Patent Application
20250065988
A marine cleat is an accessory typically used on watercraft to provide a point to tie-down mooring, rigging, anchor, fender, and other lines to the watercraft. For example, when mooring the watercraft, a line is tied from a structure, such as a dock, other boat, pilon, etc., to the marine cleat on the watercraft to secure the watercraft to the structure. Cleats can also be used for leverage during watercraft maneuvers, such as with spring lines, or when a user partially wraps the line around the cleat to pull the line in or pay the line out in a controlled manner.
A cleat typically includes two projections parallel to the mounting surface and arranged such that a cleat hitch (a knot that secures the line portion but can be readily undone) can be tied around the projections, or such that the line can be wrapped around either of the projections during use of the cleat as leverage. The portion of the cleat with the projections (e.g., the cleat head) can be fixed or foldable. A fixed cleat does not include any moving parts, while a foldable cleat (or “folding cleat”) allows the projections to be stowed when not in use for a flush and sleek folded position. Fixed cleats can be preferable in high strength applications, or in situations where the projections of the cleat need to be accessible at all times. In other applications, folding cleats can be preferable, such as with cleats mounted near walkways, cleats on smaller watercraft, and/or cleats on modern watercraft, where a sleeker look is preferred.
The marine cleat can be mounted to the deck, hull, or other structure of the watercraft where lines are tied down. Typically, the marine cleat includes holes for fasteners to pass through and be secured to the mounting surface. For example, the cleat can have two to four holes where bolts pass through and into complementary holes in the watercraft. These bolts are typically secured with nuts or other fastening features on the other end (e.g., under the hull surface, under the deck surface, etc.). This type of arrangement makes the fastener heads visible from the upper surface of the cleat. In folding cleats, these fastener heads are either visible with the cleat in a closed, stowed position, or the heads are positioned under the folding portion of the cleat such that they are only visible when the cleat is in the open, deployed position. In most of these configurations, the head of the fastener must be held stationary (with a tool) while the nut or other fastening feature is tightened. This installation limitation can make some installations more labor intensive (e.g., by requiring multiple installation personnel). Embodiments of a marine cleat in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure provide improved installation, aesthetic, and performance as compared to known marine cleats.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of the claimed subject matter will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The detailed description set forth above in connection with the appended drawings, where like numerals reference like elements, are intended as a description of various embodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to represent the only embodiments. Each embodiment described in this disclosure is provided merely as an example or illustration and should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The illustrative examples provided herein are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed.
As will be described in more detail below, the present disclosure provides examples of a folding marine cleat having fastener retention features that are expected to aid in installation of the marine cleat to the watercraft and to improve the aesthetic appearance of the cleat by concealing the fasteners once installed and the cleat head stowed. Although a longitudinally folding marine cleat is shown, the present disclosure is suitable for use with other types of folding marine cleats, including laterally folding marine cleats. Further, although the cleats shown herein are generally described related to use in marine environments, e.g., watercraft, ships, yachts, docks, mooring structures, and the like, the cleats of the present disclosure are also suitable for use in non-marine environments.
The fasteners of the marine cleat can be retained during installation using fastener retention slots on the bottom of a cleat mounting base. These fastener retention slots can be arranged in opposing directions such that when the marine cleat is placed on the installation structure (e.g., a surface with corresponding mounting holes) the cleat can not be moved laterally or longitudinally along the surface. The fastener retention slots can be configured with features that correspond to a square portion under a head of a carriage bolt. In this regard, the fastener retention slots can receive the square portion from a direction above the fastener retention slot, and abut the four sides of the square portion. In the seated position, the fastener is secured against rotation such that a nut can be installed and torqued from the underside of the mounting surface without needing to hold the fastener head with a tool. In this regard, the marine cleat of the present disclosure can be typically installed by a single installation personnel, even in situations where both sides of the surface are not simultaneously accessible. Although a standard carriage bolt with a square portion is shown and described herein, in other embodiments, the fastener retention slots can be adapted to retain other types of fasteners.
