Collapsible king crab pot with one-piece net
OwnerGeorge R. Millerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A collapsible crabpot structure having four generally rectangular side frames, with a V-shaped reinforcing structure extending across each side frame. Hinge structures at each of eight corners of the crabpot structure, each hinge structure having an outwardly located protective structure to prevent impact damage thereon from external impact forces, as well as preventing excess torsional or bending stress on the hinge members of an erect crabpot structure during use. The protective structures are formed at least in part by extensions of primary frame members.
Claims20
A collapsible crabpot structure comprising:
- a generally flat bottom frame structure for resting on a seabed, and a generally flat top frame structure, at least one of said bottom and top frame structures including a plurality of parallel hinge bar members,
- said collapsible crabpot having a folding structure means including a plurality of vertical hinged bar members each extending generally perpendicular to one of the hinge bar members of a respective frame structure, hinge means for pivotably connecting each vertical hinged bar member to its respective frame hinge bar member,
- each said hinge means comprising a tube member with the respective hinged bar member being secured thereto, said tube member being rotatably carried by a respective frame bar member,
- said hinge means being located at outer corners of the respective frame structure,
- a protective means for each said tube member comprising portions of the respective frame structure extending outwardly, transversely beyond and vertically displaced at the side of the respective tube member, to protect the tube member from damage due to inwardly directed impact forces or other deforming forces on the crabpot structure directed transversely toward the tube member during use of the crabpot structure.
A collapsible crabpot structure having an erect configuration and a collapsed configuration, the structure having in its erect configuration generally square, parallel vertically-spaced top and bottom horizontally extending frames with the four respective corners of the top and bottom frames being interconnected by four post structures to form four horizontally elongated generally rectangular vertically-extending side frames of the crabpot structure, said four side frames comprising tunnel side frames;
- a door side frame interconnecting said tunnel side frames at one end of the tunnel side frames and a lifting side frame which is parallel to said door side frame and interconnects said tunnel side frames at the other end of the tunnel side frames, hinge means pivotably connecting the opposite ends of each post structure to corner portions of the top and bottom frames, respectively, to provide translatory winging movement of the top frame from its erect position downwardly and away from the erect position of said door side frame to a position adjacent and parallel to the bottom frame, the shape of said tunnel side frames changing from rectangular parallelograms to flattened parallelograms during such translatory movement as the crabpot structure assumes a collapsed configuration, said tunnel side frames each including diagonally extending releasable bracing means secured between at least one of the top and bottom frames and the post structures at opposite ends of the respective tunnel side frame to maintain the tunnel side frame in a rigid rectangular shape while said crabpot is in its erect configuration, said bracing means including locking means at each post structure comprising a member extending along the post structure and a slidable means carried by the post structure for releasably anchoring said member to the respective post structure in the erect position of the crabpot structure to lock said crabpot structure in its erect position, said members being releasable from the respective post structures to release said bracing means by slidable movement of the slidable means to enable said tunnel side frames to change shape and permit the crabpot structure to assume its collapsed configuration.
A collapsible crabpot frame comprising:
- a generally flat bottom frame structure for resting on a seabed,
- said bottom frame structure including a plurality of parallel bar hinge members,
- said collapsible crabpot frame having a folding structure means including a plurality of hinged bar members each extending generally perpendicular to one of the parallel bar hinge members of the bottom frame structure,
- hinge means for pivotably connecting each hinged bar member to its respective bottom frame bar member,
- said folding structure means forming with said bottom frame structure four frame sides comprising a door side frame, a lifting side frame and opposite tunnel side frames,
- each said hinge means comprising a tube member with the respective hinged bar member being secured thereto, said tube member being rotatably carried by a respective bottom frame bar member,
- said hinge means being located at outer corners of the bottom frame structure,
- said bottom frame comprising a one-piece bar bent to form bottom frame members of said tunnel side frames and an X-shaped structure extending across the center of the bottom frame,
- said bottom frame including two elongated parallel bars extending across front and rear portions of the one-piece bar to form bottom frame members of the door and lifting side frames.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.