Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7934963 | Amphibious vehicle An amphibious craft has a buoyant raft with a self-bailing upper surface. A cabin or upper is mounted to the raft. An engine/motor selectively drives a pair of wheels or a water drive. A disconnect enables only one drive to be engaged with the engine/motor. ... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7717761 | Hull for an amphibious vehicle The planing surface of amphibious vehicle hull (2), with reference to (FIG. 2), comprises at least one discontinuity, e.g. wheel arch recesses (12) to (15). The wheels may be retractable. Access is required to the full arch aperture durin... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7438611 | Propulsion system for an amphibious vehicle Amphibious vehicle (10), with reference to FIG. 1, which may plane on water, has a propulsion system comprising prime mover (20), power transmission means (30), marine propulsion means (40), and land propulsion means (50). V... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7410396 | Amphibious vehicle transmission An amphibious vehicle has retractable road wheels to allow planing over water. Power to the road wheels is disconnected automatically as the wheels are retracted. This may be achieved through a cable attached to a suspension rocker arm to disconnect a dog clutch att... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7371137 | Amphibious vehicle suspension An amphibious vehicle, which may plane on water, has at least one pair of front or rear wheels having wheel suspensions fitted with an anti-roll bar (46). Said bar rotates upwards as the wheels are stowed above the waterline for use of the vehicle on water. T... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7351124 | Water-tight drive-penetration compartment A water-tight compartment for containing a penetration point on the hull of an amphibious vehicle, comprising a bottom panel comprising the hull of the amphibious vehicle; a forward panel of the box comprising a forward bulkhead of the amphibious vehicle; a rearward... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7338336 | Watercraft hull with adjustable keel A watercraft hull having a pair of laterally spaced propulsion tunnels located on opposite sides of its keel, with said tunnels being open downwardly towards the water, includes a movably mounted keel section located between said propulsion tunnels to prevent water ... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7322864 | Amphibious vehicles with retractable wheels Amphibious vehicle having road wheels which are retractable to allow planing. Each wheel suspension is protractable through a gap in the planing surface of the hull. To reduce hydrodynamic drag and improve marine handling, covers are provided which cover such gaps w... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7316594 | Wheel suspension and retraction system A mechanism is provided by which the wheels of an amphibious vehicle are simultaneously retracted or protracted for switching between a land mode and a marine mode of operation. Each of a transversely spaced pair of wheels is supported by a horizontally arranged spr... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7314394 | Amphibious vehicle retractable suspension Amphibious vehicle (1, FIG. 1) has retractable road wheels (2, 2′, FIG. 1). This may allow planing. During marine travel, at least one wheel may droop below the water line. This increases drag, particularly when cornering. Suspension he... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7234982 | Amphibious vehicle suspension A retractable suspension for an amphibious vehicle, the configuration of which allows the size of an opening in the hull necessary for accommodating the protraction of each wheel to be kept to a minimum. The suspension is configured such that the only component that... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7214112 | Amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle has a power train including an engine having an oil sump connected to a lower portion of the engine an in-line transmission and a power take off. The power take off is located between the engine and the transmission thereby separating the engin... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7089822 | Power train for amphibious vehicle A power train for an amphibious vehicle includes an engine and transaxle arranged North-South, driving front, rear, or all four road wheels. A power take off with optional decoupler and constant velocity joint drives marine drive. The power take off may be taken fro... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7077714 | Apparatus to convert an all terrain vehicle into a boat, and methods of constructing and utilizing same Apparatus to convert an all terrain vehicle into an amphibious off-road vehicle. A buoyant unitary structure is fitted to the all terrain vehicle with releasable fasteners. The buoyant unitary structure includes one or more internal air pockets, and a hollow compart... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7017702 | Transport engine and drive arrangement A parallel engine and transmission drive arrangement with application to both land and marine vehicles reduces the large moment arm and moment about the rear axle in the case of land vehicles, and provides trim and stability and compact arrangement of the drive arra... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7011557 | Amphibious vehicle Amphibious vehicle comprises longitudinally mounted prime mover, transmission, and offset final drive; with drive outputs; and a power take off. Outputs drive front and rear differentials, via optional decouplers. Power take off powers drive tube, independently from... | 03/14/2006 |
| 6971931 | Amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle for land and water use comprises a main mono hull section and a pair of port and starboard sponsons which are movable from a stowed position under a main vehicle deck adjacent to the mono hull and a fully deployed position in which the sponsons... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6957991 | Power train Power train or an amphibious vehicle having an engine, transmission, and transfer case position in-line with longitudinal vehicle axis towards the rear of the vehicle, with transmission output facing the front of the vehicle. The transfer drive drives the rear wheel... | 10/25/2005 |
| 6921304 | Amphibious vehicle The amphibious vehicle is a motorized vehicle capable of travel on land as well as in the water. The amphibious vehicle has a boat-like hull, and a caterpillar track assembly mounted along each side by hinges. The tracks are arranged so that they can be rotated betw... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6918801 | Amphibious vehicle A vehicle adapted to operate on dry land, in soft terrain, and while floating. The vehicle includes a chassis formed by two interconnected pontoon sections sized such that the chassis and equipment will float. The pontoons are fitted with a track system providing pr... | 07/19/2005 |
