Airboat with aquatic vegetation shredding assembly
AssigneeThe Master's Dredging Company, Inc.
InventorDavid M. Penny
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An airboat having aquatic vegetation shredder includes an airboat having a buoyant hull and an aquatic vegetation shredding assembly supported on the hull. The airboat is driven by a propulsion assembly including a propeller that revolves in the air. These features cooperatively provide a low draft vessel that is capable of relatively higher forward speeds than other aquatic vegetation shredders and particularly effective in shallow water environments. Various alternative configurations of the shredding assembly are disclosed including upright and fore-and-aft shaft orientations for the cutting assembly and a drum and knife cutting assembly.
Claims19
An aquatic vegetation shredder for shredding vegetation growing in water, said shredder comprising:
- an airboat including a buoyant hull presenting a bow end and a stem end,
- said airboat being driven by a propulsion assembly including a propeller revolving in the air;
- and
- an aquatic vegetation shredding assembly supported on the hull and being operable to shred vegetation growing in the water while the propulsion assembly propels the airboat through the water,
- said shredding assembly including a rotatable element and a blade swingably mounted to the rotatable element,
- said rotatable element and swingable blade positionable into the water adjacent the bow end of the hull when shredding vegetation,
- said rotatable element and swingable blade being spaced from the bow end by a working space,
- said shredder being otherwise devoid of harvesting structure within said working space so that at least substantially all of the shredded vegetation remains in the water.
An aquatic vegetation shredder comprising:
- a watercraft;
- and
- an aquatic vegetation shredding assembly mounted to the watercraft,
- said aquatic vegetation shredding assembly including at least one cutter that comprises a hub rotatable about a generally fore-and-aft axis and a plurality of cutting blades projecting form the hub in a generally radial orientation as the hub rotates, each of said blades being deflectable out of the generally radial orientation.
A method of shredding aquatic vegetation growing in water, said shredding method comprising the steps of:
- (a) propelling an airboat through the water,
- step (a) including the step of revolving in air a propeller of the airboat;
- and
- (b) shredding the vegetation in the water while the airboat is propelled through the water,
- step (b) including the step of rotating a swingable blade through the vegetation,
- step (b) being performed in such a manner that at least substantially all of the shredded vegetation remains in the water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.