Granted Patent B1

US 12,654,821 · App. 19/047,227 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventors: Stewart Boyd (Knoxville, TN); Dale Lambert (Knoxville, TN); Aaron Pierce (Knoxville, TN)

Assignee: Protomet Corporation

B63B34/67B63B15/00B63B17/00B63B34/60

Abstract

Claims (18)

1 . A watersports tower comprising:

one or more legs, wherein each leg comprises:

a mount for coupling the tower to a water craft, and

one or more leg portions having a proximal end and a distal end distal to the proximal end, wherein the proximal end of a first leg portion of the one or more leg portions is rotationally coupled to the mount about a first joint, wherein, when the one or more leg portions includes two or more leg portions, the distal end of each of the one or more leg portions except a last leg portion is coupled sequentially to the proximal end of a next leg portion of the one or more leg portions;

a top section rotationally coupled to the distal end of the last leg portion, wherein the last leg portion is a final leg portion in a sequential coupling of the one or more leg portions of each of the one or more legs; and

a linkage mechanism extending from the mount to the distal end of the last leg portion of at least one of the one or more legs, wherein the linkage mechanism rotationally clocks a rotational relationship between the mount of the at least one of the one or more legs to the top section such that the mount and the top section do not rotate relative to each other,

wherein the leg portions of each leg are rotatable such that the tower is movable between a lowered position and a raised position, wherein the top section is further from the mount of each of the one or more legs in the raised position than it is in the lowered position,

wherein the rotational clocking of the rotational relationship between the mount of the at least one of the one or more legs and the top section caused by the linkage mechanism causes the top section to be non-rotatable relative to the mount of the at least one of the one or more legs,

wherein the one or more legs comprise two legs, and

wherein the distal end of the last leg portion of the sequentially coupled one or more leg portions of each of the two legs are closer to each other than the proximal end of the first leg portion of each of the two legs.

2 . The tower of claim 1 , wherein the one or more leg portions further comprises a first leg portion and a second leg portion, wherein the second leg portion is the next leg portion sequentially coupled to the first leg portion, and wherein the proximal end of the second leg portion is rotationally coupled to the distal end of the first leg portion.

3 . The tower of claim 2 , wherein, when the tower is moved from the lowered position toward the raised position, the first leg portion has a first rotational direction and the second leg portion has a second rotational direction opposite the first rotational direction.

4 . The tower of claim 1 , wherein the linkage mechanism includes a tether.

5 . The tower of claim 4 , wherein the tether includes a cable.

6 . The tower of claim 1 , wherein a rotational axis of at least one rotational coupling of one of the two legs is parallel to a rotational axis of at least one rotational coupling of another of the two legs.

7 . The tower of claim 1 , wherein at least one pulley or gear includes a constant velocity (CV) joint.

8 . The tower of claim 1 , further comprising an actuator for moving the tower between the raised position and the lowered position.

9 . The tower of claim 8 , wherein the actuator comprises a linear actuator.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (21)