Although embodiments of the present disclosure may be described with reference to marine cleats for watercraft, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the disclosed embodiments are illustrative in nature and therefore should not be construed as limited to such an application. It should therefore be apparent that the disclosed technologies and methodologies have wide application, and therefore may be suitable for use with many types of cleat architectures, including floating platforms, docks, barges, personal watercraft, and the like, or suitable for use with non-marine applications. Accordingly, the following descriptions and illustrations herein should not limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The opening relief 116 is intended to provide an indented surface that can assist the user in gripping the cleat head 110 with a finger, thumb, or other object to deploy the cleat head 110 from the stowed position. A second opening relief 116 can be positioned on the opposite side of the cleat head 110 (e.g., laterally across, see
In some embodiments, the first and second legs 120 and 122 are pivotable with respect to both the base 102 and the cleat head 110. In this regard, the first leg 120 has a first pivot end that is pivotable about a first pin 130 associated with the first downward peak 116 of the cleat head 110, and a second pivot end that is pivotable about a second pin 134 associated with the first upward peak 104 of the base 102. The second leg 122 has a first pivot end that is pivotable about a first pin 132 associated with the second downward peak 117 of the cleat head 110, and a second pivot end that is pivotable about a second pin 136 associated with the second upward peak 105 of the base 102. The first pins 130 and 132 and the second pins 134 and 136 are configured to permit the cleat head 110 to rotate longitudinally and transition between the stowed and deployed positions.
In some embodiments, the base 102, cleat head 110, first leg 120, and second leg 122 form a four-bar linkage, with the base 102 stationary (mounted to the mounting surface) and the cleat head 110 remaining substantially parallel to the base 102 during rotation in a stowing rotation direction SR, and the first and second legs 120 and 122 rotating about the second pins 134 and 136, respectively, in the direction of the stowing rotation direction SR. In some embodiments, the pins 130, 132, 134, and 136 extend entirely through the cleat head 110, the base 102, and the first and second legs 120 and 122. In other embodiments, such as the illustrated embodiments, the pins 130, 132, 134, and 136 only extend through one side of the cleat head 110 and the base 102, and one side of the first and second legs 120 and 122. In these embodiments, eight pins are used to secure the hinged coupling between the cleat head 110, the base 102, and the first and second legs 120 and 122.
When the cleat head 110 is rotated longitudinally with respect to the base 102 in the stowing rotation direction SR from the position shown in
The cleat 100 can include various features to stop the rotation of the cleat head 110 in either the deploying rotation direction DR when the deployed position is reached, or the stowing rotation direction SR when the stowed position is reached. When deploying the cleat head 110 in the deploying rotation direction DR to the deployed position shown in
In use, it can be desirable to releasably retain the cleat head 110 in either the stowed position or the deployed position until a user applies a minimum force to transition the cleat head 110 away from its current position. For example, when the cleat head 110 is not in use and is in the stowed position, movement of the watercraft could generally cause the cleat head 110 to vibrate or move, causing wear and noise. Similarly, if the cleat head 110 is in the deployed position, the cleat head 110 may rotate to the stowed position unintentionally. One or more features can be configured to resist such unintentional movement, such as a detent having mechanical keyed features (not shown) or friction between the components of the cleat 100 (e.g., the base 102 and the cleat head 110 with the pins 130, 132, 134, and 136, etc.). In other embodiments, any suitable feature to prevent unintentional movement, such as friction components (e.g., rubber), magnetic features, etc. are also within the scope of the present disclosure.
As shown in
The square portion S of the fastener F requires rotational alignment (see, e.g.,
As shown in
The marine cleats described herein can be formed from any suitable material, such as stainless steel, which provides corrosion protection in marine environments; however, other material configurations are also within the scope of the present disclosure.
In the foregoing description, specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that the embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced without embodying all of the specific details. In some instances, well-known process steps have not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure various aspects of the present disclosure. Further, it will be appreciated that embodiments of the present disclosure may employ any combination of features described herein.
The present application may reference quantities and numbers. Unless specifically stated, such quantities and numbers are not to be considered restrictive, but exemplary of the possible quantities or numbers associated with the present application. Also in this regard, the present application may use the term “plurality” to reference a quantity or number. In this regard, the term “plurality” is meant to be any number that is more than one, for example, two, three, four, five, etc. The terms “about,” “approximately,” “near,” etc., mean plus or minus 10% of the stated value. For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is equivalent to “A and/or B” or vice versa, namely “A” alone, “B” alone or “A and B.”. Similarly, the phrase “at least one of A, B, and C,” for example, means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C), including all further possible permutations when greater than three elements are listed.
It should be noted that for purposes of this disclosure, terminology such as “upper,” “lower,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “fore,” “aft,” “inner,” “outer,” “front,” “rear,” etc., should be construed as descriptive and not limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter. Further, the use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and “mounted” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings.
Throughout this specification, terms of art may be used. These terms are to take on their ordinary meaning in the art from which they come, unless specifically defined herein or the context of their use would clearly suggest otherwise.
The principles, representative embodiments, and modes of operation of the present disclosure have been described in the foregoing description. However, aspects of the present disclosure, which are intended to be protected, are not to be construed as limited to the particular embodiments disclosed. Further, the embodiments described herein are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. It will be appreciated that variations and changes may be made by others, and equivalents employed, without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it is expressly intended that all such variations, changes, and equivalents fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as claimed.
