Buoyant bumper apparatus for absorbing water vessel impact against pilings

Abstract

A bumper apparatus includes a roller rack and rack fasteners for mounting the roller rack vertically along a dock structure; a bumper assembly having a buoyant structure having sufficient buoyancy to cause the bumper assembly to rise and fall with the water surface and thus with the tide and with any adjacent water vessel; and a rack engaging structure slidably interconnecting the roller rack and the bumper assembly so that the bumper assembly is slidable vertically relative to the roller rack. The roller rack preferably includes a spaced apart upright pair of opposing first and second mounting rails; and a longitudinal series of substantially horizontal cylindrical rollers mounted on individual roller axles extending between and connected to the first and second mounting rails so that the rollers protrude forwardly from the mounting rails.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.