MODULAR FLOATING DOCK

QUAI FLOTTANT MODULAIRE

English Abstract

A B S T R A C T
There is disclosed an interlocking assembly for
floating dock units of quadrangular section, comprising eye
lugs, outwardly projecting from the four corners of the
floating units. The lugs are superposable one over the
others at the junction of four adjacent floating units. A
bolt is provided, including a head and a threaded spindle
with an associated nut. The bolt spindle is engageable
through the eye of each lug for connecting the four adjacent
floating units. The nut has inturned guide flanges releas-
ably engaging the lowermost lug for holding the nut in
register with the lug and for preventing its rotation when
the bolt is screwed within the nut. Bumpers and cleats are
also provided and secured to exposed lugs around the dock.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive
property or privilege is claimed, are defined as follows:

1. A floating dock comprising a plurality of
similar floating units detachably interconnected, each
floating unit comprising a floatable substantially poly-
gonal body provided with bevelled corners, eye lugs
horizontally projecting from each corner at-different
levels for overlapping with eye lugs of adjoining floating
units linked therewith, the lowermost lug of each floating
unit having lateral and parallel longitudinally-extending
grooves at the top longitudinal corners thereof, a bolt
having an externally-threaded spindle portion insertable
through the registering eyes of at least two superposed
lugs of adjacent floating units, a nut screwable on said
bolt spindle from underneath the lowermost lug of super-
posed lugs, said nut having upstanding parallel flanges, of
L-shape cross-section, slidably engageable within said
grooves of said lowermost lug, said flanges holding said
nut onto said lowermost lug and preventing said nut from
rotating with respect to said lowermost lug, each corner
of said floating unit forming a top concave and downwardly-
converging surface portion, and said bolt having an enlarged
head, of generally frusto-conical shape, matching and
frictionally engaging said top concave corner surface
portions, each lug having at least one notch extending across
the periphery of the eye thereof, some of said lugs being
exposed along the sides of said dock, and further including
bumpers attached to at least some of said exposed lugs,
said bumpers including a threaded spindle and an enlarged
head, said spindle adapted to extend through the eye of said





exposed lugs and attached thereto by a nut screwed on
the threaded spindle of the bumper; a portion of said
bumper spindle having at least one longitudinal ridge
slidably fitting within the notch of the eye lug to prevent
its rotation during screwing of said last-named nut, the
bumpers forming an enlarged head for said spindle, said
enlarged bumper head defining a half-portion with a frusto-
conical part adapted to fit against the matching top
concave corner surface portions of two adjacent floating
units, the other half-part of the bumper head being of gene-
rally half-cylindrical shape and protruding from the side
of the dock.


2. A floating dock comprising a plurality of
similar floating units detachably interconnected, each
floating unit comprising a floatable substantially polygonal
body provided with bevelled corners, eye lugs hori-
zontally projecting from each corner at different levels
for overlapping with eye lugs of adjoining floating units
linked therewith, the lowermost lug of each floating unit
having lateral and parallel longitudinally-extending
grooves at the top longitudinal corners thereof, a bolt
having an externally-threaded spindle portion insertable
through the registering eyes of at least two superposed
lugs of adjacent floating units, a nut screwable on said
bolt spindle from underneath the lowermost lug of super-
posed lugs, said nut having upstanding parallel flanges,
of L-shape cross-section, slidably engageable within said
grooves of said lowermost lug, said flanges holding said
nut onto said lowermost lug and preventing said nut from
rotating with respect to said lowermost lug, each corner
of said floating unit forming a top concave and downwardly-
converging surface portion, and said bolt having an






enlarged head, of generally frusto-conical shape, matching
and frictionally engaging said top concave corner surface
portions, each lug having at least one notch extending
across the periphery of the eye thereof, each corner of
said floating units having a partially cylindrical! corner
surface portion downwardly depending from said top concave
corner surface portion, and further including a cleat
having a spindle formed with at least one longitudinal
ridge adapted to fit the notch of the eye of an exposed lug
and held against rotation, said spindle having a lower
externally-threaded portion adapted to threadedly receive
a nut, said cleat having a head formed as a cleat and
including a lower cylindrical portion adapted to fit
against the matching partially cylindrical corner surface
portions of two adjacent floating units.

