float tubes in inflatable forms such as those with round tubes, V-shaped or U-shaped tubes or with two substantially parallel inflatable pontoons. The prior art above-water profiles of the inflatable float devices delivering acceptable above-water altitude for the user have been found to have substantially identical above-water profiles that are easily wind driven. Replacing the single tubes of prior art inflatable float devices with two tubes of substantially the same diameter with substantially the same gas volume as the single inflatable tube of prior art float devices substantially reduces the above water profile of the float tube while maintaining substantially the same altitude for the user. The prior art shows that in order to provide enough flotation in a substantially round cross section float tube for a fully equipped fisherman, a relatively large diameter tube must be provided. The invention devices obtain by their construction with a fabric covering of two adjacent tubes an inherent increased stability and weighted resistance to tipping and wind forces. It will be appreciated with this disclosure that in one embodiment of the invention, round adjacent tubes are held together and surrounded with a water permeable fabric cover whereby pressing the lower side of the float tube in water causes water to soak through the fabric to fill the generally triangular cross section space formed by the inner surface of the fabric and the lower non-contacting arcs of the adjacent tubes. Attempting to quickly move the invention float tube will be resisted by the weight of the water held in that space that does not quickly drain through the fabric cover. Thus, wave and wind action is resisted by the inertia of the retained water in that space. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    [0008]FIGS. 1 and 2 are top and side views of a V-shaped prior art device of the inventor requiring a tensioning strap.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 3 is an above water line profile of the FIG. 2 device.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 4 is a side view of the invention V-shaped float tube having two tensioned and nested tubes contained in a fabric covering.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 5 is an above water line profile of the FIG. 4 device.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 6 is a top view of the invention device.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 7 is a top view of the invention device without is fabric covering showing the nesting of the inflatable tubes.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 8 is cross section I of FIG. 6.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 9 is cross section II of FIG. 6.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 10 is a top view of an invention low profile float device with two pontoons.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 11 is a top view of an invention low profile round float device.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 12 is an alternate cross section I of FIG. 6 without the fabric covering to show a continuous joining of the two inflatable tubes of FIG. 7.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIGS. 13, 14 and  15  are respectively the devices of FIGS. 6, 10 and  11  showing a similar cross section III.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIGS. 16 and 17 are cross sections III demonstrating deflection resistance of the dual tubes having tensioning abutment where weight is applied to the invention devices to be floated.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 18 is an alternate embodiment of cross section I of FIG. 6 with invention tensioning without the necessity of a fabric covering.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIGS. 19 and 20 are side and top views of an invention embodiment having a wind break and back support.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 21 is section IV of FIG. 21. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0024]    The invention is now discussed with reference to the Figures.  
         [0025]    FIGS.  1 - 3  show a prior art V-shaped float tube. FIG. 1 and  2  shows that a tensioning strap is an absolute requirement of the device. It was unknown in the prior art that this strap could be eliminated while retaining the same or superior free leg form retention of the invention V-shaped device. FIG. 1 shows an angle  1  wherein the general bisected V-shape angle  1  equals about 20 degrees. The prior art teaches the use of a single inflatable tube beneath a fabric covering, whereby the fabric covering acts as a support for the tensioning strap. FIG. 2 shows the outline of a user a DESIRABLE ELEVATION above a WATER LEVEL. Maintaining the desirable elevation for the user with the open entry of a V-shaped or U-shaped device is one of the reasons the V-shaped and U-shaped float devices are highly preferred currently. An invention device preferably maintains these objects.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 3 shows the above water line side profile of the prior art device of FIG. 3. It is a significant portion of the total wind affectable profile of a user. A significant reduction in this profile has been found to dramatically reduce wind driving of the user to an undesirable location or direction.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4 shows a side view of an invention embodiment float device  100 . Device  100  comprises a preferably water permeable fabric covering holding together in a tensioned relationship two inflatable tubes in a V-shape having free legs  100  and a back supportable portion  103  at vertex  102  while maintaining desirable elevation  104  as in FIG. 2. FIG. 5 is shown as the above water line side profile of device  100  and such profile is in proportion to the profile of FIG. 3, whereby a reduction by about more than 30% is achieved. It has been found that this reduction achieves the desired reduction in wind driving of the user to an undesirable location or direction while maintaining identical or better desirable elevation and a front entry advantage of a V-shaped device.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 6 shows the V-shape of device  100  having a bisected angle  100 ′. Angle  100 ′ has been found to be effective for the present invention in from 4-30 degrees, although more preferably from about 4-15 degrees. Fabric covering  1   10  is shown as substantially continuous over the surface of device  100 , although some substantial openings or a lattice structure may be used to achieve the invention objects. Gas fill stems  111  extend through fabric openings to the inflatable tubes underneath covering  110 .  
