Abstract:
A boat lift transportation assembly for boat lifts is attachable to and removable from any cantilever boat lift. It comprises a steerable front lever that is positioned adjacent the front upper and lower cross-members of the boat lift and left and right rear levers positioned adjacent the rear upper and lower cross-members. Each lever has a wheel on the bottom so that the boat lift is automatically placed on wheels when the boat lift is raised, provided the levers have been positioned previously. Besides the wheel on the bottom, each lever has a height adjustable beam having a lower and upper hook. The boat lift&#39;s lower cross-members sit on the rest areas of the lower hooks and the boat lift&#39;s upper cross-rnembers are restricted by the upper hooks.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The field of this invention is boat lifts, and more particularly, cantilever boat lifts and how to get them in and out of the water conveniently. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART  
   Boat lifts are used by boat owners to elevate boats above the water when they are not being used and to lower them back into the water for usage. For example, during the summer season, boat owners use the boat lift to lift boats out of the water to avoid damage from rough waters rocking the boat against the dock.. 
   Boat lifts can be classified by the mechanisms they employ for raising and lowering the boat. Thus there are cantilever boat lifts, vertical boat lifts and hydraulic boat lifts. Cantilever boat lifts have a frame comprising a lower quadrilateral frame and an upper quadrilateral frame with vertical frame members connecting them. The lower and upper frames each have cross-members. Some kind of leveraging mechanism, employing for example a winch, is used to pivot the vertical frame members in unison so as to raise and lower the upper frame members in relation to the lower frame members. 
   The problem is that the boat lifts themselves have to be moved in and out of the water, depending on the season. It is not advisable to leave your boat lift in freezing water during the winter, for example. This is because it will cause ice damage to the boat lift and to the boats. 
   The prior art features permanent attachments to cantilever boat lifts designed to help move the boat lifts in and out of the water. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,632 to Fortmeyer is a permanent attachment to a cantilever boat lift. 
   To date, there are many problems associated with mechanisms used for moving cantilever boat lifts in and out of the water. It should be noted that it is very common for boat owners to have multiple boats; sometimes half a dozen or more. Each boat has its own boat lift permanently affixed to it. Accordingly, when the mechanism for lifting the boat lift is permanently affixed to each of the boat lifts, the cost of such a mechanism must be multiplied by the number of boats. Furthermore, these mechanisms take up storage space. 
   Accordingly, there is a strong need to have a way of moving cantilever boat lifts in and out of the water that is less expensive. Furthermore, boat lifts are made by different manufacturers. There is a therefore a further need to have such a boat lift transportation mechanism that is compatible for all models of boat lifts regardless of their manufacturer. 
   The present invention presents a novel, long-awaited solution to these problems and offers yet additional advantages. 
   SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
   A boat lift transportation assembly for boat lifts is attachable to and removable from any cantilever boat lift. It comprises a steerable front lever that is positioned adjacent the front upper and lower cross-members of the boat lift and left and right rear levers positioned adjacent the rear upper and lower cross-members. Each lever has a wheel on the bottom so that the boat lift is automatically placed on wheels when the boat lift is raised, provided the levers have been positioned previously. Besides the wheel on the bottom, each lever has a height adjustable beam having a lower and upper hook. The boat lift&#39;s lower cross-members sit on the rest areas of the lower hooks and the boat lift&#39;s upper cross-members are restricted by the upper hooks. 
   The front lever has an upper and lower segment that rotate relative to one another to allow steering of the assembly and boat lift. 
