Abstract: The invention is a skid control mechanism for a power boat and particularly for racing craft, comprising longitudinally hinged flaps mounted to opposite sides of the boat bottom and operable by steering mechanism or otherwise to deflect into an open, water-engaging position to prevent side slippage of the boat when making high-speed turns.

Abstract: A boat is provided having an integrated, hydrodynamically shaped hull comprising forward and rear hull sections which are uniquely designed to be secured to and driven by a conventional bicycle; the forward and rear hull sections being separable from each other and being designed such that both hull portions may be readily mounted on and carried by a conventional rear bicycle carrier, or may be readily removed from the bicycle entirely.

Abstract: Improved jet-propelled power boat with a tunnel drive and propeller external to the boat to produce the jet and low lines. The boat is fiberglass, and the front is rounded to prevent cracking when docking or otherwise striking an object. The cockpit is surrounded with a raised deck on all sides, including the rear, and also by raised rails on the inner portion of the deck sides. Cellular plastic flotation is used instead of air chambers, which can puncture, and individual air intakes to a closed engine compartment at a level above the highest part of the deck prevent entry of water that may have splashed into the cockpit.

Abstract: A boat docking device including a hub and a pair of arms outstanding from the hub and movable toward and away from each other, one arm being permanently swingably attached to a dock and the other removably swingably attached to the dock, the hub including a bolt or shackle extensible through and withdrawable from the bow eye of a boat when the arms are moved away from and toward each other, respectively.

Abstract: An improvement on U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,789,790 and 3,749,043 employs spool sections which are notched so that they are spliced together over the jib stay rather than having pins in two of the grooves in the sections to join the same end-to-end, thereby freeing two grooves and enabling a second sail and its halyard to be installed. Thus twin jibs may be supported and also furled. The sail is attached to the furling spool by securing slug slides at intervals along the luff of the sail to fit into one groove of the spool. The top of the sail is fixed to a wire rope halyard which runs over a pulley in a crown block fixed to the upper end of the uppermost spool section, then down a groove in the spool. The lower end of the halyard is fixed to a traveler having an apertured ear which extends outside the spool. Several means for tightening the halyard by applying a pull on the ear and several ways of securing the ear in place once it is tightened are disclosed.

Abstract: A collapsible watercraft which can be readily transported along a highway when in its collapsed disposition but, upon arrival at a lake or other body of water, can be readily erected into an extended operative disposition capable of reception of a small trailer, camper or other living unit thus to provide a portable houseboat.

Abstract: A vessel for transport of floating buoyant barges and other containers wherein said barges or containers are partially supported in the vessel by their own buoyancy. The vessel's hull has a bottom shell with rigid submarine barge-supporting and hull-reinforcing structure, a bow, a stern, side walls providing a series of buoyancy compartments, and a hollow enclosed interior including a cargo hold. The hull has conduit means communicating with the ocean for free passage of water into and out from the hold at all times, so that the hold is always flooded to the same level as the vessel's draft during the voyage. A series of locking spuds releasably locks the barges in place in the flooded hold against movement relative to the hull, with the bottom of the barge engaging a substantial area of the submarine cargo-supporting structure. Each said spud has barge-engaging means, including an L-sectioned beam of substantial length for engaging an upper side edge of the barge over a substantial length.

Abstract: A traveller device for positioning a sail and having a carrier that is moveable on rollers along a guide track. The rollers project on opposite sides of the carrier and are arranged in spaced-apart relation along the length thereof to engage with rolling contact, longitudinally extending surfaces of the guide track.

Abstract: The subject invention is directed to a floating platform for supporting nuclear reactors and the like at selected offshore sites. The platform is provided with a stabilizer mechanism which significantly reduces the effects of wave action upon the platform and which comprises a pair of relatively small floats attached by rigid booms to the platform at locations spaced therefrom for reducing wave pitch, acceleration, and the resonance period of the wave.

Abstract: A jet powered marine propulsion unit includes a pair of spaced parallel conduits extending longitudinally through a ship with intakes adjacent the bow of the ship. A tubular propeller is mounted in the conduits with blades extending inwardly toward the axis of the propeller. The propellers are chain driven from the gear box of a diesel engine. The conduits adjacent their outlet are provided with a plurality of spaced parallel stationary blades arranged parallel to the axis of the conduit to eliminate all swirling action of the jet fluid prior to its expulsion in a propelling jet. The tubular propellers are conical in form to provide a reduced diameter at their outlet ends.

