Clamp for gunwales of fiberglass hulls
OwnerRandall E. Arnallinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clamp for fiberglass boats is adjustable where the contact points are on any of the fiberglass hull, the fiberglass deck (which meets the hull at a seam covered by a rub rail), and/or the fiberglass gunwale (which is part of the deck and, if low enough, is called a toe rail). The clamp has an outer jaw for contacting the hull below the rub rail, and inner jaw that is reached over and around the gunwale for contacting the deck inside the gunwale, an optional auxiliary jaw for contacting the outside of the gunwale, and an optional stand-off resting on the crown of the gunwale. Preferably the jaws and stand-off are the terminations of linkages which can be re-configured in an indefinite variety of re-configurations.
Claims18
An adjustable clamp, comprising:
- an inner jaw and a link therefor
- an outer jaw and a link therefor,
- a connection between inner jaw link and outer jaw link, and
- a clamping mechanism connected between the links of the inner and outer jaws, respectively, for reversibly driving the inner and outer jaws in clamping pressure relative each other;
- wherein the links and clamping mechanism are shaped and adapted to reach around a fiberglass gunwale of a fiberglass hull boat such that the inner jaw contacts an inboard wall of the gunwale and the outer jaw contacts the hull on the outboard surface;
- an elongate guide pinned to one of the inner jaw link or outer jaw link;
- a backing surface that applies the clamping pressure to the other of the outer jaw link or inner jaw link;
- a levered cam threaded onto the elongate guide external to the backing surface;
- an adjustable locking provision for locking on the elongate guide at fixed positions therealong said one guide with the levered cam, and sandwiching the levered cam between said adjustable locking provision and the backing surface;
- wherein the levered cam has a cam head with an over-center axis such that, when rolled on one side of the over-center axis the clamp is slack and adapted to position the jaws on opposite sides of an object to be clamped, and, when rolled over the other side of the over-center axis the jaws clamp tight on said object,
- whereby the over-center axis prevents the cam head from auto-pivoting back across the over-center axis in the absence of a user-applied external force.
An adjustable clamp, comprising:
- an inner jaw and a link therefor
- an outer jaw and a link therefor,
- a connection between inner jaw link and outer jaw link, and
- a clamping mechanism connected between the links of the inner and outer jaws, respectively, for reversibly driving the inner and outer jaws in clamping pressure relative each other;
- wherein the links and clamping mechanism are shaped and adapted to reach around a fiberglass gunwale of a fiberglass hull boat such that the inner jaw contacts an inboard wall of the gunwale and the outer jaw contacts the hull on the outboard surface;
- the inner jaw link comprises portions proximate the connection that are elongate along a first axis;
- the outer jaw link comprises portions proximate the connection that are elongate along a second axis;
- and
- the clamping mechanism is elongated along a third axis;
- wherein the third axis is acute to one of the first or second axis and obtuse vice versa;
- and
- wherein the clamping mechanism is adjustably connected between the links of the inner and outer jaws, respectively, for varying the angle subtended between the third axis and either the first or second axis among a range between acute and obtuse extremes.
An adjustable clamp, comprising:
- an inner jaw and a link therefor
- an outer jaw and a link therefor,
- a connection between inner jaw link and outer jaw link, and
- a clamping mechanism connected between the links of the inner and outer jaws, respectively, for reversibly driving the inner and outer jaws in clamping pressure relative each other;
- wherein the links and clamping mechanism are shaped and adapted to reach around a fiberglass gunwale of a fiberglass hull boat such that the inner jaw contacts an inboard wall of the gunwale and the outer jaw contacts the hull on the outboard surface;
- a stand-off connected to the link for the inner jaw for contacting and spacing said inner jaw link off the top of the gunwale.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.