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US 6,808,430 B1Granted
Amphibious vehicle
OwnerJ. David Marchinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An amphibious vehicle which on land looks remarkably like a conventional automobile. The wheels may be raised when the vehicle is in the water. The engine is placed in the stern, directly over the jet and transaxle, which provides room for four passengers. The vehicle has plates which slide under the wheels for use in water, and the plates do not extend up over the sides of the wheel wells.
Claims24
An amphibious vehicle comprising:
- a frame portion;
- a body attached to said frame portion, said body having a buoyant hull portion having a bow, a stern and a bottom;
- at least one front wheel supported by said frame portion and positioned near the bow of said buoyant hull portion said at least one front wheel including means for raising and lowering said at least one front wheel;
- a pair of rear wheels supported by said frame portion and positioned near the stern of said buoyant hull portion, said pair of rear wheels including means for raising and lowering said pair of rear wheels;
- a water jet pump assembly having a pump assembly body supported within said hull portion adjacent the stern thereof, said water jet pump assembly having a water intake in the bottom of said hull portion, an impeller within said pump assembly body, said impeller moving water rearwardly through a jet body to a water outlet jet directing water outwardly with respect to the stern of said hull portion;
- an engine supported by said frame and at least part of the engine is directly above at least part of the jet body;
- means for selectively transferring power between said engine and said impeller;
- and
- means for selectively transferring power between said engine and at least one of said pair of rear wheels.
6 more elements
An amphibious vehicle having a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels, said amphibious vehicle comprising:
- a frame having at least one longitudinal frame member;
- a body supported by said frame, said body having a buoyant hull portion with an exterior surface and an interior surface and having a bow, a stern and a bottom and said body having at least one recess extending up from the bottom to accept a major portion of said at least one longitudinal frame member and said at least one recess being shaped to accept said at least one frame member so that said at least one frame member forms a smooth bottom surface between said bottom of said body and with a bottom of said frame member being exposed to water when said amphibious vehicle is in the water;
- means for raising and lowering said pair of front wheels;
- means for raising and lowering said pair of rear wheels;
- and
- means for propelling said amphibious vehicle through the water including an engine supported by said frame and a water impelling unit.
3 more elements
An amphibious vehicle having a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels, said wheels being movable between a raised position and a lowered position:
- a frame including a pair of longitudinal frame members;
- a body supported by said frame, said body having a buoyant hull portion with an exterior surface and an interior surface and having a bow, a stern, a bottom having a starboard side and a port side and said bottom having an upward recessed area between said pair of longitudinal frame members extending from the bow of the body toward the stern.
An amphibious vehicle having a pair of front wheels and a pair of rear wheels, said wheels being movable between a raised position and a lowered position, the vehicle comprising:
- a frame including a pair of longitudinal frame members;
- a body supported by said frame, said body having a buoyant hull portion with an exterior surface and an interior surface and having a bow, a stern, a bottom having a starboard side and a port side and wherein said body includes a pair of front wheel wells and a pair of rear wheel wells, all of said wheel wells having open sides exposing said wheels from a side of said body and said body extending outwardly along each side beyond said wheels and said body including a length between each of said front wheel wells and said rear wheel wells being an inter well length;
- and
- port and starboard, front and rear wheel bottom plates extendable between a recessed position and an extended positions under said pair of front wheel wells and said pair of rear wheel wells when said wheels are in a raised position, said bottom plates exposing a majority of the open sides of said wheel wells in the extended positions.
1 more element
An amphibious vehicle comprising:
- a frame including at least one longitudinal frame member having a closed interior space;
- a body supported by said frame, said body having a buoyant hull portion having a bow, a stern and a bottom;
- at least one front wheel supported by said frame and positioned near the bow of said buoyant hull portion said at least one front wheel including means for raising and lowering said at least one front wheel;
- a pair of rear wheels supported by said frame and positioned near the stern of said buoyant hull portion, said pair of rear wheels including means for raising and lowering said pair of rear wheels;
- a water impelling unit supported by said frame, said water impelling unit moving water rearwardly with respect to the stern of said hull portion;
- an engine supported by said frame;
- and
- a radiator having a coolant inlet line connected to said engine and a coolant outlet line connected to said engine and wherein at least one of said coolant inlet and coolant outlet lines has a coolant length within said closed interior space of said at least one longitudinal frame member to allow for additional cooling of said engine when said vehicle is operated in the water.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.