Buoyant track amphibious transporter and traction cells therefor
AssigneeNavatek, Ltd.
InventorsTerrence W. Schmidt, Jeffrey E. Kline, Gary Shimozono
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A traction cell for use in a track drive of an amphibious or all-terrain vehicle includes a rigid section for connection to a track drive and at least one semi-rigid compliant section which is connected to the rigid section. The semi-rigid compliant section has a bottom surface to which a penetration resistant sole is secured on a rear face which is raked relative to the vertical.
Claims37
An amphibious, all-terrain vehicle comprising a housing having a bow, a stern transom and a design waterline and including a continuous guide track, at least one track drive train for propulsive movement in the guide track including a plurality of traction cells for moving the vehicle in forward and aft directions of travel relative to its bow and stern, said traction cells each comprising a first, rigid top cell section for connection with the track drive train, and a second cell section including at least one semi-rigid cell section which is less rigid than said first, rigid top cell section and is connected to said first, rigid top cell section, said second cell section having a bottom surface;
- said second cell sections of the traction cells each including a pair of complementary faces extending from its respective first, rigid top cell section transversely of the direction of travel of the vehicle with said bottom surface of the traction cells extending between them, and said rigid cell sections being pivotally connected to each other to form a propulsion drive track with complementary faces of adjacent traction cells moving between minimum and maximum separation distances as said traction cells move around said guide track and said guide track being shaped so that adjacent bottom surfaces of said second cell sections pivot away from each other as said traction cells exit through the design water line at the transom to produce thrust for the vehicle from one of the complementary faces thereof and adjacent bottom surfaces and complementary faces pivot toward each other to the minimum separation distance at the bow before entering the waterline to prevent the complementary surfaces of said traction cells from impacting the water during cell entry at the waterline and to limit entrapped water between the complementary faces when operating astern.
An amphibious, all-terrain vehicle comprising a housing having a bow, a stern transom and a design waterline comprising a housing and including a continuous guide track, at least one track drive for propulsive movement in the guide track including a plurality of traction cells for moving the vehicle in forward and aft directions of travel relative to its bow and stern, said traction cells each comprising a first, rigid cell section for connection with the track drive train, and a second cell section including at least one semi-rigid cell section which is less rigid than the first, rigid cell section and is connected to said first, rigid cell section, said second cell section having a bottom surface;
- and said guide track being shaped so that said traction cells are generally separated from each other at the transom and generally closer to each other at the bow to prevent the cells from impacting the water during entry and to minimize entrapped water when operating astern;
- wherein each of said at least one said semi-rigid cell section includes a plurality of inflatable air beams;
- and each of said second, semi-rigid cell sections including a first portion including a flexible foam material and a second portion including said inflatable air beams.
An amphibious, all-terrain vehicle comprising a housing having a bow, a stern transom and a design waterline comprising a housing and including a continuous guide track, at least one track drive for propulsive movement in the guide track including a plurality of traction cells for moving the vehicle in forward and aft directions of travel relative to its bow and stern, said traction cells each comprising a first, rigid cell section for connection with the track drive train, and a second cell section including at least one semi-rigid cell section which is less rigid than the first, rigid cell section and is connected to said first, rigid cell section, said second cell section having a bottom surface;
- and said guide track being shaped so that said traction cells are generally separated from each other at the transom and generally closer to each other at the bow to prevent the cells from impacting the water during entry and to minimize entrapped water when operating astern;
- each of said first, rigid cell sections being hollow and containing an inflatable tube for providing buoyancy and each of said second, semi-rigid cell sections including a first portion comprising a plurality of drop stitch inflatable chambers and a second portion between the first portion and said bottom surface containing a closed cell foam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.