Aquatic vehicle converter

Abstract

An aquatic vehicle converter includes a boat body having a flat deck with interfacing units for interfacing with a land vehicle, such as an automobile. The rotation of the land vehicle's drive wheels are converted into propulsion for the converter. The interfacing units interface with the land vehicle's front wheels, or rear wheels, or both, and connect to the existing propulsion system of the boat body. The wheels of the land vehicle responsible for steering interface with a steering interface unit. The steering interface unit is connected to the steering mechanism of the boat body. When the wheels of the land vehicle are turned in the direction the operator wants to go, the steering interface unit senses this motion and causes the steering mechanism of the boat body to turn the aquatic vehicle converter accordingly.

Wherefore, what is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An aquatic vehicle converter that employes a motor or engine powered multi-wheeled land vehicle to propel and steer a boat body, comprising:
 a boat body comprising propulsion and steering systems;   a propulsion interfacing system that interfaces a driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle with the propulsion system of the boat body, said propulsion interfacing system employing the rotation of the driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle to rotate one or more output shafts that are used to power the propulsion system of the boat body, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system causes the rotational speed of the output shaft or shafts to be greater than the rotational speed of the driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle by a prescribed speed factor; and   a steering interfacing system that interfaces the wheel or wheels of the land vehicle used for steering with the steering system of the boat body, said steering interfacing system employing the rotation of the wheel or wheels of the land vehicle in the yaw direction that are used for steering to turn the aquatic vehicle converter using the steering system of the boat body.   
     
     
         2 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the land vehicle is a front-wheel drive four-wheeled land vehicle, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system comprises a pair of front wheel propulsion interfacing units that respectively interface with the front wheels of the land vehicle and which are located adjacent the bow of the boat body. 
     
     
         3 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the land vehicle is a rear-wheel drive four-wheeled land vehicle, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system comprises a pair of rear wheel propulsion interfacing units that respectively interface with the rear wheels of the land vehicle and which are located adjacent the stern of the boat body. 
     
     
         4 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the land vehicle is a four-wheel drive four-wheeled land vehicle, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system comprises:
 a pair of front wheel propulsion interfacing units that respectively interface with the front wheels of the land vehicle and which are located adjacent the bow of the boat body; and   a pair of rear wheel propulsion interfacing units that respectively interface with the rear wheels of the land vehicle and which are located adjacent the stern of the boat body.   
     
     
         5 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the land vehicle is a four-wheeled land vehicle in which the front wheels or rear wheels or both are driven wheels, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system comprises:
 two or more propulsion interfacing units each of which interfaces with a different one of the driven wheels of the land vehicle, each of said propulsion interfacing units comprising a pair of rollers which are parallel to each other and oriented laterally in a deck of the boat body, one of said rollers is a drive roller and the other roller is an idler, wherein the drive and idler rollers are separated from each other in longitudinal direction and extend above a top surface of the deck to an extent that allows a drive wheel of the land vehicle, which is oriented longitudinally to the deck, to be in contact with both of the rollers; and   for each pair of the propulsion interfacing units that are in contact with the front wheels of the land vehicle, and for each pair of the propulsion interfacing units that are in contact with the rear wheels of the land vehicle, the drive rollers of the pair are laterally adjacent each other and at least one of the drive rollers of the pair of the propulsion interfacing units is connected to a drive wheel gearbox, or each of the drive rollers of the pair are connected to a different drive wheel gearbox, via a drive wheel gearbox input shaft, each of said drive wheel gearboxes comprising gears that cause the rotational speed of a drive wheel gearbox output shaft to be greater than the rotational speed of the drive wheel gearbox input shaft or shafts by a prescribed speed factor and to make the drive wheel gearbox output shaft form a right angle to the drive wheel gearbox input shaft or shafts.   
     
     
         6 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 5 , wherein a length of each drive wheel gearbox input shaft is chosen to align the connected drive wheel gearbox in the lateral direction with a different input of the propulsion system of the boat body. 
     
     
         7 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 6 , wherein each drive wheel gearbox is mounted so that the output shaft of the drive wheel gearbox is directed toward and connected to the input of the propulsion system of the boat body that the drive wheel gearbox is laterally aligned with. 
     