   IMPORTANT OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES 
   The following important objects and advantages of the present invention are: 
   (1) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly; 
   (2) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that is inexpensive; 
   (3) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that is easy to operate; 
   (4) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that is adaptable to a cantilever boat lift of all manufacturers; 
   (5) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that is light weight; 
   (6) to provide a single boat lift transportation assembly that can be used for multiple cantilever boat lifts; 
   (7) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that uses the cantilever boat lift&#39;s own mechanism for being lifted in order to put the assembly into proper position; 
   (8) to provide a cantilever boat lift transportation assembly that is easy to manufacture; 
   (9) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that attaches to the cross-members of a boat lift; 
   (10) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that is steerable; 
   (11) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that obviates the need for a jack when adjusting the legs of the boat lift; 
   (12) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that is a comprised of three levers; 
   (13) to provide such a boat lift transportation assembly wherein each lever of the assembly is height-adjustable; 
   (14) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that is compatible with any cantilever mechanism used by cantilever boat lifts for raising and lowering the boat lift; 
   (15) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that can be operated by a single person; 
   (16) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that be operated to move the boat lift into the water and out of the water easily; 
   (17) to provide a boat lift transportation assembly that includes a stabilizing member for accommodating rocky water bottom surfaces; 
   (18) to provide a boat lift transportation mechanism that is easily adaptable to cantilever boat lifts of different heights and to cantilever boat lifts having different lengths of spaces between their upper and lower cross members; and 
   (19) to provide an apparatus and method for placement of a boat lift onto wheels for transporting the boat lift. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention position adjacent a cantilever boat lever in a mostly lowered position; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the assembly and boat lift of  FIG. 1  but in a fully raised position; 
       FIG. 3A  is a left side elevation view of a left rear lever of the boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3B  is a right side elevation view of a left rear lever of the boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention; 
       FIG. 4A  is a left side elevation view of a right rear lever of the boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention; 
       FIG. 4B  is a right side elevation view of a right rear lever of the boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention; 
       FIG. 5A  is a left side elevation view of the front lever of the boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention in its normal unrotated position; 
       FIG. 5B  is a right side elevation view of the front lever of the boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention in its normal unrotated position; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the front lever of  FIG. 5  wherein the upper segment of the beam of the front lever is rotated relative to the lower segment of the beam of the front lever; and 
       FIG. 7  is a top view of the left rear lever of the assembly of the present invention, the top view of the other two levers of the assembly being identical.. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   While the instant invention can be embodied in many different forms, preferred embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings and are described below in detail. It should be understood that the present disclosure should be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the principles or scope of the invention to the embodiment illustrated. 
   The boat lift transportation assembly of the present invention has been assigned reference numeral  10  Other elements have been assigned the reference numerals referred to below. 
   As seen from  FIGS. 1-7 , boat lift transportation assembly  10  is used for transporting cantilever boat lifts  9  that are of the kind having a frame, the frame including an upper front cross-member  1 , a lower front cross-member  2 , an upper rear cross-member  3  and a lower rear cross-member  4 . These boat lifts  9  are raised and lowered by various mechanisms. One example of such a mechanism is a winch. The frame of the lift  9  is able to rotate to and from a raised position by virtue of the pivoting of the four vertical members from pivot points along the lower cross members and along the upper cross-members. Since the lower cross-members are fixed to each other by cross bars, the lift  9  moves from a lowered position to a raised position and the side walls move from parallelograms to rectangles. 
   Assembly  10  is designed to be raised and/or lowered automatically when the boat lift  9  is raised and/or lowered. For example, the boat lift  9  may have a winch that forces the vertical frame members to pivot in unison and thereby raise and/or lower the upper frame members in relation to the lower frame members. Whatever mechanism boat lift  9  uses to raise and lower itself is the very mechanism that is used to raise and lower assembly  10 . In use, the three levers of assembly  10  are positioned, as described below, adjacent cross-members of boat lift  9  while the boat lift  9  is in the lowered position. Then, the winch or other mechanism lifts the boat lift  9  to its raised position. In so doing, the levers of assembly  10  are also raised and placed into their final position. The assembly  10  is now ready to pull boat lift  9 . 