| 6890225 | Amphibious vehicle A vehicle which includes a lower chassis section including a means for rollably supporting the vehicle's weight on land, and a means for hydrodynamically supporting the vehicles weight on water, an upper passenger compartment section including a passenger compartmen... | 05/10/2005 |
| 6886837 | Hydraulic suspension strut for an amphibious vehicle A hydraulic suspension strut (30) has a first on-off valve (58) connecting the first and second chambers (42 and 44), and a second on-off valve (62) connected to chamber (42) only. Suspension arm (3) of wheel (1 | 05/03/2005 |
| 6881108 | System for preventing an automobile from being immersed in water The present invention relates to a system to float an automobile on water. The system comprises holder assemblies, a detecting sensor, a pneumatic system, envelopes, a propulsive system, and a steering system. The holder assemblies are fixed on the beams of the auto... | 04/19/2005 |
| 6821166 | Power train Power train for amphibious vehicle comprises engine aligned with longitudinal vehicle axis, transmission, and power take off mounted between engine and transmission. At least one marine propulsion unit mounted at the rear of the vehicle, is driven by shaft which run... | 11/23/2004 |
| 6796856 | Steering system A steering system for amphibious vehicle includes a control connected to road steering means. Ram is conventionally used to assist road steering, but by disconnecting command valves, it becomes a hydraulic master cylinder, driving slave cylinder; and thus marine ste... | 09/28/2004 |
| 6776673 | Auxiliary apparatus for flotation, propulsion and steering for wheeled or tracked vehicles An apparatus that can be bolted to the transom of a vehicle, comprising in combination a central box, which is open on at least the part of the surface that faces the transom of the vehicle and forms an extension for increasing the carrying volume and the buoyancy. ... | 08/17/2004 |
| 6773315 | Power train An amphibious vehicle power train has an engine with crankshaft and solid or fluid flywheel; a transmission arranged in line with the crankshaft, with an input shaft driven from the flywheel; and a power take off for driving shafts and marine propulsion means. The p... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6764358 | Amphibious vehicle Amphibious vehicle (40, FIG. 7) comprises engine (2) with its crankshaft aligned with front and rear axis (X) of the vehicle; transmission (3); and differential (4) offset from the transmission. The differential has front and rear ... | 07/20/2004 |
| 6712652 | Power train Amphibious vehicle power train 10 comprises a prime mover 12, transfer drive 14, transmission 16, and differential 17. A marine drive power take-off (PTO) comprises chain, belt, or gear drive, and optional decoupler 22. Rota... | 03/30/2004 |
| 6705905 | Sea-land-sky craft A sea-land-sky craft capable of navigating on the water, running on the land and flying in the air (that is, climbing vertically, flying horizontally and hovering in the air) usable in a new transportation system 1. The sea-land-sky craft comprises rotating wings ro... | 03/16/2004 |
| 6672916 | Amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle having an open seating arrangement includes one driving engine for reciprocally or simultaneously powering an all-wheel-drive travel drive and a swim drive, constructed as jet drive, with the aid of at least two clutches which are in... | 01/06/2004 |
| 6626712 | Amphibious vehicle for civil protection applications, derived from tracked vehicles An amphibious vehicle comprising: a chassis (10), which has a hull-like structure and comprises supporting wheels (11) and driving wheels (13-14) for tracks (12) of the rubber-clad type, a fore buoyancy reserve (21) and an aft buoyancy reserve (22) which ... | 09/30/2003 |
| 6575796 | Amphibious vehicle drive train A drive train for an amphibious vehicle provided with a propellor disengaging mechanism aft of the transfer case, thus allowing the output drive shafts to be continuously driven at all times. The drive train includes a motor attached to a transmission whi... | 06/10/2003 |
| 6540569 | Integrated utility personal vehicle A utility vehicle integrated a motorcycle and a motorized watercraft within a hull is presented. It can be set in a motorcycle status or a motorized watercraft status. The two statuses of the vehicle shares a driving power source, and a driving power shif... | 04/01/2003 |
| 6482052 | Amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle having a hull that includes a pod formed in the bottom of the hull for receiving the engine and drive train. The pod is concave down with respect to the balance of the hull. Foam filled compartments formed lateral to the pod assure b... | 11/19/2002 |
| 6273767 | Machine for performing work on land and/or in water The invention relates to a machine for performing work on land and/or in water, which comprises an underframe which moves on wheels or corresponding mechanism, a platform body on top of the underframe, and extension arm attached to the underframe which ro... | 08/14/2001 |
| 6139378 | Drive structure and assembly for a pontoon vessel A pontoon boat has a deck and laterally spaced supporting pontoons. A drive coupling assembly is secured to the aft end of the deck between the pontoons, and includes a vessel coupling unit. For a water propulsion drive such as an outboard motor, the coup... | 10/31/2000 |
| 6116972 | Auxiliary flotation, propulsion and steering gear for multipurpose vehicles with amphibian functions The gear comprises at least two auxiliary flotation sections, respectively a forward section and a stern section, which can be detachably associated with the hull of the vehicle, each section being constituted by a profiled metal container. The forward se... | 09/12/2000 |
| 5993273 | Amphibious all terrain vehicle An improved amphibious all terrain vehicle having a subtantially rectangular body or shell and is constructed of a light-weight durable metallic material. A combustion gas engine is coupled to a dual hydraulic pump system which is centrally mounted within... | 11/30/1999 |
| 5839802 | Light weight track system for tracked vehicle A light weight track system for a buoyant amphibious vehicle, the vehicle having two pontoons, the pontoons having a flat horizontal top surface and a flat horizontal bottom surface, each end of the flat horizontal top surface and the flat horizontal bott... | 11/24/1998 |