     
         8 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 6 , wherein the propulsion interfacing system further comprises, for each drive wheel gearbox, an angle converter gearbox having an input and an output shaft forming a right angle, and wherein each drive wheel gearbox is mounted so that the output shaft of the drive wheel gearbox is directed toward the bottom of the boat body and connected to the input of the associated angle converter gearbox which is mounted so that the angle converter gearbox is vertically aligned with the input of the propulsion system of the boat body that the associated drive wheel gearbox is laterally aligned with, and wherein the output shaft of each angle converter gearbox is directed toward and connected to the input of the propulsion system of the boat body. 
     
     
         9 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 5 , wherein there are four propulsion interfacing units each of which interfaces with different one of the wheels of the land vehicle, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system further comprises a dual input-single output gearbox, and wherein a length of each drive wheel gearbox input shaft is chosen to align the connected drive wheel gearbox in the lateral direction with a different input of the dual input-single output gearbox. 
     
     
         10 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 9 , wherein each drive wheel gearbox is mounted so that the output shaft of the drive wheel gearbox is directed toward and connected to the input of the dual input-single output gearbox that the drive wheel gearbox is laterally aligned with. 
     
     
         11 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 9 , wherein the propulsion interfacing system further comprises, for each drive wheel gearbox, an angle converter gearbox having an input and an output shaft forming a right angle, and wherein each drive wheel gearbox is mounted so that the output shaft of the drive wheel gearbox is directed toward the bottom of the boat body and connected to the input of the associated angle converter gearbox which is mounted so that the angle converter gearbox is vertically aligned with the input of the dual input-single output gearbox that the associated drive wheel gearbox is laterally aligned with, and wherein the output shaft of each angle converter gearbox is directed toward and connected to the input of the dual input-single output gearbox. 
     
     
         12 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 9 , wherein the propulsion system of the boat body has only one input, and wherein the dual input-single output gearbox has an output shaft that is aligned with and connected to the input of the propulsion system of the boat body 
     
     
         13 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 5 , wherein the rollers in each propulsion interfacing unit are smaller in diameter than the wheels of the land vehicle resulting in the drive roller of a propulsion interfacing unit that is being rotated by the rotation of a driven wheel of the land vehicle being rotated at a speed greater than that of the driven wheel of the land vehicle, and for each propulsion interfacing unit the increase in rotational speed associated with the drive roller followed by the increase in rotational speed of the output shaft of the drive wheel gearbox compared to the rotational speed of the input shaft or shafts of the drive wheel gearbox combine to produce the increase in rotational speed of the output shaft of the drive wheel gearbox in comparison to the rotational speed of the driven wheel of the land vehicle by said prescribed speed factor. 
     
     
         14 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 13 , wherein the prescribed speed factor corresponds to a 5-to-7-fold increase in rotational speed. 
     
     
         15 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the land vehicle is a four-wheeled land vehicle in which the front wheels or rear wheels or both are driven wheels, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system comprises:
 four propulsion interfacing units each of which interfaces with different one of the wheels of the land vehicle, each of said propulsion interfacing units comprising a pair of rollers which are parallel to each other and oriented laterally in a deck of the boat body, one of said rollers is a drive roller and the other roller is an idler, wherein the drive and idler rollers are separated from each other in longitudinal direction and extend above a top surface of the deck to an extent that allows a wheel of the land vehicle, which is oriented longitudinally to the deck, to be in contact with both of the rollers; and   for each pair of the propulsion interfacing units that are in contact with the front wheels of the land vehicle, and for each pair of the propulsion interfacing units that are in contact with the rear wheels of the land vehicle, the drive rollers of the pair are laterally adjacent each other and at least one of the drive rollers of the pair of the propulsion interfacing units is connected to a drive wheel gearbox via a drive wheel gearbox input shaft, each of said drive wheel gearboxes comprising gears that cause the rotational speed of a drive wheel gearbox output shaft to be greater than the rotational speed of the drive wheel gearbox input shaft or shafts by a prescribed speed factor and to make the drive wheel gearbox output shaft form a right angle to the drive wheel gearbox input shaft or shafts.   
     
     
         16 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the steering interfacing system comprises:
 a range finding device which is located adjacent one of the wheels of the land vehicle responsible for steering the vehicle, said range finding device being oriented to measure the distance between the range finding device and either the frontmost or rearmost edge of the wheel halfway up the wheel in the vertical direction;   a computing device which receives distance measurements from the range finding device, and which computes the degree of yaw rotation and direction of rotation of the wheels of the land vehicle responsible for steering the vehicle based on the distance measured by the range finding device, and which further computes a boat body steering degree and direction based on the computed degree of yaw rotation and direction of rotation of the steering-responsible wheels of the land vehicle;   a steering apparatus that is connected to the steering system of the boat body and which is in communication with the computing device, and which operates the steering system to steer the boat body based on the computed boat body steering degree and direction.   
     
