Abstract:
A collapsible casual chair including first and second stabilizer bars individually positioned forwardly of the front and rear legs of the chair in supplementing its support, and a substantially U-shaped bar extending rearwardly from the front legs around the second stabilizer bar and the rear legs, with a manually operated suction hand cup enclosing the U-shaped bar, operable to releasably secure the chair to a flat surface at the front of a powerboat by vacuum action.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     NONE 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Research and development of this invention and Application have not been federally sponsored, and no rights are given under any Federal program. 
     REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
     NOT APPLICABLE 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to the marine powerboat industry, in general, and to sport fishermen, cruisers and sport powerboats, in particular. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As is well known and understood, pleasure and sports craft of this type are designed with a back well with integral seating, and of a size to typically accept the added placement of casual chairs to accommodate the various passengers aboard. Because the back of the boat moves much less under the action of waves than does the front, the singular placement of such additional seating presents little discomfiture to the occupant and exhibits only a tolerable sway as the boat moves forward, and from side-to-side. 
     Many occasions arise, however, where a passenger in the back well ventures (or would like to venture) to the front of the boat. There, because the front does not support the weight of the engine, the boat moves substantially more from side-to-side, and up-and-down due to wave action—oftentimes, sufficient to cause the person to lose his/her balance, or even to fall. Chairs, usually being long-legged, are top heavy so sitting on them in front does not stabilize the situation; and, if employed, frequently leads to both the chair and its occupant being flung about. Still, many occasions arise where being at the front of the boat is desirable, especially without there being any need for having to hold on for dear life. 
     Motor and luxury yachts have, of recent times, tended to deal with this problem by molding the fiberglass hulls to integrally receive specially configured lounge chairs for one to just sit upon, or to lay on while soaking in the sun. Located so as not to be weight bearing on the glass windows for the cabin below, these built-in manufactures will be understood as not really being an available solution for smaller boats or for non-luxury boats where the designers have opted to build a chair into the fiberglass hull. 
     As will become clear from the following description, the present invention describes a powerboat chair for use on these small and non-luxury crafts which can be collapsed and folded for storage when not being used, and which can be opened for placement in an exceedingly secure manner at the front of the vessel. Appreciating that the fish that secure themselves to the body of a shark swimming through the waters are known as “Remora”, the chair of the present invention will henceforth be referred to as a “Remora powerboat chair”. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     As will become clear from the following description, the “Remora powerboat chair” includes a collapsible chair having pairs of front and rear legs respectively supporting a seat to be sat upon when opened. A first stabilizer bar is positioned forwardly of the front legs and under the seat for support when the chair is opened, with the first stabilizer bar being secured inwardly of the front legs; and with the opposite ends of the first stabilizer bar resting on the same level surface as does the pair of front legs. A second stabilizer bar is additionally positioned forwardly of the rear legs and under the seat for support when the chair is opened—with the second stabilizer bar being secured inwardly of the rear legs, and with its opposite ends likewise resting on the same level surface as does the pair of rear legs. As will be seen, a substantially U-shaped bar extends rearwardly from a first location on one of the front legs, running outwardly along one end of the second stabilizer bar, both of the rear legs, and the other end of the second stabilizer bar to a second location on the other front leg. A manually operated suction cup couples with the substantially U-shaped bar for then releasably securing the collapsible chair to a flat surface by vacuum action. With the front and rear legs being of a tubular aluminum construction and with the seat being of a fabric composition, the powerboat chair of the invention will thus be seen as one where this typical casual chair construction is supplemented by forwardly positioned stabilizer bars for support, and with the front legs being joined together by a rearwardly extending U-shaped bar secured with a suction hand cup, all essentially fastening the chair to the deck by releasable vacuum action. 
     With the clearance of the substantially U-shaped bar from the ends of the second stabilizer bar and from the rear chair legs, the substantially U-shaped bar, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, can thus be angled or rotated upwardly—to allow for vacuum securement by the suction cup at any location at the front of the powerboat, even to the windshield of a small cruiser or sport fisher. In such embodiment, the manually operated suction hand cup includes a pair of oppositely positioned round suction cups—although in other constructions, one, three, or four suction cups could be utilized instead depending upon the degree of vacuum securement desired. Because powerboats, regardless of their size are fabricated of white fiberglass, with the present invention, the suction cups employed in the vacuum action are preferably selected of white rubber construction so as not to mar any surface. In similar manner, the bottoms of the chair legs and stabilizer bars are cushioned as well, preferably of a white rubber construction also. Manually operated suction hand cups of these manners are commercially available, where operation involves either lever squeezing or flipping, or pump action, to securely clamp their rubber pads to the surface by vacuum. Whether the chair is to be secured to the front of the boat or to the driver&#39;s windshield (or even in the back well), a high degree of steadiness results, allowing the occupant of the chair to sit securely, even as the boat bounces about under action of the oncoming waves. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     These and other features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIGS. 1-5 are helpful in a visualization and understanding of the Remora powerboat chair of the invention; 
     FIGS. 6A,  6 B and  6 C are helpful in an understanding of the manually operated suction hand cup securement device; and 
     FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative U-shaped bar according to the invention, for that of FIGS.  1 - 5 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the Drawings, a collapsible chair of typical construction with a fabric seat  10 , a fabric back  12  and arm rests  14 ,  16  is of tubular construction having a pair of front legs  18 ,  20  and a pair of rear legs  22 ,  24  which support the seat  10  when opened as part of a tubular frame  26 . A first stabilizer bar  28  is positioned forwardly of the front legs  18 ,  20  under the seat  10  for support when the chair is opened. The stabilizer bar  28  is secured inwardly of its opposite ends  30 ,  32 —as at  29 ,  31 —to individual ones of the front legs  18 ,  20  in any appropriate manner, as by rivet, nut-and-bolt, etc. The opposite ends of the stabilizer bar  28  will be appreciated to rest on the same level surface as does the front legs. 