         [0029]    The invention objects of the embodiment of FIG. 106 are achieved in part by replacing the tensioning strap of the prior art with a tensioning of the fabric outer edge from point  105  to point  106  to point  107  to point  108 , where generally the prior art instructed the skilled person to locate a tensioning strap. The use of a minimum V-angle is critical to the invention embodiment&#39;s maintenance of effective supportive relationship for a user seated in seat  112 . The inflatable tubes are pressured to only about 5 psia to achieve the invention objects, a relatively low pressure to achieve such objects. The top view of the invention embodiment of FIG. 6 and the top view of the prior art V-shaped device of FIG. 1 are substantially in proportion with each other. It may be seen that the substantial reduction in side profile with the invention device is achieved without substantial increase in free leg width although the leg  101  length is somewhat increased to provide generally equivalent gas volume for maintaining the desired elevation for the user.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 7 shows the view and device of FIG. 6 without fabric covering  110 , which may comprise nylon or other synthetic fiber having a resistance to absorb water into its fibers while having water permeability. FIG. 7 shows two nested inflatable tubes, in outside tube  114  and an inside tube  115 , where tube  115  is substantially protected from laterally applied sharp objects by the tube  114 , such that the typical reeling in of hooks on fishing lines could tend to puncture tube  114  and leave tube  115  untouched. Cross section I in FIG. 8 shows that it is preferable to maintain generally equal cross section area of tubes  114  and  115  while in the vertex area  102 , cross section II of FIG. 9 shows that the cross section area  116  of tube  114  is substantially smaller than cross section area  117  of tube  115 . It will be remembered that it is an object of the invention to provide roughly equivalent floatation for the user regardless of whether tube  114  or  115  is deflated. Since tube  115  is nested in tube  114 , the increase cross section  117  is provided to increase the total gas volume in tube  115  to make it roughly equal to that of tube  114  while at the same time providing effective back support for the user, where such effective back support is shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.  
         [0031]    The invention also comprises the concept of dual and roughly equivalent gas volume inflatable tubes for other shaped devices such as U-shaped tubes having tensioning straps or other shape maintenance means, two pontoon device  200  of FIG. 10 or the round float tube of FIG. 201. To maintain roughly equal gas volumes in the two tubes of FIG. 11, it may be preferable to form an increased cross section portion of the inside tube of the device of FIG. 201 as in the comparative cross sections  116  and  117  of FIG. 7.  
         [0032]    The invention tubes are preferably supportively joined at a seam along their lateral and abutting lengths, although such a relationship can be achieved with straps surrounding the two tubes  114  and  115 . An example of the form of the continuous seam is shown in FIG. 12, wherein the two tubes  114  and  115  are formed from two sheets  122  and  123  of polymer or elastomer material, preferably PVC of about 0.030 inches thickness. Heat sealed or RF welded seal welds  120 ,  121 ,  124  and  125  are made to form two separately inflatable tubes  114  and  115  with a joining section  119  between them.  
         [0033]    It is preferable that a zippered access (not shown) be provided in the fabric covering  110  for inserting and removing the deflated tubes  114  and  115 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIGS. 8 and 9 show a generally triangular space  118  continuous along the underside of device  100 . It is this space that fills with water during use with the permeance of the fabric covering  110  allowing water to so fill that space. Once filled, the weight of the water and its inability to instantly drain from the space provides an inertial mass resisting wave and wind action. FIG. 8 shows that a grommet-reinforced hole  126  may be formed at the free end of the legs  101  where the water that may accumulate in the space  118  may drain freely from space  118 . Alternately, a continuous sheet of waterproof material may cover at least the bottom portion  127  of the fabric covering as shown in FIG. 8. The waterproof material may be of neoprene or Hypalon, whereby a superior surface is obtained for puncture resistance and drag to the user&#39;s paddle movement of the float device from one location to another.  
