Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of the invention is amphibious vehicle and the invention relates more particularly to vehicles which convert between an automobile and a water vehicle. 
     Amphibious vehicles have been known for many years. It has been reported that only one amphibious vehicle has been made in commercial production. That was the Amphicar, which was built in Germany from 1961 to 1968. This vehicle had a top speed of only 7 mph on water. It was driven in the water by a pair of propellers. 
     Recent amphibious vehicles which are the subject of patents commonly use a jet drive and in spite of the many different designs, none have exhibited significant commercial success to date. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an amphibious vehicle which looks remarkably like a conventional automobile on land, and yet is capable of relatively high speed in the water. 
     The present invention is for an amphibious vehicle having a frame which supports a body which has a buoyant hull portion. Front and rear wheels are provided with means for raising and lowering the wheels. A water jet pump assembly is supported in the body and has a water intake in the bottom of the hull portion. An impeller moves water rearwardly to a water outlet jet at the stern of the hull portion of the vehicle. An engine is supported by the frame and is mounted over the water jet pump assembly. The engine drives both the wheels and the water jet pump selectively. In one embodiment, the frame of the vehicle has two longitudinal frame members joined near the front by a bridge frame supporting the front wheel controls, and at the rear by a rear bridge frame extending upwardly and connected by a cross member. Port and starboard front and rear wheel bottom plates extend from a recessed position to an extended position where they slide under the raised wheels. The bottom plates do not extend significantly upwardly to cover the sides of wheel wells which open to the sides of the vehicle. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of the amphibious vehicle of the present invention configured for land travel. 
     FIG. 2 is a front view thereof. 
     FIG. 3 is a rear view thereof. 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of the amphibious vehicle of FIG. 1 configured for use in water. 
     FIG. 5 is a front view of the vehicle of FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 6 is a rear view of the vehicle of FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 7 is an exploded front view showing the body portion of the vehicle of FIG. 1 above the frame of the vehicle of FIG  1 . 
     FIG. 8 is a view analogous to FIG. 7, except showing the body positioned over the frame. 
     FIG. 8A is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the left front wheel and accompanying water diversion plates. 
     FIG. 9 is an exploded side view of the vehicle of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 10 is a side view of the engine, transaxle and water jet pump of the amphibious vehicle of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the water jet pump of FIG.  10 . 
     FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  12 — 12  of FIG.  10 . 
     FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  13 — 13  of FIG.  12 . 
     FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  14 — 14  of FIG.  13 . 
     FIG. 15 is an enlarged side view partly in cross-section of the power transfer assembly of FIG.  13 . 
     FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the power transmission member and shifting assembly of FIG.  15 . 
     FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the power input member of FIG.  15 . 
     FIG. 18 is a top view of the frame, wheel assembly and wheel bottom plates of the vehicle of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the frame of FIG.  18 . 
     FIG. 19A is a perspective view of the underside of the front of the body of the vehicle of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 20 is a side view of the vehicle of FIG. 1 with the body removed showing the wheel plates in an extended configuration. 
     FIG. 21 is an enlarged view taken along circle  21  of FIG.  20 . 
     FIG. 22 is top view of the frame of the vehicle of FIG. 1 with the wheel bottom plates in an extended configuration. 
     FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  23 — 23  of FIG.  22 . 
     FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing the bottom plate under the raised left front wheel in a partially extended configuration. 
     FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing the bottom plate under the raised left front wheel in a fully extended configuration. 
     FIG. 26 is a perspective view of the bottom of the vehicle of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 27 is a front view of one of the wheels of the vehicle of FIG. 1 in a partially raised configuration. 
     FIG. 28 is a front view of one of the wheels of the vehicle of FIG. 1 in a fully raised configuration. 
