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Sensor Based Detection of people near boat propellers: Patents

The phrase Virtual Propeller Guard broadly refers to methods used to detect the presence or likely presence of people or objects in the water that may be struck by or pulled into a boat propeller. Long ago we posted a more concise definition of Virtual Propeller Guards. With increasing activity in the use of sensors […]

Brunswick Neural Network Person Detection patent issued

We continue to salute Brunswick for their efforts to detect people in the water near a recreational boat. Basics of the Patent U.S. Patent 10,372,976 Person Detection in a Marine Environment invented by Troy Kollmann and Jon Nowick, assigned to Brunswick issued on 6 August 2019. The patent’s first claim describes detecting people in the […]

Mercury Marine announces technology partnership with Fell Marine

At the Miami Boat Show (16 February 2018) Mercury Marine announced a partnership with Fell Marine in which together, they will co-develop Mercury-exclusive wireless and Internet of Things (IoT) products that integrate with Mercury’s SmartCraft system “to make boating easier, safer, and more enjoyable than ever before.” Working prototypes are being shown on the water […]

Brunswick follows our lead, files patent for neural network Virtual Propeller Guard

Brunswick Corporation filed U.S. Patent Application “Person Detection in a Marine Environment” on 5 May 2016. The patent application (US 2017/0323154 A1) was published by the U.S. Patent Office on 9 November 2017. As of late January 2018, the patent has yet to be granted. The basics of Brunswick’s patent application teaches the use of […]

Vermeer OPS: supplemental kill switch technology

Kill switch preventable accident after kill switch preventable accident is stacking up this summer. It is long past time for the industry to investigate alternative methods to prevent Circle of Death accidents. Outboard powered recreational boats from which an operator has been ejected, circle repeatedly striking those in the water. This post opens with a […]

Backup Cameras Required on New Cars by NHTSA

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued its final rule 31 March 2014 requiring backup cameras on all new vehicles less than 10,000 pounds by May 2018. The rule includes trucks and busses. Field of view must include the 10 foot by 20 foot zone directly behind the vehicle. Many automobile manufacturers are already installing […]

Mitigating Boat Propeller Injuries & Fatalities Chart

Propeller guards on the market in early 2013 are not the optimal solution for all recreational boats and applications. In addition to propeller guards several other propeller safety devices and approaches can mitigate (reduce the frequency and severity) of boat propeller accidents. We created a chart to illustrate these approaches and their relationships to one […]

Contrapel Water Jet

Two New Zealand inventors (Barry Davies and Paul Paterson) have spent nearly twenty years developing a contra-rotating water jet. Like contra-rotating propellers, the Contrapel waterjet uses two impellers turning in opposite directions. The original efforts were by a firm called ContraJet Ltd. After that effort stalled, it became PropellerJet Ltd. The water jet research and […]

RingProp Intellectual Property for Sale by Edward Symmons

Several years ago, a UK firm tried to commercialize a ringed propeller from Australia called RingProp. The propeller was said to be safer than traditional propellers because human limbs could not easily enter between the blades. When the propeller was spinning it created a shroud around the blades. Efforts to develop RingProp were spread over […]

Boeing Patents System for Reducing Viscous Drag

U.S. Patent 8,240,609 “System and Method for Reducing Viscous Force Between a Fluid and a Surface” invented by Parazzoli, Tanielian, and Greegor (three Boeing researchers), was issued on August 14, 2012. Boeing’s drag reduction patent may hold promise for reducing the drag of conventional cage type or ring type propeller guards. Viscous drag (the fluid […]