Abstract:
An application for a theft prevention system includes a self-contained alarm that secures to a structure of a boat or other vehicle, especially a pleasure craft. The self contained alarm includes a motion detector and a signaling device which is either audible or visual. The signaling device lights and/or sounds responsive to detection of motion by the motion detector.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to the field of boating and more particularly to a system and apparatus for preventing theft from occurring on a boat. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    There are many situations in which a vehicle or boat is susceptible to theft. These are categorized by two situations: one in which the vehicle or boat is left unattended and the other is one in which the vehicle or boat is occupied, but the occupants are asleep or otherwise unguarded. 
         [0003]    In marine cases where the boat is unattended, the boat is often in a slip or on a boat lift. In most situations, a boat in a slip or on a lift usually has the bow positioned towards a neighboring body of land and the stern faces the open water. Since most boats, especially pleasure craft, are easily accessed from the stern, it is easy for a thief to enter the boat either from the neighboring dock or from another watercraft. This entry is very hard to detect from land being hidden by the structure of the boat, especially at night. Once aboard, it is often very easy to break into the cabin to steal valuables and/or to hot-wire the boat and steal the boat. 
         [0004]    In marine cases where the boat is attended and the occupants are asleep, it is often very difficult to detect a thief boarding the boat. Often, when the occupants are asleep in the cabin, valuables such as watches, radios, music players, portable televisions and the like are sitting targets for the thief. The noise of the sea and the natural motion of the boat only help the thief keep from being detected. 
         [0005]    What is needed is a system and apparatus that will prevent such thefts by signaling either the occupant or a passer-by of the robbery in progress. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The theft prevention system includes a self-contained marine alarm that secures to a structure of a boat, especially a pleasure craft. The self contained marine alarm includes a motion detector and a signaling device which is either audible or visual. 
         [0007]    In one embodiment, a marine alarm system is disclosed including a base enclosure and a source of power. A motion sensing circuit is affixed to an outside surface of the base enclosure; the motion sensing circuit receives power from the source of power. There is at least one signaling device affixed to the outside surface of the base enclosure. The signaling device(s) receive power from the motion sensing circuit responsive to the motion sensing circuit detecting motion (presence of a person). There is a mechanism for removably connecting the base enclosure to a section of a boat such as a rail and/or a cloth member. 
         [0008]    In another embodiment, a marine alarm system is disclosed including a base enclosure and a source of power entering into the enclosure. A motion sensing circuit is affixed to an outside surface of the base enclosure and the motion sensing circuit receives power from the source of power. An electric light is positionably (adjustable) affixed to the outside surface of the base enclosure and it receives power from the motion sensing circuit responsive to the motion sensing circuit detecting motion. An audible alarm is affixed to the outside surface of the base enclosure and also receives power from the motion sensing circuit responsive to the motion sensing circuit detecting motion. There is an attachment mechanism for removably connecting the base enclosure to a section of a boat (e.g., a rail or cloth member). 
         [0009]    In another embodiment, a marine alarm system is disclosed including a base enclosure and a source of power entering into the enclosure. A motion sensing circuit is affixed to an outside surface of the base enclosure and receives power from the source of power. An electric light is positionably (able to be adjusted) affixed to the outside surface of the base enclosure and receives power from the motion sensing circuit responsive to the motion sensing circuit detecting motion. An audible alarm is also affixed to the outside surface of the base enclosure and also receives power from the motion sensing circuit through a mute switch responsive to the motion sensing circuit detecting motion. The mute switch prevents power from reaching the audible alarm when the mute switch is in the open position. The base enclosure has one or more fasteners affixed to the outside surface to which an attachment mechanism is removably affixed. The attachment mechanism has an arced clip at one end configured to secure the attachment mechanism to a rail of a boat and a spring clip at a second end configured to secure the attachment mechanism to a cloth part of the boat. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    The invention can be best understood by those having ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates a plan view of a marine alarm system of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of an exemplary attachment mechanism of the marine alarm system of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates a plan view of the marine alarm system of the present invention attached to a bimini top of a typical boat. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  illustrates a perspective view of the marine alarm system of the present invention attached to a rail of a typical boat. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  illustrates a first schematic view of the present invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  illustrates a second schematic view of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    Reference will now be made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Throughout the following detailed description, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements in all figures. 
