RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No.

62/717,589 filed 10 August 2018 and incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Boats that are propelled by out board motors are routinely employed for missions that involve the risk of ballistic attack. Such boats are used by law enforcement and military authorities to pursue criminals and interdict drug smuggling and other illegal activities. However, such boats are vulnerable to ballistic attacks on these motors. Gunfire strikes on these motors may disable them putting the mission of the boat and the safety of the occupants at risk. In this regard, the evolution of these motors has involved the use of lighter weight plastic materials for the cowlings that cover the engines of these motors. While this evolution has provided important advantages, it has also made such motors more susceptible to being disabled by ballistic attack. Such an outboard engine is susceptible to catastrophic failure from a single ballistic strike. Given that out board boat motors provide an attractive target for disabling the boats that they propel, there is a need to make them less susceptible to such attack so that the operators of the boats may remain on a boat with an operable outboard engine, thus protecting the lives of the operators and passengers on the boats

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention involves an out board boat engine ballistic

protection system. The system comprises either a flexible cover that closely conforms to the engine’s cowling and has attachment means for affixing bullet resistant material to said flexible cover and bullet resistant material affixed to said flexible cover or bullet resistant material to which a dry adhesive has been directly or indirectly connected, which dry adhesive can adhere to a surface without a partner and can be repeatedly adhered to and removed from the surface of the cowling of the engine while remaining connected to the bullet resistant material. In the former case the bullet resistant material is affixed such that at least one side and the rear of the out board boat engine are protected when the flexible cover is placed over the engine. In the latter case the bullet resistant material is connected to said dry adhesive such that said bullet resistant material can be adhered to at least one side and the rear of the out board boat engine such that they are protected. The bullet resistant material may be flexible fabric type material typically used in wearable body armor or ballistic plates. The ballistic plates may have slots to accommodate straps and the slots may be provided with straps that partially support the weight of the plates when the plates are affixed to the flexible cover or the surface of the cowling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. l is a perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system comprising a flexible cover carrying pockets to accommodate bullet resistant material.

[0005] FIG. 2 is another perspective view showing some details of the attachment of the ballistic protection system to the motor and the manner of including bullet resistant material.

[0006] FIG. 3 is further perspective view showing the placement and retention of the bullet resistant material in the system.

[0007] FIG. 4 is a cross-section through FIG. 2 along section line 4-4 showing the construction of pockets to retain the bullet resistant material of the system. [0008] FIG. 5 is a cross-section through FIG. 2 along section line 5-5 showing the closure of the pockets that retain the bullet resistant material of the system.

[0009] FIG 6 is a magnified view of portion 6-6 of FIG. 4 showing the meeting of the side and back pockets containing the bullet resistant material of the system.

[00010] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view analogous to FIG. 4 showing two out board motors mounted on a boat adjacent to each of other, with each being equipped with an appropriate ballistic protection system.

[00011] FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system showing some details of the pockets that accommodate the bullet resistant material and load bearing straps to help support the weight of the bullet resistant material.

[00012] FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system similar to that of FIG. 8 from another perspective.

[00013] FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system in which ballistic plate are employed without pockets in the flexible cover.

[00014] FIG. 11 is another perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system in which ballistic plates are employed without pockets in the flexible cover.

[00015] FIG. 12 is perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system in which ballistic plates are employed, showing Velcro attachment strips on both the plate and the flexible cover. [00016] FIG. 13 is another perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system in which ballistic plates are employed, showing Velcro attachment strips on both the plate and the flexible cover.

[00017] FIG. 14 is a perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system, showing a detachable spout for directing the hot water exhaust of the engine of the out board motor.

[00018] FIG. 15 is another perspective view of an out board motor attached to a boat and equipped with a ballistic protection system, showing both a detachable spout for directing the hot water exhaust of the engine of the out board motor and an embedded Faraday cage.

[00019] FIG 16 is a cross section along section line 16-16 of FIG. 16 showing the placement of the Faraday cage relevant to the bullet resistant material in a pocket in the flexible cover.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[00020] FIG. 1 illustrates an out board motor 100 attached to a boat 20 via a

mounting fixture 30 and provided with a ballistic protection system 10. The system 10 comprises a flexible cover 102 which form fits to the cowling of outboard motor 100. The flexible cover 102 may be a fabric cover of the type sold to protect out board motors from sun and weather. It may be provided with means with which to secure itself to the out board motor 100. The flexible cover 102 is provided with pockets 104. The back pocket 103 and the side pocket 105 are provided with closable entrances 109 and 110, respectively. The pockets 104 may be attached to the flexible cover 102 in a variety of ways including being sewn or stitched to the flexible cover 102. Bullet resistant material may already be in place in the pockets 104 at the time that they are affixed to the flexible cover 102 or it may placed in the pockets 104 after the pockets 104 are affixed to the flexible cover 102. In the latter case the flexible cover 102 may provide the back wall of the pocket 104. The pocket entrances 109 and 110 may be permanently closed, such as with stitching, once the bullet resistant material is in place or they may be openable and reclosable. The motor has a hot water exhaust 106 and a rigging harness 108.

