PRIORITY The present invention claims priority under 35 U.S.C. section 119 and provisional application Ser. No. 60/679,894 filed on May 11, 2005.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Typically, when transporting more than one surfboard on a surf rack, both surfboards may touch which can cause damage during impact of the top board. Also, the surf wax can melt onto the bottom surfboard which can cause performance issues.
Tying a surfboard to the roof of a vehicle may create additional problems. In order to properly control the surfboard while driving, the surfboard should be tied to the automobile tightly in several locations. However, it is very difficult to tie the surfboard to the roof in order to render the surfboard immovable on the roof of the automobile. If there is any movement of the surfboard on the roof, either or both the surfboard or roof may be scratched.
This problem is compounded when two or more surfboards are being transported.
Typically, when transporting surfboards in a pickup truck or any vehicle which has a large bed, the surfboard is placed at a 45° angle with the top of the surfboard facing down. This may result in damage to the surfboard when the pickup truck or vehicle hits bumps while moving. This damage is especially pronounced at the top and front of the surfboard.
Transporting surfboards is difficult because of the long length of the surfboard which may exceed 6 feet in length. The typical car trunk cannot accept an object as long as a surfboard without allowing a portion of the surfboard to extend beyond the end of the automobile.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention includes a protective device which is used to protect various types of boards that generally are required to be transported. The protective device may include a textured surface so that a mirror image of the textured surface can be transferred to the board if desired. Furthermore, the protective device may include a flap to extend around the front end of the board to provide for protection while being transported in vehicles that have a bed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which, like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:
FIG. 1a illustrates perspective view of a board and protective device of the present invention;
FIG. 1b illustrates a perspective view of the protective device of the present invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of a vehicle using the protective device of the present invention;
FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the protective device of the present invention;
FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective view of a surfboard;
FIG. 7 illustrates a perspective view of the protective device being used with the surfboard;
FIG. 8 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the board facing downwards with the protective device of the present invention;
FIG. 9 illustrates a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the protective device of the present invention;
FIG. 10 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the bottom of the board and the protective device of the present invention;
FIGS. 11 a-b illustrate the protective device with loops and straps;
FIGS. 12a-b illustrate the protective device with pads;
FIGS. 13a-b illustrate the protective device with straps;
FIG. 14 illustrates the protective device with flaps.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIGS. 1a-b illustrate a protective system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 of the present invention. The system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 includes a board 102 which may be a surfboard, a snowboard, a skateboard a windsurfing board, plywood or any other suitable board and a protective device 104 which may be used to separate boards or to protect the wax side of a surfboard and to protect vehicle surfaces. The protective device 104 may be formed from rigid material or a flexible type material that will not damage the board 102, and may be formed with a protective covering such as cloth, ultraviolet material, water resistant or fabric material, foam type material or may be formed with several layers of a protective covering such as cloth or quilted material. FIG. 1a illustrates the protective device 104 adjacent to one side of the board 102 which may be the side of the board 102 which may have been waxed. The protective device 104 is held in place by strap 106 which is attached to the protective device 104 by extending across the other side of the board 102 and being connected to another strap 106 from the opposing side of the protective device 104. The straps 106 are connected and attached to each other by an attachment device 108 which may be Velcro or other suitable attachment devices. The strap 106 is formed from flexible material and may include elastic material for flexibility. The attachment device 108 may include elastic material for flexibility. The protective device 104 is substantially the same shape as the board 102 that is being protected. However, the protective device 104 may be slightly larger or slightly smaller than the board 102. FIG. 1b illustrates that the protective device 104 may include decorative fabric material 112 on a portion or on the entire surface of the protective device 104 that opposes the board 102. Furthermore, FIG. 1b illustrates a textured surface 110 on the side of the protective device 104 adjacent to the board 102. The textured surface 110 imparts a mirror image of the texture on the texture surface 110 to the wax of the wax surface of the board 102 that results from being pressed together. The texture on the wax surface is desirable by users of the board 102 to provide for increased friction on the surface of the board 102. FIG. 1b illustrates that the straps 106 may run continuously across the protective device 104. The protective device 104 of the present invention could take place of the surf rack.