         [0018]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a plan view of a system of the present invention is shown. The marine alarm system  10  of the present invention includes a base enclosure  12  and an attachment mechanism  50  for attaching to the various parts of a typical boat. In one embodiment of the present invention, the base enclosure  12  has one or more fasteners  46  for attaching the attachment mechanism  50  to the base enclosure  12 . In this way, the attachment mechanism  50  is easily relocated to other locations on the base enclosure  12 , thereby facilitating attachment to rails  2  or cloth  4  (see  FIGS. 2 and 3 ) or other objects of varying orientation. 
         [0019]    In the preferred embodiment, a mode switch  30  and an alarm on/off switch  28  are adapted to the base enclosure  12 . The mode switch  30 , in this embodiment, has three positions: On, Off and Motion. In the “On” position of the mode switch, the light  16  is continuously on, thereby providing light when needed. In the “Off” position, the alarm system  10  and light  16  are not powered. In the “Motion” position, the alarm system  10  is enabled to detect motion by way of the motion sensor  14 . The motion sensor or motion detecting circuit  14  is a motion sensor as known in the industry and includes, but is not limited to infrared motion sensors and ultrasonic motion sensors. In general, such motion detection circuits include a sensor and circuitry to detect signals from the sensor and determine if the signals correspond to a specific target (e.g., a human subject). Such motion sensors/motion detecting circuits  14  are known and often used to turn on lights at night when a person is detected. 
         [0020]    The alarm on/off switch  28  connects/disconnects the sounder  26  to the motion sensor. In the “On” position of the alarm on/off switch  28 , when motion is detected by the motion detector  14 , the light  16  illuminates and the sounder  26  makes noise. In the “Off” position of the alarm on/off switch  28 , when motion is detected by the motion detector  14 , the light  16  illuminates but the sounder  26  does not makes noise. 
         [0021]    In the preferred embodiment, the light  16  is interfaced to the base enclosure  12  by, for example, a series of arms  18 / 20 / 22  and swivel adapters  19 / 21 / 23 . These arms  18 / 20 / 22  and swivel adapters  19 / 21 / 23  enable aiming of the light  16  so that the light  16  will illuminate the desired area when either the mode switch  30  is set to “On” or the mode switch  30  is set to “Motion” and motion is detected. 
         [0022]    In this exemplary embodiment, the attachment mechanism  50  includes a dual surface clip. A first end of the attachment mechanism  50  includes an arced end  56  that arcs more than 180 degrees. It is preferred that the arced end  56  is stiff, yet flexible so that it will expand around tubing  2  such as a boat rail (see  FIG. 2 ) and then spring back to form, holding the arced end  56  around the tubing  2 . The clip end  54  is spring loaded by a spring  52  similar to a clothespin or other similar clip. The clip end  54  preferably has teeth for holding the attachment mechanism to a cloth or similar surface such as a bimini top or other canvas. In some embodiments, a distal end  58  of the attachment mechanism  50  has a hole for inserting a screw  42  to secure the attachment mechanism  50  to the base enclosure  12 . 
         [0023]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , a perspective view of an exemplary attachment mechanism  50  of the present invention is shown. The arced end  56  of the attachment mechanism  50  is shown snuggly snapped onto a rail  2  of a boat (tubing) or other cylindrical object (e.g., a flag pole, etc.) The arced end  56  arcs greater than 180 degrees and expands to accept the rail  2 , then the arced end  56  springs back to its original shape to tightly hold the rail  2 . It is anticipated that, in some embodiments, an inside surface of the arced end  56  is optionally lined with a non-skid surface such as rubber to hold the arced end  56  in position on a typical rail  2 , which is often very smooth. The clip end  54  and spring  52  are shown, but not in use in this example. The distal end  58  is shown with the set screw  42 . 
         [0024]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , a plan view of the marine alarm system  10  of the present invention attached to a bimini top  4  of a typical boat  6  is shown. The bimini top  4  is shown supported by a series of rails  2 . The attachment mechanism  50  of the marine alarm system  10  is clipped to an edge of the bimini top  4  by the clip end  54  and is held in place by the spring  52 . 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , a perspective view of the system of the present invention attached to a rail  2  of a typical boat  6  is shown. For theft prevention/reduction, the marine alarm system  10  is mounted on a rail  2  of the boat  6 , facing the stern of the boat  6 . In this example, both the motion detector  14  and the light  16  are aimed toward the stern of the boat  6 , so that, when an intruder boards the boat  6 , the motion detector  14  detects the intruder and warns either the cabin occupants or anyone in the vicinity of the boat  6  that something is wrong. This visual and/or audible warning from the sounder  26  and/or the light  16  is often sufficient to ward off the thief and/or notify occupants and/or anyone in the vicinity of the boat  6  to notify the proper authorities. 