     FIG. 29 is an enlarged perspective view of the top portion of the assembly of FIG.  28 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The amphibious vehicle of the present invention is shown in side view in FIG.  1  and indicated generally by reference character  10 . Amphibious vehicle  10  has a body  11 , which in one embodiment is fabricated from a composite material, such as a fiberglass composite. Vehicle  10  has a left front tire  12  and a left rear tire  13 . A jet drive outlet  14  extends from the rear or stern  15 . The front or bow  16  to the stern  15  in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 comprises a single unitary body. A door  17  has a bottom edge  18  which is further away from the bottom  19  of the vehicle than most conventional doors. A left front wheel well exposes essentially all of tire  12 . The left rear wheel well  21  exposes essentially all of left rear tire  13 . A radiator  111  is shown in phantom view in FIG.  1 . 
     Vehicle  10  is shown in front view in FIG.  2  and shows right front tire  22 . It also exhibits a central recess  23  which is surrounded by a pair of pontoons  24  and  25 , which are part of body  11  and described in more detail below. 
     FIG. 3 shows a rear view of vehicle  10  where right rear tire is indicated by reference character  26 . There it can be seen that jet drive outlet  14  is positioned just above the bottom  19  of body  11 . The engine of the vehicle is covered by engine cover  27 . 
     When the vehicle is in the water, the wheels are raised, as shown in FIG.  4 . The view of FIG. 4 shows the vehicle in motion where the water level  28  is not far above bottom  19 . The raised front and rear left tires are indicated by reference characters  12 ′ and  13 ′. 
     When vehicle  10  is at rest in the water, it floats at a level indicated by water level  29  shown in phantom view in FIG.  4 . Vehicle  10  is shown in front view in the water where the forward motion and the at rest water levels  28  and  29  are shown. FIG. 6 shows the vehicle from the rear in the water. 
     FIG. 7 shows an exploded front view of vehicle  10  where the at rest water level  29  is indicated. The view in FIGS. 7 and 8 is depicted at the front axle vertical position where the water  30  actually rises in the recess within the otherwise buoyant hull portion  31 . In FIG. 7 a right longitudinal frame member  32  supports a right front vertical frame member  33 . Similarly, left longitudinal frame member  34  supports a left front vertical frame member  35 . A cross arm  36  is affixed across the top of vertical frame members  33  and  35 . 
     As shown in FIG. 18, there are actually a pair of right vertical frame members and left vertical frame members and cross arms  36  and  36 ′. It is to be understood that the frame members  36  and  36 ′ could be formed in other configurations such as a unibody construction or an X-frame configuration. 
     A cross-sectional view of the body mounted on the frame at the position of the front wheels is shown in FIG.  8 . An enlarged portion of FIG. 8 is shown in FIG.  8 A. 
     An exploded side view of vehicle  10  is shown in FIG. 9, where the frame is indicated generally by reference character  40  and left longitudinal frame member  34  is shown extending from its front edge  37  to its rear edge  38 . The simplicity of the design of the amphibious vehicle of the present invention is illustrated clearly in FIG.  9 . Body  11  basically rests on frame  40  and a pair of longitudinal recesses  39  surround the sides and top of longitudinal frame member  34 . This is, of course, present at both the right and left sides of the vehicle and provides a streamlined underside of the vehicle. 
     The engine  41  is supported by frame  40  and is positioned above water jet pump assembly  42 . This provides substantially more room within the vehicle than if the engine were mounted with its output facing the rear of the vehicle in line with the impeller drive of water jet pump assembly  42 . This is accomplished by the power transfer assembly shown best in FIGS. 12 and 13 and discussed below. 
     Engine  41  is also mounted above a portion of transaxle  43  from which a left drive shaft  44  extends. Left drive shaft  44  preferably has a water seal  45  mounted between it and transaxle  43 . 
     Wheel drive openings  47  and  48  are shown in the body  11  in FIG.  9 . Wheel opening  48  is surrounded on its inside surface by a waterproof tube which leads to transaxle  43  since the left drive shaft  44  is otherwise located within the interior of the buoyant body  11 . 
