Patent Publication Number: US-2019193498-A1

Title: Snowmobile floater attachment assembly

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to amphibious adaptor for a snowmobiles and more particularly pertains to a new amiphibious adaptor for a snowmobile for adapting a snowmobile into a land vehicle and watercraft. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a snowmobile that has a top side and a bottom side. The snowmobile includes a left ski, a right ski and a track that extends outwardly from the bottom side. A primary floater is removably attachable to the snowmobile. The primary floater provides buoyancy to a rear side of the snowmobile. A plurality of back couplers is included wherein each of the back couplers removably attaches the primary floater to the snowmobile. A first ski floater and a second ski floater are included. The first ski floater is positioned on the left ski and the second ski floater is positioned on the right ski. The first ski floater and the second ski floater provide buoyancy to a forward side of the snowmobile. The snowmobile is buoyant and floats in water when each of the primary floater. The first ski floater and the second ski floater is attached to the snowmobile. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a side view of a snowmobile floater attachment assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a top view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 7  thereof, a new amphibious adaptor for a snowmobile embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 7 , the snowmobile floater attachment assembly  10  generally comprises a snowmobile  12  that has a top side  14  and a bottom side  16 . The snowmobile  12  includes a left ski  18 , a right ski  20  and a track  22  that extends outwardly from the bottom side  16 . A primary floater  24  is removably attachable to the snowmobile  12 . The primary floater  24  provides buoyancy to a rear side  26  of the snowmobile  12 . The primary floater  24  has a top wall  28 , a bottom wall  30  and a perimeter wall  32  that extends between and is attached to the top wall  28  and the bottom wall  30 . The primary floater  24  has an opening  34  that extends through the top wall  28  and bottom wall  30 . The opening  34  is aligned with the track  22  of the snowmobile  12  such that the track  22  extends through the opening  34  and below the bottom wall  30 . The track  22  can be rotated to move the snowmobile  12  forward over water. The primary floater  24  comprises a water buoyant material. 
     A plurality of back couplers  36  is included wherein each of the back couplers  36  removably attaches the primary floater  24  to the snowmobile  12 . Each of the back couplers  36  is removably attached to the perimeter wall  32  of the primary floater  24  and extends upwardly therefrom. Each of the back couplers  36  is removably attached to the bottom side  16  of the snowmobile  12 . 
     The back couplers  36  may comprise of a plate  38  that has a top end  40  and a bottom end  42 . An upper portion  44  of the plate  38  extends downwardly from the top end  40  and a lower portion  46  of the plate  38  extends upwardly from the bottom end  42 . A first fastener  48  is removably extended through the upper portion  44  and into the bottom side  16  of the snowmobile  12  to secure the plate  38  to the snowmobile  12 . A second fastener  50  is removably extended through the lower portion  46  and into the perimeter wall  32  of the primary floater  24  to couple the snowmobile  12  to the primary floater  24 . The plate  38  may have a bend  52  between the upper portion  44  and the lower portion  46  to accommodate the positioned of the upper portion  44  relative to the snowmobile  12 . The first and second fasteners  48 ,  50  may comprise of screws, bolts or other fasteners suitable to secure the plate  38  to the snowmobile  12  and the primary floater  24 . 
     A first ski floater  54  and a second ski floater  56  are also included. The first ski floater  54  is positioned on the left ski  18  and the second ski floater  58  is positioned on the right ski  20 . The first ski floater  54  and the second ski floater  56  provide buoyancy to a forward side  58  of the snowmobile  12 . The snowmobile  12  is buoyant and floats in water when each of the primary floater  24 , the first ski floater  54  and the second ski floater  56  is attached to the snowmobile  12 . 
     Both the first ski floater  54  and the second ski floater  56  comprise a buoy  60  that has an upper wall  62 , a lower wall  64  and a peripheral wall  66  that is attached to and extends between the upper wall  62  and the lower wall  64 . The buoy  60  has a receiving space  68  that extends into the upper wall  62  toward the lower wall  64 . A corresponding one of the skis  18 ,  20  of the snowmobile  12  is positioned in the receiving space  68 . The receiving space  68  includes a slit  70  that extends through the upper wall  62  to the lower wall  64  such that a runner  72  of the corresponding ski  18 ,  20  is positionable through the slit  70  and extends downwardly through the buoy  60 . The buoy  60  comprises a buoyant material. 
     A rod  74  extends outwardly from the peripheral wall  66  such that the rod  74  extends inwardly toward the snowmobile  12  perpendicular to the peripheral wall  66 . A wheel  76  is rotatably coupled to a distal end  78  of the rod  74  relative to the peripheral wall  66 . The wheel  76  extends below the buoy  60  wherein the forward side  58  of the snowmobile  12  rolls when on a ground surface. A support member  80  is attached to and extends upwardly from the rod  74 . A forward coupler  82  is attached to a distal end  84  of the support member  80  relative to the rod  74  wherein the forward coupler  82  releasably engages the bottom side  16  of the snowmobile  12 . 
     The forward coupler  82  may comprise a tube  86 . The tube  86  has a break  88  that extends through the tube  86  and defines a top portion  90  and a bottom portion  92 . The bottom portion  92  is attached to the distal end  84  of the support member  80 . The top portion  90  is hingedly coupled to the bottom portion  92  such that the top portion  90  can be pivoted to expose an interior  94  of the tube  86 . A support shaft  96  of the snowmobile  12  is positionable in the tube  86  when the tube  86  is opened and secured to the associated ski floater  54 ,  56  when the tube  86  is closed. 
     In use, the primary floater  24  is attached to the bottom side  16  of the snowmobile  12  with each of the back couplers  36 . The track  22  is positioned through the opening  34  of the primary floater  24 . Each of the ski floaters  54 ,  56  is positioned on the associated ski  18 ,  20 . The runner  72  of the ski  18 ,  20  is positioned through the slit  70  and the support shaft  96  of the snowmobile  12  is placed into the interior  94  of the tube  86  and the tube  86  is closed to secure the ski floater  54 ,  56  to the snowmobile  12 . The snowmobile  12  is buoyant and floats in water when each of the primary floater  24 , the first ski floater  54  and the second ski floater  56  is attached to the snowmobile  12 . The snowmobile  12  is turned on and the track  22  moves the snowmobile  12  forward while each of the ski floaters  54 ,  56  are rotated by the associated skis  18 ,  20  to turn the snowmobile  12 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.