         [0026]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , a first schematic view of the present invention is shown. In this exemplary circuit, power is provided by, for example, the boat battery at 12 VDC. In this example, the 12 VDC power is routed through an optional fuse  31  and to the mode switch  30 , which is shown in the “On” mode, in which, the 12 VDC power is connected to the light  16 , thereby illuminating the light  16 . It should be noted that the light  16  is shown as an LED and, for simplicity, the typical current limiting resistor is not shown or is integral to the LED. In alternate embodiments, other lights  16  are anticipated including incandescent lights, neon lights, fluorescent lights and xenon strobe lights, etc. 
         [0027]    When the mode switch  30  is in the center position, the 12 VDC is not connected to anything (e.g., “off”). When the mode switch  30  is in the “Motion” position, the 12 VDC is connected to the motion detector  14  and the light  16  is connected to the output of the motion detector circuit  14 . The output of this exemplary motion detector  14  is normally at ground potential. Upon detection of motion (e.g., an intruder), the output of this exemplary motion detector  14  goes to 12 VDC and, thereby, 12 VDC is provided to the light  16  and the alarm on/off switch  28 . When the alarm on/off switch  28  is closed (as shown) the 12 VDC is then applied to the sounder  26  and noise is made by the sounder  26 . When the alarm on/off switch  28  is open, 12 VDC is not applied to the sounder  26  and the sounder  26  remains silent. The sounder  26  is any known device that makes noise including piezoelectric sounders, electromagnetic sounders, voice-recordings through a speaker, etc. 
         [0028]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , a second schematic view of the present invention is shown. In this exemplary circuit, power is provided by, for example, the boat battery at 12 VDC. In this example, the 12 VDC power is routed through an optional fuse  31  and to a battery charging and auxiliary power circuit  62  as known in the industry. The battery charging and auxiliary power circuit  62  maintains a charged on a rechargeable battery  60  while 12 VDC is present and, if the 12 VDC is lost, the battery charging and auxiliary power circuit  62  provides power to the marine alarm system  10 . The 12 VDC (or auxiliary power) is routed to the mode switch  30 , which is shown in the “On” mode, in which, the 12 VDC power is connected to the light  16 , thereby illuminating the light  16 . It should be noted that the light  16  is shown as an LED and, for simplicity, the typical current limiting resistor is not shown or is integral to the LED. In alternate embodiments, other lights  16  are anticipated including incandescent lights, neon lights, fluorescent lights and xenon strobe lights, etc. 
         [0029]    When the mode switch  30  is in the center position, the 12 VDC is not connected to anything (e.g., “off”). When the mode switch  30  is in the “Motion” position, the 12 VDC is connected to the motion detector  14  and the light  16  is connected to the output of the motion detector circuit  14 . The output of this exemplary motion detector  14  is normally at ground potential. Upon detection of motion (e.g., an intruder), the output of this exemplary motion detector  14  goes to 12 VDC and, thereby, 12 VDC is provided to the light  16  and the alarm on/off switch  28 . When the alarm on/off switch  28  is closed (as shown) the 12 VDC is then applied to the sounder  26  and noise is made by the sounder  26 . When the alarm on/off switch  28  is open, 12 VDC is not applied to the sounder  26  and the sounder  26  remains silent. The sounder  26  is any known device that makes noise including piezoelectric sounders, electromagnetic sounders, voice-recordings through a speaker, etc. 
         [0030]    Equivalent elements can be substituted for the ones set forth above such that they perform in substantially the same manner in substantially the same way for achieving substantially the same result. Other configurations of circuits having different polarities, more or less components and varying arrangements are anticipated. Although described in relationship to a boat, the present invention is anticipated to work equally as well on other vehicles or structures including, but not limited to: recreational vehicles, camping tents, out buildings, etc. 
         [0031]    It is believed that the system and method of the present invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood by the foregoing description. It is also believed that it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention or without sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form herein before described being merely exemplary and explanatory embodiment thereof. It is the intention of the following claims to encompass and include such changes.