     An enlarged view of the engine  41  jet pump assembly  42  and transaxle  43  is shown in FIG.  10 . The water jet pump assembly  42  is shown in perspective view in FIG. 11 comprising an intake housing  54 , a jet body  53 , and a water outlet  49 . As seen in FIG. 10, at least part of the engine  41  is directly above at least part of the jet body  53 . An impeller  50  is located within housing  51 . Impeller  50  is driven by an impeller drive shaft  52  which extends to the front of jet body  53 . Jet body  53  is within the interior of the hull portion of body  11 . An intake housing  54  has a water intake opening  55 . Intake housing  54  is sealed in the bottom of body  11 . 
     The impeller drive shaft  52  is turned through a CV coupling  56 . As shown in FIG. 10, a power output shaft  57  provides input to clutch  59 . Of course, other means for engaging or disengaging the output could be used, such as an automatic transmission. The clutch output turns clutch output shaft  60  when clutch  59  is engaged. Shaft  60  drives pulley  61 , which in turn, drives pulley  62  through drive belt  63 . Pulley  62  turns transaxle input shaft  64  continuously as long as clutch  59  is engaged. A gear box  65  interconnects transaxle input shaft  64  with wheel drive shaft  44  when appropriately shifted into a drive configuration in a conventional manner. 
     The pulley and belt configuration is shown in FIG.  12 . The pulleys and belts are preferably provided with teeth to prevent slippage. 
     Other details of the power input to the wheels and to the jet pump assembly are shown in FIG. 13, where driven pulley  62  is locked to splined shaft  66  through key  67 . Spline shaft  66  turns transaxle input shaft  64  and also turns a power transmission member  68 , shown in perspective view in FIG.  16  and indicated by reference character  68 . Power transmission member  68  has inner teeth  69  which move longitudinally over splines  70 , as shown best in FIG.  15 . As shown in FIG. 16, a forked ring control member  71  controls the longitudinal movement of power transmission member  68 . Forked ring control member  71  is moved by control shaft  72 , which in turn, is moved by the movement of lever  73 , which is pivoted at  74  to the gear box  15  cover. 
     Returning to FIG. 15, when the dog ring  68  is moved in the direction of arrow  75 , it interconnects the dog drives  76  with the dog drives  77  on impeller drive upper gear  78 . Impeller drive upper gear  78  is mounted so that it freely rotates about splined shaft  66  through needle bearing  79 . Impeller drive upper gear  78  is meshed with impeller input gear  80  which turns CV coupling  56  to turn the impeller input shaft  52 . 
     Engine  41  is preferably of sufficient horsepower to cause the hull of body  11  to plane as it passes over the water. 300 hp is an example of one embodiment of engine useful in the amphibious vehicle of the present invention. 
     Once the wheels are in a raised configuration, such as that shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings, forward plate  95  and rearward plate  97  may be extended so that they pass under the tires and under the wheel wells, as described in more detail below. The frame of vehicle  10  is shown in a top view in FIG.  18 . The right and left longitudinal frame members  32  and  34  are preferably interconnected by cross member  81 . Longitudinal frame members  32  and  34  are angled inwardly at  82  and  83 . The frame members  32  and  34  are also interconnected by rear vertical portions  84  and  85 , which are tied together by removable cross member  86 , as shown in FIG.  19 . 
     Also shown in FIG. 19 is a radiator  111  mounted in a front compartment indicated in FIG.  26 . Radiator  111  has a coolant inlet hose  112  and a coolant outlet hose  113 . Hose  113  leads to copper tube  114  which runs along an interior passageway  115  and contains coolant  116  (see FIG.  23 ). The interior passageway  115  is provided with a flow of cooling water  119  through scoops  117  and  118  as shown in FIGS. 20 and 26. Heat is readily transferred through the walls of copper pipe  114  into the water  119 . The radiator coolant is fed to engine  41  through hoses, not shown, similar to hoses  112  and  113 . 