     A second stabilizer bar  34  is included., positioned forwardly of the rear legs  22 ,  24  and also under the seat  10  for support when the chair is opened. In manner similar to the first stabilizing bar  28 , the second stabilizing bar  34  is secured inwardly—as at  33 ,  35 —of its opposite ends  36 ,  38  to individual ones of the pair of rear legs  22 ,  24 . Such opposite ends of the stabilizing bar  34  similarly will be understood to rest on the same level surface as do the rear legs. The securement of the second stabilizer bar  34  to the rear legs  22 ,  24  may also be by way of rivet, nut-and-bolt, etc. 
     A substantially U-shaped bar  40  extends rearwardly from the front leg  18  to run outwardly along one end of stabilizing bar  34 , both rear legs  22 ,  24  and the opposite end of stabilizer bar  34  to the front leg  20 , being held at the two front legs by a cotter pin or other securement which allows the bar  40  to angulate and rotate upwards with respect to the level surface on which the legs rest. 
     FIGS. 1-5 also illustrate a manually operated suction hand cup  50  coupled with the substantially U-shaped bar  40 . Such hand cup operates by flipping cam levers  52  upwardly and downwardly to alternatively release and secure a pair of round suction cups  54 ,  56  to a flat surface by vacuum action. Although manually operated suction cups of one, three or four of these releasable clamps may be employed, testing has shown that the “double clamp” of this construction is preferable. With the arrangement shown in FIGS. 1-5, the two suction cups  54 ,  56  lie in a common rigid plane, as shown in FIG.  6 A. In accordance with the invention, however, such round-suction cups could equally lie in planes flexible with respect to one another, in offering alternative manners of securement depending upon the construction of the powerboat at whose front the suction cups are to be adhered. Flexible suction cups in this respect may be as illustrated in FIG.  6 B. To minimize marring of the powerboat&#39;s fiberglass surface, the suction cups  54 ,  56 —whether they be rigid or flexible—are selected of a white rubber construction where available. These manually operated vacuum cup arrangements include hinged top and bottom sections ( 70 ,  72  in FIG. 6C) which form a channel  74  to receive the substantially U-shaped bar when passed therebetween, with clamp(s) being provided as at  64  to tightly join the sections  70 ,  72  in enclosing the bar  40  once in place. Similarly, to minimize marring, the bottom ends of both front legs  1 B,  20  and both rear legs  22 ,  24  are cushioned, also preferably of a white rubber construction, as are the opposite ends of the stabilizer bars  28 ,  34 . 
     As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the manually operated suction hand cup  50  fastenly secures the U-shaped bar  40  (and thus the collapsible chair) in position to the level surface, as shown in FIGS. 1-4. Where insufficient flat surface exists on the boat&#39;s front deck, the suction hand cup  50  could be rotated as in FIG. 5, so as to bear against the craft&#39;s bulkhead or other vertical appendage in securing the chair to be then sat upon. In those powerboat constructions where even less room is available to seat the chair entirely at the bow area, the U-shaped bar  40  along with its manually operated suction hand cup  50  could be rotated so as to allow placement of the suction cups against the windshield of the vessel, with fine tuning of the securement being by way of the additional angulation of the suction cups themselves. As will be appreciated, then, even though the front of the powerboat would bounce while being propelled up and down over the waves, the “Remora” chair remains in secure position, protecting its occupant from being thrown about, especially when also wearing a seat belt if need be. Removing the chair after use will be seen to follow just by flipping open the levers  52  (or “freeing” the pump action) to break the vacuum and release the U-shaped bar  40 , so that the chair can then be stored away once more. 
     FIG. 7 illustrates an adjustable U-shaped bar  90  which may be substituted for the “static” bar  40  of FIGS. 1-5. A pair of push-button operative, telescoping bars  91  couple with a horizontal bar  92  by means of a 90° conduit pipe  93 —with the adjustment in length being accomplished in well known manner by releasing the collar  94  to free the nested lengths  95 ,  96  to slide together. When lengthened the desired amount, the push-button  97  fits within its capturing aperture  98 , and the collar  94  is rotated tight. This feature, together with the horizontal bar  92  being of greater length to receive the suction hand cup  50 , facilitates the ease with which the chair is securable to a flat surface of the boat. 
     While there have been described what are considered to be preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the teachings herein. For at least such reason, therefore, resort should be had to the claims appended hereto for a true understanding of the invention.