[00021] FIG. 2 illustrates an out board motor 100 provided with a flexible cover 102 which has been provided with straps 112 with which to more securely affix the cover 112 to the cowling of the motor 100. The flexible cover 102 carries pockets 104 which accommodate bullet resistant material. The pockets 104 have entrances 110. Section lines are provided to support views shown in other figures. The flexible cover 102 is illustrated with an open portion that exposes the portion of the engine cowling that faces toward the bow of the boat. However, the flexible cover could be constructed such that it entirely enclosed the engine cowling. In such a case the straps 112 might be omitted, though they could also be attached to the appropriate portions of the flexible cover 102.

[00022] FIG. 3 illustrates the placement of bullet resistant material for protection of the back 114 and sides 116 of the motor. The bullet resistant material 114 and 116 may be the flexible material used for wearable body armor such as Kevlar or it may be rigid ballistic panels. It is convenient if this bullet resistant material 114 and 116 has a US Department of Justice (DOJ) rating of Level III or IIIA. The entrance 110 of pocket 104 affixed to the side portion of the cover is shown with a reclosable system such as Velcro.

[00023] FIG. 4 illustrates the placement of the back 114 and side 116 bullet

resistant material. The front wall 120 of the pocket 104 that accommodates the back material 114 and the front wall 122 of the pocket 104 that accommodates the side material 116 are shown. The figure also provides the section lines for FIG. 6. [00024] FIG. 5 illustrates the detail of how the side bullet resistant material 116 is accommodated in a pocket 104 that has a front wall 122 and a reclosable closure system 118. The closure system may be any of the mechanical entanglement closure systems such as Velcro or the mushroom headed fingers of the 3M Dual Lock system or Setex material of nanoGriptech. It could also be a simple zipper or the groove and bead system commonly used on plastic storage bags such as sandwich bags.

[00025] FIG. 6 illustrates one type of junction between the back or rear bullet resistant material 114 and the side bullet resistant material 116. Both materials 114 and 116 are in pockets 104 with front walls 120 and 122, respectively.

[00026] FIG. 7 illustrates an employment of the ballistic protection system 10 when two out board motors are mounted on the same boat 20 adjacent to each other. Both motors 100 have a flexible cover 102 that form fits their cowlings and both motors 100 have a pocket with a front wall 120 that contains a rear bullet resistant material 114. However, only the outward facing side of each motor 100 has a pocket with a front wall 122 that contains a side bullet resistant material 116. As a practical matter the sides of the motors 100 that face each other are much less susceptible to a bullet strike and thus are less in need of ballistic protection. Of course, it would be possible to provide a pocket 104 containing a side ballistic resistant material 116 on the in board side of each motor 100.

[00027] FIG. 8 illustrates a motor 100 whose cowling has a flexible cover 102 that carries pockets for rear and side bullet resistant materials 114 and 116. These pockets have entrances 109 and 110 and bottom edgesl2l and 123, respectively. The pocket with front surface 122 for side bullet resistant material 116 has straps 124 that help to support the weight of the bullet resistant material. These straps 124 are part of the flexible cover 102. The flexible cover 102 is illustrated as extending below the pocket bottom edges 121 and 123. This extended portion could be provided with means to attach additional ballistic protection for lower parts of the motor 100. A flexible cover 102 could be configured without a top a portion that covers the top of the engine cowling. This alternative flexible cover 102 could be placed over the fabric covers typically available to protect out board boat motors from sum and weather. This alternative flexible cover could have a lower edge that is determined by the bottom edges 121 and 123 of the pockets 104 containing bullet resistant material.

[00028] FIG. 9 also illustrates a motor 100 whose cowling has a flexible cover 102 and straps 124 to help bear the weight of the bullet resistant material. The straps 124 have snap connectors 126 to more securely affix the flexible cover 102 to the cowling of the motor 100.

[00029] FIG. 10 illustrates rear and side ballistic plates 130 and 132, respectively, affixed to the flexible cover 102 without using pockets. Side straps 134 connect the rear ballistic plate 130 to the side ballistic plates 132. The rear ballistic plate 130 has slots 136 to accommodate the straps 134. The side ballistic plates 132 have slots 138 to accommodate straps 112 and 134. The side ballistic plates 132 also have slots 140 to accommodate load bearing straps 124. The straps 112, 124 and 134 could be attached to the ballistic plates 130 and 132 in a wide variety of ways other than slots such as rivets or screws or nuts and bolts.