3. A floating dock comprising a plurality of
similar floating units detachably interconnected, each
floating unit comprising a floatable substantially quadran-
gular body provided with bevelled corners, eye lugs hori-
zontally projecting from each corner at different levels
for overlapping with eye lugs of adjoining floating units
linked therewith, a bolt insertable through the register-
ing eyes of four superposed lugs of four adjacent floating
units, a nut screwable on said bolt from underneath the
lowermost lug of superposed lugs, said nut having coupling
means engageable with said lowermost lug to hold said nut
onto said lowermost lug and prevent said nut from rotating
with respect to said lowermost lug, each corner of said
floating units forming a top concave and downwardly-
converging surface portion and said bolt having an enlarged
head of generally frusto-conical shape, matching and
frictionally engaging said top concave corner surface
portion, each lug having at least one notch extending






across the periphery of the eye thereof, some of said
lugs being exposed along the sides of said dock, and further
including bumpers attached to at least some of said exposed
lugs, said bumpers including a threaded spindle and an
enlarged head, said spindle adapted to extend through
the eye of said exposed lugs and attached thereto by a nut
screwed on the threaded spindle of the bumper; a portion
of said bumper spindle having at least one longitudinal
ridge slidably fitting within the notch of the eye lug
to prevent its rotation during screwing of said last-named
nut, the bumpers forming an enlarged head for said spindle,
said enlarged bumper head defining a half-portion with
a frusto-conical part adapted to fit against the matching
top concave corner surface portions of two adjacent float-
ing units, the other half-part of the bumper head being
of generally half-cylindrical shape and protruding from
the side of the dock.

4. A floating dock comprising a plurality of
similar floating units detachably interconnected, each
floating nnit comprising a floatable substantially quadran-
gular body provided with bevelled corners, eye lugs hori-
zontally projecting from each corner at different levels
for overlapping with eye lugs of adjoining floating units
linked therewith, a bolt insertable through the registering
eyes of four superposed lugs of four adjacent floating
units, a nut screwable on said bolt from underneath the
lowermost lug of superposed lugs, said nut having coupling
means engageable with said lowermost lug to hold said nut
onto said lowermost lug and prevent said nut from rotating
with respect to said lowermost lug, each corner of said
floating units forming a top concave and downwardly-
converging surface portion and said bolt having an enlarged






head of generally frusto-conical shape, matching and
frictionally engaging said top concave corner surface
portion, each lug having at least one notch extending
across the periphery of the eye thereof, each corner
of said floating units having a partially cylindrical
corner surface portion downwardly depending from said top
concave corner surface portion, and further including
a cleat having a spindle formed with at least one longi-
tudinal ridge adapted to fit the notch of the eye of an
exposed lug and held against rotation, said spindle having
a lower externally-threaded portion adapted to threadedly
receive a nut, said cleat having a head formed as a cleat
and including a lower cylindrical portion adapted to fit
against the matching partially cylindrical corner surface
portions of two adjacent floating units.

11

Description

~222166 ~ -
F`IELD OF THE INVENTION ,~
This invention relates to a modular type floating
dock and, more specifically, to an interlocking assembly for
the floatation units of the dock.
BACKGROUND OF THE IN~NTION
Canadian Patent No. 982,881 da.ed February 3, 1976
to H. Stanzinger (corresponding U.S. Patent No. 3,824,~44
dated July 23, 1974) discloses floating docks made of a plu-
rality of interlocking units. The interlocking means thereof
consist of pins engaging through superposed eye lugs. The
conical enlarged heads of the pins have two projections which
come into éngagement with rounded grooves in the corners of
the floating units so as to thus resiliently lock the pin
against inadvertent rise out of the eye lugs. Since these
pins are resiliently held in locking position, they may
- eventually become disengaged from the eye lugs in wavy
waters. If conventional bolts and nuts were used, a swimmer
would need to crawl under the floating dock to hold the nut
in position when a second person would screw the bolt from
above. This is obviously inconvenient.
OBJECTS OF T~ INVENTION
The general object of the invention is to provide
an interlocking bolt and nut arrangement ~or modular~floating`
dock units with means to hold the locking ~ut i~p~s=itlon -
below the dock to prevent its rotation when screwing the
bolt from above. An important object of the present inven-
tion is to prevent release of the interlocking arrangement
by wave action. Another object of the invention is to provide
the above mentioned arrangement for attaching bumpers, cleats
and the like to the sides of the dock.