   Assembly  10  comprises a front lever  20 . Front lever  20  includes front wheel  22  and height-adjustable front beam  24 . Front beam  24  has a front lower hook  26  which in turn has rest area  26   a  on which the lower front cross-member  2  rests and an upper hook  28  that limits movements of the upper front cross-member  1 . Front beam  24  also includes a bottom segment  24   a  extending from a point below the front lower hook  26  and continuing to a bottom of the front beam  24  and a top segment  24   b . Top segment  24   b  is capable of being rotated relative to the bottom segment  24   a  so as to enable a user to steer assembly  10  when assembly  10  is positioned operatively with a boat lift  9 . Note that assembly  10  is not actually affixed structurally to boat lift  9 . 
   Assembly  10  also includes right rear lever  30 . Right rear lever  30  includes a right rear wheel  32  and a height-adjustable right beam  34 . Right beam  34  has a right rear lower hook  36  which in turn has rest area  36   a  on which the lower rear cross-member  4  rests and an upper hook  38  that limits movement of the upper rear cross-member  3 . 
   Assembly  10  further includes left rear lever  40 . Left rear lever  40  includes a left rear wheel  42  and a height-adjustable left beam  44 . Left beam  44  has a left rear lower hook  46  which in turn has rest area  46   a  on which the lower rear cross-member  4  rests and an upper hook  48  that limits movement of the upper rear cross-member  3 . 
   It should be clearly understood that the term “hook” as used in this patent application is a very broad term which also encompasses structures or members that extend a traditional hook into a full encircling enclosure. 
   In a preferred embodiment, the front beam  24 , right beam  34  and left beam  44  are all made from aluminum or another lightweight but sturdy, durable and rigid material. In a poorer alternative embodiment, the beams  24 ,  34 ,  44  are made of wood. The shape of the cross-section of front beam  24 , right beam  34  and left beam  44  is that they have a substantially rectangular cross-section. A “substantially rectangular” cross-section, for example with respect to the front, right and left beams, shall be understood to include (although not be limited to) rectangles with rounded corners. 
   In a preferred embodiment, wheels  22 ,  32 ,  42  are at the very bottom of levers  20 ,  30 ,  40 . For example, in a preferred embodiment, as best seen from  FIG.6  front wheel  22  is situated in a space carved out at a bottom of the front beam  24 , right rear wheel  32  is situated in a space carved out at a bottom of the right rear beam  34  and left rear wheel  42  is situated in a space carved out of a bottom of the left rear beam  44 . Wheels  22 ,  32 ,  42  should be wide enough to establish proper traction along the bottom of the water. For example, in a preferred embodiment, wheels  22 ,  32 ,  42  should be at least four inches wide. Furthermore, it is preferred that wheels  22 ,  32 ,  42  should have a dip in a central area of their width in order to increase traction. The present invention contemplates any kind of wheel that is effective at carrying boat lift  9  reliably across a water bottom. It is noted that the boat lift  9  is not moved that far a distance typically to and from the water. Both the wheels  22 ,  32 ,  42  and the manner in which the wheels are connected to the beams  24 ,  34 ,  44  can vary from what is depicted in the drawings herein. 
   Although the drawings depict only front beam of front lever  20  as having two segments wherein the bottom segment including the front wheel  22  is rotatable relative to the upper segment for steering purposes and do not depict left and right rear levers  30 ,  40  as steerable, in certain embodiments, any, none or all of the wheels can be steerable using any appropriate structure including the one depicted for front beam of front lever  20 -namely that one or more of the rear beams are composed of an upper and lower segment wherein the lower segment containing the wheel is capable of being rotated relative to the upper segment thereof. 
   As can be seen from the  FIGS. 1-7 , the front lower hook  26  and front upper hook  28  face each other in that lower hook  26  faces up whereas upper hook  28  faces down. This is because lower hook  26  actually contains a resting area for lower front cross-member  2 , whereas upper hook  28  does not allow upper front cross-member  1  to rest on it. Rather, upper hook  28  merely limits the movement of upper front cross-member  1  when assembly  10  is pulling boat lift  9  along the bottom of the lake or the other water body. In this situation, the boat lift  9  often hits a bump on the bottom surface of the lake or other water body which would can jolt the boat lift and cause it to separate from levers  20 ,  30 ,  40  of assembly  10 . This separation is prevented by the three upper hooks  28 ,  38 ,  48  of front lever  20  and right rear lever  30  and left rear lever  40 . 