[00030] FIG. 11 also illustrates rear and side ballistic plates 130 and 132,

respectively, affixed to the flexible cover 102 without using pockets in the same manner as FIG. 10, but with the snap connectors 126 visible.

[00031] FIG. 12 illustrates rear and side ballistic plates 130 and 132, respectively, affixed to the flexible cover 102 without using pockets. The straps 126 accommodated by the slots 140 help to carry the weight of the side ballistic plates 132. The rear plate 130 and the side plates 132 are attached to the cover 102 using attachment systems 144 and 146, respectively. The mechanical entanglement systems previously mentioned for closing the pockets 104 may be conveniently used. These include the Velcro hook and loop system or the mushroom headed fingers of the 3M Dual Lock system or Setex material of nanoGriptech.

[00032] FIG. 13 illustrates the rear ballistic plate 130 carrying one partner of an attachment system 144 and the appropriate portion of the flexible cover 102 carrying the other partner 145. Similarly a side ballistic plate 132 carries one partner of an attachment system 146 and the appropriate portion of the flexible cover 102 carrying the other partner 147. The attachment systems 144 and 146 may be of a type that only requires one partner such as double sided Setex material or double sided common adhesive tape. In cases in which the attachment systems 144 and 146 do not require a partner adhered to the flexible cover 102, it is possible to dispense with the flexible cover 102 and adhere the ballistic plates 130 and 132 directly to the engine cowling of the out board motor 100. For instance, US Patent No. 8,142,700, incorporated herein by reference, provides details of the Setex dry adhesive material that readily and repeatedly adheres to smooth surfaces without leaving any residue. Such a dry adhesive material may be adhered to the ballistic plates 130 and 132 using traditional adhesives or it may be utilized in a double sided format. In the latter case, it is convenient to use such dry adhesive that has been engineered to have greater adhesive power on one side than the other. Thus the dry adhesive forming the attachment systems 144 and 146 will remain adhered to the ballistic plates 130 and 132 for multiple cycles of attaching and removing these plates from the engine cowling of the motor 102. Sufficient dry adhesive material may be utilized to reliable support the weight of the ballistic plates 130 and 132 or straps like those illustrated in FIG. 12 as 126 may be used to support a portion of the weight. Of course, the same direct attachment approach can be utilized with other bullet resistant material such as the flexible material used for wearable body armor, for example Kevlar

[00033] FIG. 14 illustrates a motor 100 with a flexible cover 102 affixed which carries pockets 104 that contain bullet resistant material that was inserted via entrances 109 and 110. The rear pocket has bottom edge 121 and the side pocket has bottom edge 123. These bottom edges 121 and 123 may represent stitching lines that affix the pockets 104 to the flexible cover. The flexible cover 102 is provided with an attachment system 152 that attaches a hot water exhaust spot 150 over the hot water exhaust 106. This spout 150 should make it more difficult to target the motor using heat sensing. The rigging harness 108 of the motor 100 is protected with flexible bullet resistant material 154. It is wrapped around the rigging harness 154 and the wrap is maintained with an attachment system 156. Both attachment system 152 and attachment system 156 may be the mechanical entanglement systems mentioned previously for attaching ballistic plates 130 and 132 to the flexible cover 102. These include the Velcro hook and loop system or the mushroom headed fingers of the 3M Dual Lock system or Setex material of nanoGriptech.

[00034] FIG. 15 illustrates a motor 100 with a flexible cover affixed which carries pockets 104 that contain bullet resistant material that was inserted via entrances 109 and 110. It shows many of the same features as FIG. 14. However, it also shows a portion of a Faraday cage 160 that is affixed to the flexible cover 102. The Faraday cage 160 may be affixed to the flexible cover 102 either in front of or behind the pockets 104. In the former case the direct attachment would be to the front walls 120 and 122 of the pockets 104. Another approach would be to include electrically conductive threads in the flexible cover 102 or the front walls 120 and 122, particularly if the cover 102 or the pockets 104 were constructed of fabric. Alternatively, the Faraday cage could be fabricated from a conductive foil that is adhered to the flexible cover 102. The Faraday cage serves to protect the engine of the motor 100 from Radio Frequency (RF) interference. The Faraday cage protection could readily be extended to the rigging harness 108.