1222i66
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION ,~
The interlocking assembly of the invention com-
prises eye lugs projecting from the corners of the floating
units at different levels so that they may be supérposed
when, for instance, f.our floating units are joined together,
a bolt with an enlarged head and a th-ea~eQ. spindle is
inser~ed from above through the sùperposed eye lu~s and
screwed into a nut underlying the lowermost lug.
In accordance with the invention, nut holding
anti-rotation means hold the nut in positian and prevents
its rotation when the bolt is screwed into the nut.
The enlarged conical shape of the head comes into
frictional engdgeme~lt with matching frusto-conical corner
surfaces of the floating units and thus positively prevent
inadvertent unscrewing of the bolt.
The same lugs are used to attach bumpers and
cleats to the sides of the dock. These bumpers and cleats
are formed by changing the shape of the above-noted bolt
head.
The nut holding and anti-rotation means include
a pair of upstanding parallel flanges of ~-shape cross-
section and protruding from one end face of the nut and
slidably engageable into si~e grooves fonmed at the.t~p
surface of the lowermost lug of each floating u~it, - -
Anti-rotation means are also provided to prevent
rotation of the bumpers or cleats when screwed in position by
means of a conventional nut, these second anti-rotation means
includes r.idges formed on~the stem of the bumpers and cleats
and engageable witl corresponding notches formed at the
periphery of the eye of the lugs.

:~222166

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS ,'
Figure 1 is a top plan view of the modular float-
ing dock according to the invention;
Figure 2 is a top plan view of one of the floating
units forming the dock;
Figure 3 is a partial cross-section of the float-
ing dock taken along line 3-3 of Figure l;
Figure 4 is a partial perspective view of one
corner of a floating unit;
Figure 4a is a perspective view of the lowermost
eye lug;
Figure 5 is a perspective view of the nut to be
attached to the lug of Figure 4a;
Figure 6 is an elevation of a bumper assembly;
Figure 7 is a cr,oss-section taken along line 7-7
of Figure 6;
Figure 8 is a top plan view of a cleat;
Pigure 9 is a side elevation of the cleat of
Figure 8; and
Figure-10 is a front elevation of the cleat
assembled with its nut.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
We will first refer to Figs. ~l and 2 ~of Athe
drawings.
The floating dock 20 is constituted of a plurality
of similar floating units 22. Each floating unit 22 is
of polygonal shape and, preferably~ square section in which
case it comp-ises four diagonally extending corner eye lugs 24
set at four different levels from the top surface 25 of each
unit, each having having four circumferentially spaced not-
ches 28 for a purpose later set forth.

l~ZZ16~ `

Each floating unit 22 is water-proo~ and prefer-
ably hollow and may be moulded out of synthetic resins such
as high densily polyethylene. A plastic foam may fill each
unit 22. Each top corner of each unit 22 forms a concave
and inclined frusto-conical surface 30 which is followed
by a partly-cylindrical surface portion 32, in turn followed
by a flat suxface 34 from which horizontally extends a lug
24. Surface 34 is set at 45 from the ad~oining side
surfaces of the units so that, in practice, each lug 24
extends diagonally of the floating unit 22. The lowermost
lug 24a is provided with longitudinally extending and
parallel lateral grooves 36 formed at the top of the lug.
A bolt 38 and a corresponding nut 40 are provided. Bolt
38 is preferably also made of synthetic resin and is hollow
and has a generally frusto-conical head 42 adapted to match
and fit on the concave frusto-conical surface portion 30 of
the four adjacent units 22 interconnected by the bolt 38.
Depending from head 42 is a hollow spindle 44 which has
external threads 46 at the lower portion thereof. Spindle
44 is long enough to extend past through the superposed
four lugs and past the lowermost lug 24a. The nut 40 is
of standard construction but is characterized by an integral
ring 48 at one end face thereof, said ring 48 forming a pair
of diametrically opposite and parallel upstanding flanges
50 of L-shape cross-section defining guide slots 52. The
thickness of the internal top portion 54 of the flanges
50 is at the most equal to the depth of the grooves 36 of
the lowermost eye lug 24A. Nut 40 is first slipped in posi-
tion on the lowermost lug 24A with the top parts 54 of the
flanges 50 engaging the respective grooves 36 of the ll!~g
24A. The sliding arrangement has prefexahly a friction




