PERSONAL WATERCRAFT LIFT
The personal watercraft lift attachable to a mooring piling 6 for raising and lowering a watercraft from the water is disclosed. The lift has a cradle 1 attached to a mast 2 secured between two brackets 26 and 30. A lift cable 8 attaches the cradle 1 to a power unit 27 with motor 4. Optional guard pipes 11 on the cradle are provided. The lift pivots approximately 180° to enable easy accessibility to a PWC for mounting, demounting storage and maintenance.
This invention relates to lifting devices for watercraft, more particularly, to a lift for personal watercraft that is pivotally attached to a mooring piling above the surface of the water which allows the watercraft to be lowered into the water for use and then raised from the water and pivoted onto a dock for mounting, demounting storage and servicing.
All watercraft owners know it is desirable that watercraft be stored out of the water to prevent defiling by barnacles, algae, and other waterborn plants and animals, as such requires expensive and time-consuming periodic cleaning of the bottom surfaces of the watercraft. Although there are watercraft lifts available to raise and store watercraft out of the water, many such lifts are at least partially submerged in water, which leads to defiling of the lift by aquatic plants and animals and shortens the life of the lift. Also, many prior lifts only lift the watercraft out of the water, but do not store it in an easily accessible position for cleaning, maintenance, and mounting or demounting during use. Furthermore, many such lifts require that the watercraft be elevated out of the water by manual means. However, as personal watercrafts often weigh an excess of 750 pounds, it is difficult to lift them without motorized means.
Thus, there is a need for a watercraft lift that will address the above problems.
The relevant prior art includes the following references:
Of the above patents only the Shackelford Jr., patent provides some of the advantages of the present invention. However, the present invention, contrary to the Shackelford, Jr., patent differs as it utilizes two separate brackets rather than a tubular housing, has fewer moving parts and is motorized.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary object of the present invention is to provide a personal watercraft lift that enables a personal watercraft to be raised and lowered into the water easily and quickly.
further object of the present invention is to provide a personal watercraft lift that allows personal watercraft to be stored out of the water.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a personal watercraft lift that provides easy accessibility to the personal watercraft for mounting and demounting during use and for maintenance purposes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a personal watercraft lift that has fewer moving parts than watercraft lifts in the prior art.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide as a personal watercraft lift that is easy to install and maintain.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such as a personal watercraft lift that is motorized.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a more secure piling attachment means.
The present invention fulfills the above and other objects by providing a personal watercraft lift for use with a mooring piling having a mounting bracket for attaching the lift to the mooring piling above the surface of the water to which mounting brackets are attached. Both brackets are connected by a front plate and together serve as a guide means for an elongate lift mast. The lower of the two brackets has a roller on the inner side abutting the mast and the upper bracket has a slide block on the outer side so as to also abut the mast to result in a rolling and sliding movement of the mast between them. To the lower end of the mast is attached a cradle. The cradle is also attached by a cable to a motorized means mounted to the front plate of the bracket which allows the lift to be raised and lowered. The lift may be rotated in a lifting position over the body of water or inward to a storage position out of the water, preferably over a dock. A locking pin on the top bracket may be used to secure the lift underneath the lifting or the storage position. The cradle may contain optional vertical upright guards to keep personal watercraft from hitting the cable or the mast as well as crossbars for preventing the personal watercraft lift from moving laterally when it is positioned on the cradle. Further, a more secure piling attachment of the lift is achieved by attachment bolts being angled through the piling.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention should become even more readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description in conduction with the drawing wherein there is shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn the following detailed description, reference will be made to the attached drawings in which:
For purposes of describing the preferred embodiment, the terminology used in reference to the numbered components in the drawings is as follows:
Referring now to
A cradle 1 is attached at a lower end of the mast 2 by a cradle receiver 16. The cradle 1 is designed to hold a PWC on support rails 9 which preferably have cross rails 10 for providing lateral support to a PWC when placed on the cradle 1. Optional guide pipes 11 made of PVC or other flexible material are mounted on a bunk board 17 attached to proximate an inner end of the cradle 1 to prevent a PWC from hitting the mast 2 or lift cable 8. The cradle 1 is attached to a winch unit 27 by a lift cable 8. The power unit 27 is shown attached to a top portion of the cover 3 connecting the mast guide brackets 26 and 30. The winch unit 2 may be manual or preferably motorized as shown, whereby a motor 4 turns a gear drive 28 to roll up or unroll the lift cable 8 to raise or lower the cradle 1, respectively. The motor 4 is operatively connected to the gear drive 28 by a large pulley 18, v-belt 19 and small pulley 20. The motor 4 would be connected to a power source by an AC power cord 15.
