Patent Application
20130160690
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to a rudder control mechanism for double-rudder sailboats. This rudder control mechanism comprises a structure preventing water resistance of a sailboat when the rudder surface on the higher part rotates in the sea while maneuvering in the cases that the sailboat tilts angularly in the sailing position, and therefore preventing the speed of the boat from decreasing.
In order for their capacity of maneuvering to be high, performance sailboats are equipped with dual-rudders that are oblique in plus and minus proportions, the pivots of which are adjusted to 90 degree steepness. Such sailboats list with the effect of the wind and in the meanwhile if it is desired to maneuver at the side to which the boat tilts (in other words shifting from luff to broad reach or from broad reach to full sail), the rudder that stays on the higher part after the boat has tilted generates unfunctional resistance. In other words, as the said rudder that stayed on the higher part operates in parallel with the pivot by means of which it is connected to the functional rudder which is close to the steep position to the water, which has been designed to be functional, and when it rotates because of the said position which is at higher plus degrees to the steep position, the broad surface of the said rudder generates a resistance, a breaking effect in the waters flowing towards to opposite direction of the boat movement.
Such resistance causes, especially in the sailboat races, the boats to lose speed while turning around the floating flag and therefore to deviate from the direction of rotation, which is an undesired outcome. In the art, many dual-rudder control mechanisms have been proposed, however even if not all, most of them offer solutions for increasing the maneuvering capability of the boats (sailing or not) when they are under normal sail. For examples, the documents U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,730, U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,053, U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,145, U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,100, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference, can be considered as the examples for synchronous or asynchronous dual-rudder control mechanisms. However, none of the mechanisms that are disclosed in these documents comprise a solution for preventing the rudder from dragging in the case that a tilted sailboat maneuvers.
An object of the present invention is to eliminate the speed loss and direction deviations resulting from the water resistance emerged when the pivot angle of the rudder on the higher part is spoilt during the maneuvering in the dual-rudder performance sailboats.
The present invention relates to a dual-rudder control mechanism suitable to be used in the sailboats. This mechanism comprises an extendable pivot having each end a respective rudder, mechanism for extending the pivot, a control mechanism being responsive to tilting angle of the sailboat, and activating or deactivating the mechanism for extending the pivot in response to a threshold tilting angle of the sailboat.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the pivot, to both ends of which the rudders are connected, is a telescopic pivot. In other words, the pivot is composed of coaxial pivots, each of which can move all through the other's axis. The mechanism for enabling one of these pivots to move all through the other's axis and therefore for extending the pivot length are preferably solenoid actuators. The number of these pivots are one for each rudder, and two in total; and when the boat reaches to a certain threshold tilting angle, the actuators become activated and open the lock locking these pivots to each other in order to enable the pivot to make a telescopic movement, and lock it again when the tilting angle goes under the threshold degree.
The control mechanism for moving the mechanism for extending the pivot length preferably comprises an inclination sensor and a control circuit. The signals generated by the said inclination sensor are controlled by the control circuit. When it reaches to a certain threshold inclination, the control circuit generates the command signal necessary to actuate the solenoid actuators.
In order for the present invention to be structured and its advantages to be understood well together with its accompanying elements, it should be evaluated together with the figures that are described below.
While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein a specific preferred embodiment of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated.
As it is shown in
The boat position in
As it is shown in
Throughout this description, the term “extending” or “extendable” used to express that the pivot (8) has a variable length should be understood that the pivot is also retractable. Therefore the pivot (8) is extendable and retractable.
It is provided with the help of the mechanism (20) for extending the pivot length driving a pin (22) that can go into the pin holes (23) that are opened in the radial direction to the pivots (9,10) that the inner pivot (9) moves inside the outer pivots (10) and that the pivot (8) is extended. The said mechanism (20) is a solenoid actuator according to the preferred embodiment of the invention. Under the normal cruising conditions, in other words when the boat (1) does not reach to a certain threshold tilting angle (for example as in
When the boat (1) tilts, if the angle that the boat (1) makes with the horizontal direction (horizon line) reaches to a certain threshold degree, the pivot part to which the rudder on the higher part compared to the horizontal one is connected starts to make a telescopic movement. For that reason the dual-rudder control mechanism comprises an inclination sensor. When the threshold tilting angle is reached, the inclination sensor transmits a signal to the solenoid actuator (20) on the pivot part, which the rudder on the higher part is connected to, by means of a control circuit, and provides the pin (22) to be pushed upwards (to be out of the pin holes (23)) by means of a spring (21) in the actuator (20). Therefore, the length of the pin to which the rudder on the higher part is connected can extend. In other words, if a maneuver is made in such a case, the rudders (2) do not rotate synchronously. For instance, if the boat maneuvers to the right when the threshold tilting angle is reached as in
The tilting angle of the boat can also be sensed by means of a mechanical sensor instead of an inclination sensor. A pendulum inclinometer (4) as in
In
Each rudder connection pivot (14) is borne to the rudder plates (12) by means of ball bearings (15) in the vertical direction. At the each rudder part, there are two plates (12) that are superimposed in a way that there will be a certain distance between them. The rudder plates (12) are preferably in triangle form and the tapering end of this triangle is in the cruising direction. There are pin movement channels (18) that are located along an edge opposite to the tapering end, wherein the said channels extend in the direction of the bottom edge of the plate (12). Spring connection pins (17) moving inside the said pin movement channels (18) and extending to downwards are located.
Rudder connection springs (16) are connected to the spring connection pins (17), wherein the said springs are connected from one of their ends to the end part of a pivot connection arm (13) on the spring connection point (19). According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the springs (16) are gas springs. While the boat (1) makes a straight cruising, there is no tension in the rudder connection springs (16). When the boat maneuvers, one of the springs (16) is pushed, and the other one becomes loose, and therefore they try to keep the rudder (2) in a position facing to the front end of the boat (1). When the force generated after the rudder (2) has been rotated increases up to the adequately high levels, the forces that the rudder connection springs (16) apply cannot resist any more, and in that case the spring connection pins (17) that the springs are connected to can move inside the pin movement channels to the end of the channel.
When the tilting angle of the boat (1) goes down the threshold tilting angle, the telescopic movement of the pivot (8) needs to be terminated. And therefore the signals coming from the inclination sensor is transmitted to the solenoid actuators by means of the control circuit, and the pin (22) is enabled to be pushed forward. When the pin holes (23) of the inner pivot (9) and the outer pivot (10) encounter, the pin (22) is pushed into the holes.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the mechanism (20) for extending the pivot length can be activated not only when the boat (1) reaches to a certain tilting threshold degree, but also additionally when the boat (1) maneuvers to a direction. Therefore, the control circuit can evaluate the data coming from both the inclination sensor and the rudder together, and activate the related mechanism (20). In such a case, a threshold degree like a tilting threshold degree of the boat (1) can be previously set to the control circuit for the maneuvering angle.
This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.
