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  Amphibious vehicleUSPTO Application #: 20060199449Title: Amphibious vehicle Abstract: A sit-stride amphibious vehicle configuration which supports a high performance envelope both on land as well as in water. The vehicle has a planing hull and four retractable wheels. Handlebars provide for directional control in both modes of operation. Each road wheel is retractable by pivoting through at least 45° so as to maximize ground clearance when in the land mode of operation and to minimize drag at substantial lean angles when in the marine mode of operation. While a jet drive may remain directly connected to the engine at all times, the drive wheels are only connected during land mode via a speed-change transmission. The entire power train is supported by a frame that is separable from the hull which in turn has a detachable top deck portion, whereby such configuration simplifies the construction, repair and servicing of the vehicle. (end of abstract) Agent: Fulwider Patton - Los Angeles, CA, US Inventors: Simon James Longdill, Hans Weekers, Stephen John Briggs, Alan Timothy Gibbs, Neil Graham Jenkins USPTO Applicaton #: 20060199449 - Class: 440012500 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Marine Propulsion, Self-propelled Vehicle Having Land And Water Propulsion Means (e.g., Amphibious Vehicle) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060199449. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority from Great Britain Application Serial Nos. 0423463.9, 0423470.4, 0423474.6, 0423483.7 and 0423517.2, all filed Oct. 22, 2004. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to an amphibious vehicle and in particular, to a sit-astride amphibious vehicle having all-terrain vehicle (ATV) capability on land. [0003] Amphibious vehicles are now well known in the art. However, the present applicant has identified a need for an amphibious vehicle having ATV capability on land and which performs as a high speed personal watercraft on water. A number of prior art proposals have proceeded to prototype. However, such vehicles have opted to either optimise operation in the marine mode or, alternatively, operation in the land mode. The result is an amphibious vehicle having poor performance in one mode of operation or the other. [0004] Sit astride amphibious vehicles have previously been described such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,046 to Grzech. Grzech teaches an amphibious tricycle. The problem identified by the inventor in this document, was to provide his personal watercraft (PWC) with limited on land capability in order that it was at least partially mobile when going ashore. GRZECH is limited in that it is only suitable for travel on well made up roads when operating in a land mode. This is because the vehicle has only three wheels and these are connected to the remainder of the vehicle by a suspension arrangement which is adapted to cope only with smooth road surfaces and does not have the suspension travel suitable for off-road use of the vehicle. Also, GRZECH needs a large heat exchanger which protrudes through the keel of the vehicle to provide the very necessary cooling required to cool the highly overpowered marine combustion engine. This dictates against off-road land use since the heat exchanger could easily be damaged in such a use. GRZECH has opted for a single steerable front wheel since this is easiest to provide in an adaptation of a personal watercraft. [0005] Accordingly, there exists the need for an all terrain high speed amphibian vehicle, more particularly, having at least four retractable wheel assemblies. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0006] In a first aspect, the present invention provides an amphibious vehicle comprising: [0007] a sit-astride seat, [0008] a planing hull, [0009] at least four wheels, each of which is movable between an extended land mode location and a retracted water mode location, two of the wheels being front steerable wheels, which are, at least in the land mode of the vehicle, connected to handlebars which can be operated by a driver to steer the vehicle, [0010] an engine which in the land mode of the vehicle is connected to at least one of the wheels to drive the wheel, and [0011] marine propulsion means to propel the vehicle on water. [0012] GRZECH only seeks to provide a PWC with a limited on-land function; he has taken an existing PWC and adapted it with few changes. GRZECH teaches that the engine can be connected to the driven wheels through a transmission with one fixed gear ratio. [0013] In a second aspect the present invention provides an amphibious vehicle comprising: [0014] a sit-astride seat [0015] a planing hull, [0016] at least four wheels, each of which is movable between an extended land mode location and a retracted water mode location, at least two of the wheels being front steerable wheels, which are, at least in the land mode of the vehicle, connected to handlebars which can be operated by a driver to steer the vehicle, [0017] an engine which in the land mode of the vehicle is connected to at least one of the wheels to drive the wheel, and [0018] marine propulsion means to propel the vehicle on water. [0019] GRZECH in adapting a PWC has sought to keep the overall dimensions of the vehicle within those of an existing PWC; thus he has chosen rear wheels on a trailing arm suspension with a track width less than the hull beam and also a single retractable front wheel. [0020] In a third aspect the present invention provides an amphibious vehicle comprising: [0021] a sit-astride seat, Continue reading... Full patent description for Amphibious vehicle Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Amphibious vehicle patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Amphibious vehicle or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Portable positioning device and the method thereof Next Patent Application: Specialty research & development subject advanced propulsion systems Industry Class: Marine propulsion ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Amphibious vehicle patent info. 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