     The wheel bottom plates are held in right and left frames  87  and  88  affixed to longitudinal frame members  32  and  34  as shown in FIG.  18 . Hydraulic cylinders  89 ,  90 ,  91 , and  92  control the movement of the plates. A hydraulic motor  93  provides hydraulic fluid under pressure to the cylinders. 
     The plates indicated generally by reference character  94  are shown in an extended configuration in FIG.  20  and slide outwardly from frame  88  and completely enclose the bottom opening of the wheel well under which they slide. The plates are telescoped, as shown in FIG. 21 of the drawings. 
     Turning now to FIG. 23, the forward half  95  telescopes outwardly from frame  88  when the piston rod  96  is extended from cylinder  91 . Similarly, the rear plate  97  is extended rearwardly by the extension of piston rod  98  from cylinder  92 . 
     As shown in FIG. 23, plates  95  and  97  are held at the frame end by a pair of slots  100  and  101 . A channel  102  holds the upturned outer edges  103  and  104  of plates  97  and  95 , respectively. 
     The movement of forward plate  95  is shown in perspective view in FIGS. 24 and 25 where it can be seen that the plates extend completely between longitudinal frame member  34  and the outer portion of plate frame  88 . Thus, the underside of the hull, as shown in FIG. 26, is remarkably smooth. A portion of the underside is shown in FIG.  8 A. In FIG. 26, the forward recess is visible, as is water intake  55 . A pair of plate support tabs  105  and  106  are held on a support arm  107  and provide end support to plate  95  when it is fully extended. As can also be seen from FIG. 21, the plates overlap in the center section between the front and rear wheel wells so that all four plates overlap when recessed. 
     As also shown in FIG. 26, the frame members  32  and  34  are held in recesses  120  formed in the body  11 . The recesses  120  (see FIG. 19A) and frame members  32  and  34  are configured to expose the bottom  121  of the frame members in a smooth planar manner with the bottom of body  11 . 
     The central recess  23  has a portion  122  which is positioned below radiator  111 . A plurality of openings  123  permit air or air and water to pass therethrough to provide additional cooling to radiator  111 . Since the radiator  111  is above the waterline, only a limited amount of water will splash through the openings. Such water will also drain out of the openings  123 . 
     The wheel raising mechanism of vehicle  10  is shown in FIGS. 27,  28 , and  29 . The wheel is shown partially raised in FIG. 27, where it can be seen to be supported by an upper pivot arm  107  and a lower pivot arm  108 . The wheel is raised by cylinder  130 , which drives piston rod  109 , which pulls shock absorber  110  upwardly. The fully raised position is shown in FIG.  28 . Cylinder  130  is shown in FIG.  29 . It also can be seen in FIG. 29 that there are a pair of upper arms  107 . There are also a pair of lower arms  108 . 
     Returning now to FIG. 4 of the drawings, the plates  95  and  97  extend the entire width of wheel wells  20  and  21 . They do not, however, extend significantly upwardly to cover the side opening of wheel wells  20  and  21 . Because of the smooth and planing nature of the bottom  19  of body  11 , the amphibious vehicle planes at the water surface sufficiently high so that no significant turbulence occurs at the wheel well sides when the vehicle is in a planing configuration. 
     The result is an amphibious vehicle which has a very attractive vehicle appearance and yet, is capable of significant speed and maneuverability in the water. By providing sufficient horsepower, the amphibious vehicle can reach speeds appropriate for water skiing and other such sports. The ease of assembly of the vehicle makes it appropriate for kit manufacturing. 
     While a jet drive has been described herein, other drive means may be provided, such as an inboard/outboard drive or other propeller-utilizing drives. While a pair of front wheels is shown, it is to be understood that a single front wheel could be used when desired. 
     The present embodiments of this invention are thus to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive; the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.

Technology Category: 7