Patent Publication Number: US-2006014446-A1

Title: Marine engine skeg-boot, protection, absorption, permanent conversion and horizontal lift wing component

Description:
1:A I disclose prior conception of the idea of the Skeg-Boot in 1974. Copies of pictures noted numbers original tooling plug for molding shown in No. 1 photo, shows a solid component without the cavity open at the top, this component was used for making of molds to form end component.  
      1:B As in photo No. 2, shows a component made from the first mold. These components were not sold to the public, but used for my use in research and development towards a patent application in the future. As shown in the photo, this component did not fit in the close tolerance against the gear housing as I desired and was larger in size as I desired  
      1:C The component as described and shown was not the fine tuned and tooled item I filed for. Sobe, DeMasi, Lammli and Rocka later achieved the same results I reached in the conception in 1974. I will show in the reconsideration process why I came up with a similar component that fits the needs of today and past application requirements. I note that in the photo copy No. 2 the marine engine is 2003 model and the component is of the first design and misses the forward fit, but on a 1973-1974 marine engine the component fits fine. As I was requested by the public to build this style component in 2004, I was forced to come up with a unit that would blend to the engines and not look added on.  
      1:D The components on today&#39;s market such as the ones as Sober, DeMasi, Lammli and Rocka describe, do not fit the marine engines contours and surfaces in a fit that appears factory installed and require secondary fasteners to assure connection to the marine engine.  
      1:E Pictures and attached drawing No. 3 and No. 4 show the fit of the Skeg-Boot on a newer marine engine and how the Skeg-Boot is applied as a boot over the engine&#39;s Skeg and attached on the horizontal wing of the marine engine as a horizontal lift wing, showing dual applications of the same item component.  
      2:2 As claims  2  and  3  are rejected, Sober describes a Skeg-Boot sized and shaped to conform to most marine engine Skegs. Sober did not discuss it as a highly acceptable fit to the engine as shown in my drawing fitting in close tolerance to the gear housing. Most marine engines have different gear housing contours below the housing in which they flow in to the Skeg blade. My component forms over the Skeg and continues upward against the lower gear housing without looking as a add on component as desired in the market. As described by Sober, his plane is below the bottom of Skeg as a stabilizing device to hold the sides of his component and as a defection device for impacts. My horizontal lift wing function attaches to above the gear housing on the horizontal planes as I noted in the title using the words “And Horizontal Lift Wing Component” not as attached to the engines Skeg unit, but the same Skeg-Boot has a dual purpose component use as noted in attached new drawings and photos. 
    
    
      As described the component I claimed has a sacrifical bumper at its lower plane, the device is shaped and shown in the drawing with no sharp edges, not to harm marine life and to wear away also if impacted on hard objects or accidental dragging. As described the main purpose of the component is to act as an absorption device not as a rigid unit over an existing Skeg which such rigid units do not allow for proper protection except as a appearance device and if the unit is installed with fasteners, holes must be drilled leaving weakened break off points in the Skeg. Sober describes the use of a bonding material such as epoxy, which has excellent bonding abilities, but forms a solid rigid fill, not used as an absorption device between the Skeg and boot or cover. Further Sober intends mainly his unit to be used as a add on component that will appear as such in application and could be made of a plastic material if he had the ability or knowledge, but primarily pushes the metal and rigid theory which I push the theory of a vulcanizing bonding material with a flexible barrier between the Skeg and Skeg-Boot and not appearing as a add on unit.  
      3:4 It is obvious that Sober, Demasi, Lammli and Rocka choose as their primary structure materials as metal bases to reinforce the sub Skeg made of Aluminum which creates a solid rigid component that in theory of an unskilled person in manufacturing and a preventative protection devices maker would think that the more rigid a component is, the stronger it is. If they had chosen a plastic material as their primary material they could not achieve the same results unless they used a fiberglass base reinforced material to obtain the rigid results they were trying to achieve. When all of the inventors formulated their ideas. The plastic materials which could have filled the requirements were available on the market and widely used in the marine industry. The fiberglass reinforced plastics and other rigid plastics available at these times could have been used, but cost differences between forming metal components vs. tooling costs of molds and plastics manufacturing were and are expensive in comparison to the metal processes. The marine market also is not receptive of a plastic over a piece of metal, but in my case, researching and developing a process which does not create a rigid covering and by using a semi rigid polymer and a base adhesive that is flexible to achieve a absorption component. This theory has to convince the market that the process can be used in the place of rigid add on units. The inventors show the obvious standard material should and is preferred a rigid metal and they knew that at that time that in the future of any component that it could be produced in a version of a plastic based material and that their preferring a metal component may not be as marketable when this time comes. It could be said that any material could be used in the future to make any component and that a person having ordinary skills in the art could achieve this goal.