31 March 2017

Inventions in Everything: Fishing for Boats

We frequently feature U.S. patents that have some pretty interesting illustrations inside of them, but until today, we've never seen one that has illustrations that might be considered to be the equivalent of a video game "Easter egg" inside of it.

But that's exactly what we found lurking within U.S. Patent No. 7,744,313, which was issued on 29 June 2010, and which features inventors Jeffrey Terai and James M. McDole's concept for a "Fixed Security Barrier".

Their invention is really a sort of fishing net for catching boats, which we'll pause to let them explain in the patent's abstract description:

A barrier for stopping unwanted watercraft and subsurface intruders from entering into a port or off-shore structure is provided. In one embodiment, the invention is a barrier comprised of a vertical net structure supported from the sea floor. The barrier comprises vertical supports and a net assembled between the vertical supports with a system of ropes and energy absorbing devices. The structural components of the barrier are designed and configured in a manner as to absorb and displace the kinetic energy generated by an explosive laden small watercraft traveling at a high rate of speed. In another embodiment, invention is a barrier system installed around the perimeter of a water side or offshore facility. This barrier system comprises a bottom founded perimeter fence having a gate system and a series of barriers comprised of a vertical fence structure supported from the sea floor. This barrier system is designed to control access and to protect a water side or offshore facility from potential terrorism threats.

Like many security-oriented patents, the text of the patent is pretty dry. But what stands out about U.S. Patent 7,744,313 is the inventors' series of figures that illustrate how their invention would work, which are reminiscent of the kind of flipbook animation that bored students often do with either the pages of old-school textbooks or with Post-It notes. It's not the sort of thing that you would expect to see in an officially-issued U.S. Patent.

So we've put together a flipbook animation of Figures 7A through 7F from U.S. Patent 7,744,313, in which unseen terrorists speeding toward an unseen high value target in their speedboat are rudely interrupted by the inventors' defensive net. Enjoy!

U.S. Patent 7,744,313 Figures 7A through 7F

And that's how you go fishing for boats!

Other Stuff We Can't Believe Really Exists

at