Abstract: The tank ship is made of monolithic reinforced concrete and is formed with two symmetrical, longitudinal chambers for tanks, and an intermediate space for the operating mechanisms thereof. The massive reinforced concrete slabs which form the ship are reinforced partly by prestressed steel tendons and partly by mild (non-stressed) steel rods. The prestressed tendons running lengthwise of the ship are unspliced. The transverse bulkheads forming the ends of the tanks are curved in two directions, e.g. in the form of sections of hemispheres. Insulation is provided on the interior surface of the tank chambers and on both sides of the bulkheads.

Abstract: An amphibious vehicle is adapted to be propelled in water with a minimum of wet hull drag. The vehicle includes a semi-flexible frame and an engine fixed to the frame. Parallel sets of tandem rollers are mounted on the opposite sides of the body on which pairs of pontoon assemblies are mounted. Each pontoon assembly includes a plurality of circumferentially superimposed endless layers or plies of buoyant material so that the pontoons support the body on both land and water. A propulsion device is provided for propelling the load-carrying body in water, the preferred propelling means being a finned belt driven by the engine. An engine is also provided for driving the pontoon rollers so that the linear velocity of the endless layers is approximately equal to the velocity of the body when it passes over water to minimize the occurrence of wet hull drag.

Abstract: An elongated cylindrical life preserver baton has a top which may be unscrewed and removed to free a flotation collar, which is simultaneously inflated by gas housed in a container within the bottom of the baton. When the baton top is removed, a spike housed in the neck of the baton pierces the frangible seal of the gas container.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to lifting boats and barges within a dry dock by means of compressed air. The air is conducted from compressor through hose lines to open bottomed compartments of the floating dry dock and controlled by remote actuated valves whereby either through adding air or venting air from the dock compartments the dock may be trimmed fore and aft as well as athwart ship to assure registry with a yard marine railway system. Support legs guide the up and down movement of the dock to assure alignment with the marine railway so that the vessel within the dock may be transferred by a dolly and rail system to the yard rail system.

Abstract: A boat comprising a hull the general shape of which is a spherical dome which in the fore part of the boat extends to above the water-line at maximum load while at the sides the part of the hull above the water-line departs from a spherical shape and progressively approaches a cylindrical shape, and further comrising at least one float-forming lee-board disposed at the aft and rigidly connected to the hull, and a single propeller orientable about a vertical axis comprised in the median longitudinal plane of the boat.

Abstract: An icebreaker having a cantilever forecastle from which is suspended one sliding carriage or a plurality of sliding carriages. Each sliding carriage mounts one planing tool or a plurality of planing tools with increasing depth of cut, in a tandem arrangement. The suspension means for each sliding carriage may consist of a linkage or of cables or booms. The one or several sliding carriages are yieldingly suspended and may be withdrawn into the ship's hull. The ice cutting operation may be assisted by vibrating the sliding carriage or supplying heat and/or pressurized water to the planing tools.

Abstract: A sailing craft having a one-piece hull design with a unitary mast, keel and ballast assembly that is mounted on the hull of the craft so that the mast, keel and ballast assembly can rotate independently thereof to permit the hull of the craft to float free of the wind's heeling forces without the adverse effects thereof.

Abstract: A system for emergency release of a ship from its mooring cables is disclosed wherein pressurized actuating fluid stored in accumulators may be selectively released to actuate fluid powered cutters to sever the mooring cables. In its preferred form the system includes fire inerting apparatus adapted to operate in conjunction with the cable cutters to provide a fire inert atmosphere and thereby eliminate the possibility of fire or explosion resulting from sparks generated during the cutting operation. The system is remote controlled and operates on a power source independent from the ship's normal power. This abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which of course is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

Abstract: A floating wharf structure has a plurality of adjacent arranged interconnected float units, each float unit comprising an enclosed substantially rectangular shell structure. A device for interconnecting the float units comprises flange structures projecting from the sides of the float units having horizontal top and bottom mounting surfaces which cooperate with upper and lower stringers mounted respectively against the top and bottom mounting surfaces of the flange structures. These stringers extend longitudinally along a portion of the flange structures of at least two adjacent float units. Fastening devices vertically extend through said flange structures and the upper and lower stringers for securing upper stringers, flange structures and lower stringers together in compression.

Abstract: An apparatus for pivotally mounting an outboard fishing motor, such as a shaft-mounted submersible electric motor, on the bow of a fishing boat or the like for pivotal movement between an operative position wherein the motor is held in the water and a non-operative raised position. The apparatus comprises a pivotally mounted bracket for supporting the shaft of the motor, and a power control system including a reversible electric motor and cable arrangement for automatically and positively pivoting the fishing motor in either direction between its operative and non-operative positions.