     
         17 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the boat body propulsion system comprises at least one water jet and a reversing bucket associated with each water jet, said reversing bucket rotating in front of a stream of water exiting a nozzle of the water jet when the boat body propulsion system is in a reverse direction mode thereby causing the stream of water to be redirected in a direction that slows or stops or reverses the direction of the aquatic vehicle converter; and wherein   the aquatic vehicle converter further comprises a reversing interface associated with each reversing bucket, comprising,
 a reversing bucket motor that is connected to a reversing bucket mechanism of the boat body propulsion system responsible for operating the reversing bucket, said reversing bucket motor driving the reversing mechanism to place the reversing bucket in front of the stream of water exiting a nozzle of the water jet when the boat body propulsion system is in the reverse direction mode, and place the reversing bucket out of in front of the stream of water exiting a nozzle of the water jet when the boat body propulsion system is not in the reverse direction mode, 
 one or more rotation sensors that detect when a driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle are rotating in a reverse direction thereby indicating that the boat body propulsion system is in the reverse direction mode, and 
 a computing device which is in communication with the reversing bucket motor and the rotation sensor or sensors, and wherein whenever the computing device receives a signal from the rotation sensor or sensors indicating that the boat body propulsion system is in the reverse direction mode, the computing device sends a signal to the reversing bucket motor that causes said motor to drive the reversing mechanism to place the reversing bucket in front of the stream of water exiting a nozzle of the water jet, and whenever the computing device receives a signal from the rotation sensor or sensors indicating that the boat body propulsion system is not in the reverse direction mode, the computing device sends a signal to the reversing bucket motor that causes said motor to drive the reversing mechanism to place the reversing bucket out from in front of the stream of water exiting a nozzle of the water jet. 
   
     
     
         18 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the boat body propulsion system comprises at least one water jet that produces a stream of water exiting a nozzle of the water jet, and a mechanism that rotates the nozzle to direct the stream of water in a direction that slows or stops or reverses the direction of the aquatic vehicle converter when the boat body propulsion system is in a reverse direction mode; and wherein   the aquatic vehicle converter further comprises a reversing interface, comprising,
 one or more rotation sensors that detect when a driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle are rotating in a reverse direction thereby indicating that the boat body propulsion system is in the reverse direction mode, and 
 a computing device which is in communication with the mechanism that rotates the nozzle and the rotation sensor or sensors, and wherein whenever the computing device receives a signal from the rotation sensor or sensors indicating that the boat body propulsion system is in the reverse direction mode, the computing device sends a signal to the mechanism that rotates the nozzle to direct the stream of water in a direction that slows or stops or reverses the direction of the aquatic vehicle converter, and whenever the computing device receives a signal from the rotation sensor or sensors indicating that the boat body propulsion system is not in the reverse direction mode, the computing device sends a signal to the mechanism that rotates the nozzle to direct the stream of water in a direction that does not slow or stop or reverse the direction of the aquatic vehicle converter. 
   
     
     
         19 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the boat body comprises one of a single hull boat body, or a dual hull boat body, or a triple hull boat body. 
     
     
         20 . The aquatic vehicle converter of  claim 1 , wherein the boat body comprises a portion thereof that is above the surface of the water which is made from a transparent material so as to create the appearance that the land vehicle is gliding across the surface of the water. 
     
     
         21 . An aquatic vehicle converter that employes a motor or engine powered multi-wheeled land vehicle to propel and steer a boat body, comprising:
 a boat body having two longitudinal hulls separated by a deck, and comprising propulsion and steering systems;   a propulsion interfacing system that interfaces a driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle with the propulsion system of the boat body, said propulsion interfacing system employing the rotation of the driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle to rotate an output shaft in each hull that are used to power the propulsion system of the boat body, and wherein the propulsion interfacing system causes the rotational speed of the output shafts to be greater than the rotational speed of the driven wheel or wheels of the land vehicle by a prescribed speed factor; and   a steering interfacing system that interfaces the wheel or wheels of the land vehicle used for steering with the steering system of the boat body, said steering interfacing system employing the rotation of the wheel or wheels of the land vehicle in the yaw direction that are used for steering to turn the aquatic vehicle converter using the steering system of the boat body.