[00035] FIG. 16 illustrates the placement of a Faraday cage 160 in front of the pocket 104 that carries side bullet resistant material 114 and embedded in the front wall 120 of the pocket 104. The cage 160 is provided with a power supply 162. This can conveniently be provided by the motor 100. [00036] The specific locations of the bullet resistant material affixed to the flexible cover are specifically selected to protect the vital portions of the outboard motor. The rear and sides of the engine cowling are convenient locations. This material may also be placed to protect the lower portion of the outboard motor. It may be placed to protect the transom mounting assembly and/or the control harness. In the case of boats carrying multiple adjacent motors, weight and space can be saved by not providing bullet resistant material on the portions of the motors facing each other. In this regard, the transom bracket (The point where the outboard engine is mounted to the boat) of outboard motors contains critical parts of the engine control system including electrical and hydraulic connections that aid in controlling the motor. Bullet resistant material may be attached to the portion of the flexible cover 102 that extends over the top of the engine cowling thus providing protection from aerial attack from planes, helicopters, drones and the like. Similarly the Faraday cage could be configured to cover the top of the engine cowling.

[00037] The bullet resistant material including the ballistic plate has been

illustrated as consisting of a single piece for each location to be protected, but it may be provided in multiple adjacent pieces. These pieces may be designed to overlap. In such a case, the overlapping portions may be thinned so that a uniform thickness is maintained in going from one piece to the adjacent piece. This offers the manufacturing advantage of facilitating a design in which multiple pieces can be assembled in different ways to accommodate different engine cowlings. This approach is particularly compatible with the approaches of attaching the bullet resistant material to the exterior of the flexible cover 102 as illustrated in FIG.’s 12 and 13 or attaching the bullet resistant material directly to the engine.

However, the approaches in which the bullet resistant material is inserted into pockets of either flexible material which are either already affixed to the flexible cover 102 or are then affixed to the flexible cover can be readily adapted to this multiple piece per location approach. [00038] Flexible covers suitable for carrying the bullet resistant material are readily available in a wide variety of configurations and materials. Fabric covers which have custom configurations adapted to form fit a wide variety of out board boat motors are conveniently used as the flexible cover to which to adhere the bullet resistant material. Such flexible covers are conveniently configured so as not to impede either a full air supply to or a hot water exhaust of the motor.

[00039] The flexible cover, carrying the bullet resistant material can be attached to the outboard motor in a variety of ways, including installed snaps, twist connectors or adjustable straps as well as mechanical entanglement systems like the Velcro hook and loop system. The ballistic protection system can be easily removed to facilitate service of the engines or replacement of the bullet resistant material, which can be damaged during a ballistic incident. The optional protective material for the lower portion of the engine, the transom mounting assembly and the control harness can be affixed using a variety of connectors, including snaps, straps with buckles or twist connectors as well as mechanical entanglement systems like the Velcro hook and loop system.

[00040] The bullet resistant material may also be directly adhered to various

critical portions of the out board boat motor 100 and its associated auxiliary equipment using adhesive means that is reliably secured to the bullet resistant material and that allows repeated attachment and removal. The dry adhesive marketed under the Setex® trademark may be conveniently used for this purpose. This material requires no binding material but will simply adhere to a generally smooth surface. Upon its removal from such a surface it does not leave any residue on the surface. If it begins to lose adhesive power due to environmental contamination a simple cleaning operation can be used to restore adhesion. For certain vital locations, such as the rear and sides of the engine cowling, this material may be mated with straps or other securement means which help support the weight of the bullet resistant material. The adhesive means, such as the Setex® material, can be adhered to the bullet resistant material in a variety of ways such as traditional adhesives or mechanical attachment. Another convenient approach is to use a double sided adhesive means engineered such that one of its active surfaces has a greater unit adhesion than the other.

[00041] This direct attachment approach is quite adaptable to the multiple piece per location approach described above. Each location to be protected can be provided with multiple pieces designed to fit together with each piece being provided with its own appropriate adhesive means. As in the case described above, the pieces can be designed so that adjacent pieces overlap.

[00042] Another approach is to encase the bullet resistant material in a material to which a repeatedly removable adhesive has been affixed. For instance, a ballistic plate could be encased in a fabric bag and the repeatedly removable adhesive such as Setex® material could be stitched or otherwise attached to the exterior of the bag.

[00043] The bullet resistant material has been illustrated as either the flexible material used for wearable body armor such as Kevlar or rigid ballistic panels. It is convenient that this material provides protection from rifle fire and meets US Department of Justice Level III and this is conveniently provided by rigid ballistic plate. However, protection from pistol fire as in US Department of Justice Level IIIA is also of interest.

[00044] The bullet resistant material may also be permanently adhered to the

outboard engines and related systems of the engines.

[00045] Thus this out board boat motor ballistic system facilitates protecting the motor from gunfire strike or other ballistic damage without the need for modifications to the motor itself. [00046] While only certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications and changes will occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.