FIG. 2 illustrates the side of the protective device 104 which is to be positioned adjacent to the board 102. FIG. 2 shows that the surface of the protective device 104 could include different textured surface 110 on different areas of the protective device 104. The protective device 104 could be made without the textured surface 110 and have a flat smooth surface. FIG. 2 additionally shows that the protective device 104 may have a zipper 107 added to the side seam of the protective device 104. The protective device 104 eliminates the need of a towel or any other fabric material separating the surfboards. The surface of the protective device 104 includes a first textured surface 220 which includes an area of first upward projections 221 which could be spikes having a sharp tip or a soft flexible tip, a second textured surface 222 including second upward projections 223 which could be bumps having a relatively smooth tip, a third textured surface 224 including third upward projections 225 which may be zigzag pattern of upward projections and a fourth textured surface 226 having fourth upward projections 227 which could have multiple non-uniform shapes. Other designs for the textured surface 110 include ovals, circles or squares.
FIG. 3 illustrates a protective system for two boards 102 or one surfboard which includes a first protective device 332 and a second protective device 334. This aspect of the present invention could be extended to three or more boards 102. The first protective device 332 and the second protective device 334 each protect a board 102 or one board. The first protective device 332 and the second protective device 334 are interconnected by interconnecting strap 336. The first protective device 332 and the second protective device 334 are shown in FIG. 3 as being smaller than the board 102. However, the first protective device 332 and the second protective device 334 could be approximately the same size as the board 102.
FIG. 4 illustrates the first protective device 332 and the second protective device 334 positioned between three boards 102 on a vehicle 440. The vehicle 440 has the first and second protective device 332, 334 and the three boards 102 positioned on the roof of the vehicle 440 for storage. The first protective device 332 and the second protective device 334 protect the boards 102 and the vehicle 440 from scratches, dings, dents and wax melting onto the roof of the vehicle. Additionally, the strap 106 can be positioned around the roof of the vehicle 440.
FIG. 5 illustrates the protective device 104 including the straps 106 having a decorative area at one end of the protective device 104.
FIG. 6 illustrates a surfboard 656 which is one type of board 102 that may be used in conjunction with the present invention. FIG. 6 illustrates the front end 660 of the surf board 656, the middle 662 of the surf board 656 and the back end 664 of the surf board 656.
FIG. 7 illustrates that the protective device 104 has been placed on the surfboard 656 and the straps 106 have been placed around the surfboard 656 in order to secure the protective device 104 to the surfboard 656.
FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 8, a flap 880 is connected to the longitudinal end of the protective device 104 and is formed from flexible material such as cloth so that the flap 880 can be extended over the front end 660 of the surfboard 656 to prevent damage to the front end 660 of the surfboard 656 when being transported in a vehicle with a bed such as a pickup truck.
FIG. 9 illustrates that the flap 880 has been extended around the front end of the surfboard 656 to form a pocket for the front end 660 of the surfboard 656 which includes a first attachment device 882 and second attachment device 884; both the first attachment device 882 and the second attachment device 884 may be Velcro or other suitable attachment device and positioned on the flap 880. Connected to the flap 880 is strap 886 which includes a third attachment device 884 positioned at the end of the strap 886 and which may be Velcro, allowing the strap 886 to be wound around the flap 880 so that the front 660 of the surfboard 656 is protected. The protective device may have no flaps and could just have a pocket in which to insert the ‘nose’ of the front end of the surfboard with the strap securing it. FIG. 9 shows the bottom of the protective device 104 with two straps 106 extending to the other side of the protective device 104 and the strap 886 holding the flap 880 in position.
FIG. 10 illustrates the straps 106 and the attachment device 108 around the board 102.
FIG. 1a illustrates loop 1107 to accept the strap 106 on the opposing side of the protective device 104. The loop 1107 allows the strap 106 to secure the protective device 104. Two straps 106 and two loops 1107 are shown in
FIG. 11a. The protective device 100 could be used as a bag with the straps.
FIG. 11b illustrates three straps 106 and three loops 1107.
FIG. 12a illustrates pad 1220 which could be a foam pad positioned across the bottom of the protective device 104.
FIG. 12b illustrates pad 1220 positioned across the top of the protective device 104.
FIG. 13a illustrates clip 1332 positioned along the side of the protective device 104 attached to strap 1334 so that the protective device 104 with or without the surfboard can be carried. FIG. 13a and FIG. 13b illustrates a hand strap 1336 at each end of the protective device 104. FIG. 13a additionally illustrates that zippers 1338 could be formed on both of the side seams or on one side seam of the protective device 104.
FIG. 14 illustrates the protective device 100 which could include flaps 1440 which are positioned along the side of the protective device 100 to cover the side rails of the surfboard. The flaps 1440 can be of quilted material and may include foam pads to protect the side rails of the board. The flaps can be continuous or as shown non continuous around the edge of the protective device 100.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed.