-4-

122Z166
fit so that the nut may be held in register with-the eye 26
of the lug 24A. Then it is a simple matter to assemble four
adjacent floating units 22 with~ four eye lugs in superposed
position as shown in Figure 3 and then to insert from above
the bolt 38 and screw said bolt within the nut 40 which is
not only held in position underneath the dock but is also
held against rotation during screwing of the bolt. Screwing
of the bolt is achieved with a suitab~e tool engaging the
spaced holes 56 formed at the top surface of the bolt head
1~ 42 because the top parts 54 of the flanges 50 do not protrude
above thé top surface of the lowermost lug but are pre`ferably
flush wi~h the same, th,e, lowermost lug with the nut forms a
full size surface for resisting the downward pressure of the
remaining lugs when a load rests on the units associated with
the lugs 24.
The floating units 22 may be assembled to form a
dock of any s~ze and/or shape. The exposed sides of t.he
assembled units have exposed lugs 24 ~r 24A which may be
used to att,~h bumpers and/or cleats as shown at 58 ~!nd
60 respectively. These bumpers and cleats are adapted to
be secured either to one lug at a corner of the dock or to
two superposed lugs 24, or 24 and 24A at the junction of
two adjacent floating units 22 by means of standard nuts
62. The bumPers and cleats are of a hollqw,~onst~uction
and mouldeà of s~nthetic resin bùt the bumpers'~58 havè a
somewhat flexible wall and are designed to be filled with
gas under pressure through a one-way valve 64 of conven-
tional construction located at the bottom end of the bumper.
Bumper 58 has an enlarged head 66 and a co-axial
pin or spindle 72. One half portion of the head 66 is of
generally frusto conical shape as shown at 67 downwardly


12221~i6
followed by a cylindrical half portion 68. Portio~s
67 and 68 of the bumper are adapted to fit the correspond-
ing surface portio~.s 30 and 32 at the corners of tw~
adjacent floating units 22. The other half portion.of
the head 66, indicated at 70, is of generally half-cyl-
indrical shape, having a diameter corresponding to the
maximum diameter of the head 66. `This cylindrical half
portion 70 is adapted to protrude from the side edge of
the dock. The bumper has a spindle 72, the top portion
of which is provided with longitudinal equally, radially-
spaced rldges 74, adapted to have a sliding fit with the
notches 28 of the eye 26 of anyone of the lugs 24 and 24A.
The lower portion of the spindle 72 is threaded, as shown a~:
at 76, to be screwed within the nut 62. A one-way valve
74 ~is f.itted within the free end of the spindle 72. The
bumper,once inserted through one or two lugs at a corner
of the dock or along the sides of the dock, is held against
rotation by the ridses 74 which engage the notches 28
and, therefore, it is a simple matter to screw the nut 62
. by means of a suitable tool, such as a wrench, because these
nuts are accessible along the sides of the dock.
The cleats 60 have a head 78 in the form of
a cleat with a lower cylindrical wall 80 adapted to fit
against the cylindrical surface portions 32 at the corners
of the floating units 22. A cleat is further provided with
a spindle 72, ridges 74 and threaded portion 76, as for
the bumpers S8 and is therefore secured to one lug in
the same manner as the bumper 58.




:. .",~.

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