In a message dated 11/5/2002 11:09:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, mkayaks_at_oz.net writes: > ... I point this out in case anyone out there would like to work on > designing sponsons that might work better than any presently available but > is concerned about patent claims and might need some “prior art” to > invalidate even the legitimate claims of overzealous promoters who might > try to claim that kayak sponsons are “patented” by them when in fact the > specificity of the patent claims limits it considerably. ... In a message dated 11/6/2002 5:40:57 AM Eastern Standard Time, rebyl_kayak_at_iprimus.com.au writes: > ... Earliest documented use of sponsons might be for the film "Cockle Shell > Heroes" made in 1955. ... More potential "prior art": Page 139 of the 1998 second edition of "Alone at Sea", a translation of Dr. Hannes Lindemann's account of his two transatlantic drifts (the first in 1955 in a dugout, the second in 1956 in a stock Klepper folding double kayak), shows Captain Franz Romer's Klepper folder, purpose built for a 1928 Atlantic crossing. On the starboard side (the port side being out of view) one can see a fabric tube, about one-third of the length of the boat, strapped to the side of the gunwale. It looks as though it is either inflated or might contain kapok or similar floatation. Since the boat was not equipped with internal sponsons (a later Klepper addition), I reckon that the likelihood of this being an early example of external sponsons is pretty high. Page 41 of "Der Hadernkahn" (a pictorial history of folding boats beginning in the final years of the nineteenth century) shows the same boat afloat in the port of Lisbon April 17, 1928, just prior to departure. Again the shot is of the starboard side only, but since the boat appears to be heading out to sea, there is little chance that this canvass sausage was only in place as a dock fender ... Capt. Romer made it to St. Thomas (Haiti), but was lost in a hurricane during his onward journey to New York. I can't decide whether that speaks for or against the usefulness of sponsons. On the other hand, the same book depicts on page 64 a folding boat reconnaissance mission of the west coast of Spitsbergen in 1935. Three men in oil skins, southwesters and notably lacking PFDs, are shown during a break from their "work" on the rocky beach with their three individual singles, equipped with long shaft side-mounted "Sachs" (later Fichtel & Sachs) outboards. The boats have no sponsons, neither internal nor external. Another shot in "Der Hadernkahn", this one from 1958, shows two Greenland style folders connected side-by-side by means of what looks like Birch branches, and rigged with a simple square sail for a lake crossing. Fridtjof Nansen's (pre Cockle Shell) use of skin-on-frame kayaks in this way is claimed as the inspiration for this contraption. Again no sponsons, but plenty of stability for use of the bucket nonetheless. Best regards, Ralph Ralph C. Hoehn Ralph_at_Atlatl-Kayaks.com / Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com www.Atlatl-Kayaks.com / www.PouchBoats.com phone: +1-203-324-0901 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Nov 06 2002 - 08:39:40 PST
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