   When in use, assembly  10  is capable of being removably positioned adjacent the boat lift  9 . Preferably, front lever  20  is adjacent an approximate midpoint of the lower front cross-member  2  and of the upper front cross-member  1 . Use of the approximate midpoint of the front cross-members  1 ,  2  for the point of connection is obviously the most efficient manner in which to pull boat lift  9 . The term “approximate” just means close enough to the midpoint to efficiently pull boat lift  9 . In use, right rear lever  30  and left rear lever  40  are positioned adjacent the lower rear cross-member  4  and upper rear cross-member  3 . Right rear lever  30  and left rear lever  40  are at a right and left side of the upper rear cross-member. 
   In a preferred embodiment, the levers  10 ,  20 ,  30  are best positioned behind their respective cross-members. So for example, front lever is situated behind an approximate midpoint of the lower and upper front cross-members, and wherein the right and left rear levers are situated behind the lower and upper rear cross-members. In an alternative embodiment, the levers  10 ,  20 ,  30  are positioned in front of their respective cross-members. 
   In a preferred embodiment, it is the front lever  20  that has an attachable connecting member  99  for pulling the assembly  10  when assembly  10  is connected to boat lift  9 . In a preferred embodiment, that connecting member  99  is a simple rope. Connecting member  99 , e.g. the rope  99 , attaches preferably to the bottom segment  24   a  of front beam  24  of front lever  20 . In this way, bottom segment  24   a  easily follows the pulling force behind the connection member  99  or rope  99  whenever steering takes place. It is contemplated by the present invention that any other suitable and effective means of pulling boat lift  9  with assembly  10  may be used. 
   In order to make sure that the three levers,  20 ,  30 ,  40 , when positioned with the frame of the boat lift can raise the boat lift  9  off the bottom of the lake or other water body, there should be certain comparative distances maintained. For example, the distance, called the “first distance” from a bottom of the front wheel to the rest area  26   a  of the front lower hook  26  should exceed the distance from a bottom of a water body to a bottom of the lower front cross-member  2 . Similarly, the distance (called the “second distance”) from a bottom of the left rear wheel to a rest area  46   a  of the left rear lower hook  46  should exceed the a distance from a bottom of the water body to a bottom of a left side of the lower rear cross-member  4 . Similarly, the distance (called the “third distance”) from a bottom of the right rear wheel to a rest area  36   a  of the right rear lower hook  36  should exceed the a distance from a bottom of the water body to a bottom of a right side of the lower rear cross-member  4 . In a preferred embodiment, the term “exceeds” in this paragraph means exceeds by at least a few inches in order to take into consideration the uneven topography of many water bottoms, i.e. a bottom of a lake or other water body. 
   Front beam  24 , right beam  34  and left beam  44  are height adjustable using any mechanism that is suitable for assembly  10  and known to those skilled in the art now or in the future. In accordance with one simple mechanism to height adjustment that is shown in the drawings, for example, front beam  24 , right beam  34  and left beam  44  can have, respectively, bolts  29 ,  39 ,  49  that can be screwed and unscrewed to fit in various holes  27 ,  37 ,  47  located at different heights in beams  24 ,  34 ,  44 . 
   Although the terms front lever, left rear lever and right rear lever are used herein, and parts of such levers described herein such as front beam, left beam and right beam, describe particular levers in assembly  10  and their parts, these terms are not intended to limit the direction of motion of the assembly or how a particular lever or part thereof can be characterized. 
   It is to be understood that while the apparatus of this invention have been described and illustrated in detail, the above-described embodiments are simply illustrative of the principles of the invention. It is to be understood also that various other modifications and changes may be devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof. It is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described. The spirit and scope of this invention are limited only by the spirit and scope of the following claims.