         [0035]    Another more general concept of the invention comprises two held apart sets of two inflatable tubes, where the tubes of the set are held, in flotation operation, substantially horizontal to the water surface and side by side abutting each other in both the weighted and unweighted state. The tube abutment tension means are derived primarily from a sheet or web covering of the non-abutting outer surfaces of the tubes as in FIG. 8 or direct tube to tube connection as in FIG. 18. The tension means cause the two tubes of each set to be held together so that when the device is used with a person seated between the sets with their head at a desired elevation above the water (the weighted state), the combination of the effects of the joining means and the tension means effectively reduce deflection of the relative axes of the adjacent tubes between the weighted and unweighted states so that a relatively low profile is maintained. Without such tension, the suspension of a user&#39;s weight between the sets would cause the tubes adjacent to the user to be pulled lower in the water than the more distal tubes of the sets, thereby raising the distal tubes higher than in an unweighted state and raising the above water profile of the device. The flotation volume distribution is preferably about equal between the two supportively adjacent tubes.  
         [0036]    The prior art does not teach or lead the skilled person to use a tensioned engagement of the dual tubes of the invention, where the tensioned engagement can be made with fabric covering (even with substantial openings), multiple straps, webbing or additional heat sealing or RF welding of adjacent opposing tube surfaces to effect the tensioning. The degree of tensioning should be sufficient so that inflation of the two tubes above about 2-3 psia results in an inflated structure with two tube diameters of about greater than 4 inches, two tube axes that lie in approximately a plane parallel with the water when the tubes are in use and having adjacent axes lengths of at least about greater than two feet.  
         [0037]    FIGS.  13 - 15  show that a common cross section III may be made in the several float devices disclosed herein as capable of being adapted to benefit from the invention sets of dual tubes. FIGS. 16 and 17 do not show the joining means for the held apart sets, as such means are substantially different in the devices of FIGS.  13 - 15 , although the effect of the joining means in combination with the tensioning means still results in a relatively low profile float device in the weighted and unweighted states.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIGS. 16 and 17 shows two held apart sets of tubes tensioned with a fabric covering as described above. FIG. 16 shows a rigid connector  128  connected at connections  129  to covering  110 . The weight direction arrow  128 ′ shows that connector  128  simply depresses the two tube sets equally into the water at the tube-axes width of connector  128 . In this embodiment, the rigid connector becomes part of the joining means that maintains the distance of the tube sets apart as in FIG. 14.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 17 is a somewhat broader embodiment for suspending a weight between the sets of dual tubes, as shown in the suspended seat-type float tubes of FIGS. 13 and 15. For such suspension seats, the attachment zone of the seat to the tube sets results in variable torsion effects on the tube sets. It has been found that the invention tensioning is sufficient to permit attachment of the suspension seat to any of the radial surface points of the covering  110  without resulting in substantially adverse downward deflection of the inside tubes  115  with upward deflection of outside tubes  114 . Suspension sling or other means  130  and  132  are attached respectively at points  131  and  133  on covering  110 . Means  130  and  132  in the weighted state tend to pull covering  110  in direction  136  around the general radius of the tube sets, which rotation inducing pull is negated by the appropriate tension of covering  110  and connection of the tube sets to joining means. Similarly, suspension sling or other means  134  attached at points  135  induce in the weighted state a rotation or pull in the direction  140 , which rotation inducing pull is negated by the appropriate tension of covering  110  and connection of the tube sets to joining means. It is intended that the invention in the weighted state not deflect from water level angle  137  to upward angle  139  or downward angle  138  more than about  30  degrees without resulting in an undesirable above water profile.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 18 shows an embodiment of cross section I where tensioning of the adjacent tubes is achieved without a covering, using instead RF welds or heat sealings  141  at a high and low positions of polymer sheets  142  and  143 . The suspension seat attachments may be made by way of straps encircling the tube sets in appropriate locations.  
         [0041]    While a low profile is desirable for a float device, having a back rest has been of great value in prior art devices. However, the form of such back rests has undesirably raised the profile of the float device. FIG. 19 shows an invention back rest means  300  incorporated into the invention device  100  by sewn in seam  301  of a fabric shell filled with filling means  304  as in FIG. 21 to maintain a front aerodynamic face  302  and a back rest  303  for the user (shown in broken outline in FIG. 19). Seam  301  is preferably a continuous attachment of the fabric shell of means  300  to covering  110 . Filling means  304  comprises many different materials from synthetic foam to user equipment accessed with a zipper (not shown). It is preferable to provide that zippered access be provided in the fabric shell for the user to insert and /or remove filling means for improving back rest support or for collapsing to store or carry the deflated device  100 . The user is thus provided with back rest  303  while obtaining a device  100  having substantially reduced wind resistance over face  302 .  
         [0042]    The above design options will sometimes present the skilled designer with considerable and wide ranges from which to choose appropriate apparatus and method modifications for the above examples. However, the objects of the present invention will still be obtained by that skilled designer applying such design options in an appropriate manner.