As further shown in
In
In the lower mast guide bracket 26 shown in
Finally, as shown in
It is to be understood that while a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of parts herein described and show. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and the invention is not be considered limited to what is shown and described in the specification and drawings.
Claims
1. A personal watercraft lift attachable to a mooring piling for removing a watercraft into and out of water, said lift comprising:
- a mounting bracket for attaching the lift to the mooring piling above a surface of the water;
- means for attaching the mounting bracket to the mooring piling;
- a top bracket connected perpendicularly to the mounting bracket, said top bracket having two side walls for containing a mast and a sliding block on an outer side abutting the mast;
- a lower bracket also connected perpendicularly to the mounting bracket having at least one roller on an inner side abutting the mast;
- an elongate mast vertically contained within the top and lower brackets;
- a winch means attached to the top bracket;
- a personal watercraft holding cradle attached to a lower end of the elongate mast;
- and a cable operatively connecting the cradle to the winch means for raising and lowering the cradle,
- wherein the top and lower brackets are pivotally attached to the mounting brackets so that the cradle can be pivoted to desired storage and use positions; and
- further comprising locking means on the top bracket wherein the lift may be retained in a fixed position.
2. (canceled)
3. The personal watercraft lift of claim 1 wherein the winch means is motorized.
4. (canceled)
5. The personal watercraft lift of claim 1 wherein the cradle further comprises a guard means to help prevent the personal watercraft lift from hitting against the cable and mast of the lift.
6. The personal watercraft lift of claim 1 wherein the cradle comprises lengthwise support rails with crossing lateral support rails on said lengthwise support rails for a holding the personal watercraft in a non-tilting position during lifting for use and storage.
7. (canceled)
8. A personal watercraft lift attachable to a mooring piling for removing a watercraft into and out of water, said lift comprising;
- a mounting bracket for attaching the lift to the mooring piling above a surface of the water;
- means for attaching the mounting bracket to the mooring piling;
- a top bracket connected perpendicularly to the mounting bracket, said top bracket having two side walls for containing a mast and a sliding block on an outer side abutting the mast;
- a lower bracket also connected perpendicularly to the mounting bracket having at least one roller on an inner side abutting the mast;
- an elongate mast vertically contained within the top and lower brackets;
- a winch means attached to the top bracket;
- a personal watercraft holding cradle attached to a lower end of the elongate mast;
- a cable operatively connecting the cradle to the winch means for raising and lowering the cradle, and
- a guide means to help prevent the personal watercraft lift from hitting against the cable and mast of the lift, said guide means comprising guard pipes vertically mounted on the cradle at a position between the lift cable and a personal watercraft to be mounted to help prevent the personal watercraft lift from hitting against the cable and mast of the lift.
9. The personal watercraft lift of claim 1 wherein the locking means comprises a vertical hole on the top bracket near the mounting bracket and a pin insertable into said hole in a manner such that the cradle will not pivot.
10. The personal watercraft lift of claim 1 further comprising a cover on a front side of and connecting the top and lower brackets for further securing and guiding the mast.
11. A personal watercraft lift attachable to a mooring piling for removing a watercraft into and out of water, said lift comprising:
- a mounting bracket for attaching the lift to the mooring piling above a surface of the water;
- means for attaching the mounting bracket to the mooring piling;
- a top bracket connected perpendicularly to the mounting bracket, said top bracket having two side walls for containing a mast and a sliding block on an outer side abutting the mast;
- a lower bracket also connected perpendicularly to the mounting bracket having at least one roller on an inner side abutting the mast;
- an elongate mast vertically contained within the top and lower brackets;
- a winch means attached to the top bracket; a personal watercraft holding cradle attached to a lower end of the elongate mast; and
- a cable operatively connecting the cradle to the winch means for raising and lowering the cradle, and
- wherein the means for attaching the mounting bracket to the mooring piling comprises a plurality of bolts inserted through the mooring piling at cross angles to each other.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 8, 2005
Publication Date: May 10, 2007
Inventor: Terry Hamilton (Bookeelia, FL)
Application Number: 11/268,788
International Classification: B63C 3/06 (20060101);