Patent Grant
11608145
This disclosure relates generally to methods, systems, and devices for the positioning of wings on hydrofoil assemblies. Many current hydrofoil surfboards and water skis include front and rear planing blades, both disposed parallel to the elongate main board, on the front and rear of a support member attached to a strut extending downwards from the board. By running generally parallel to the main board, such planing blades provide essentially no lift when the main ski is horizontal. Such blades typically are not adjustable. One adjustable wing assembly, commercially offered by NAISH, utilizes a longitudinal slot accessible in the upper surface of the support member into which a downwardly extending fin member is inserted. A user may tip the wing to a desired position, then tighten bolts on the side of the support member to tighten the slot. However, such an arrangement does not allow for an exact reproducible adjustment.
An adjustable hydrofoil planing assembly that provided users with the ability to perform exact reproducible adjustments on a planing blade or wing would be an improvement in the art. Such a system that included features for securely maintaining the desired angle during use would be a further improvement in the art.
This disclosure extends to systems, apparatus, and methods for hydrofoil assemblies with planing blades or wings that may be adjusted to, and securely maintained in varying tilts with respect to a support member such as an extending fuselage or strut, using a curved indexing system with a curved ridge and a counterpart groove that utilize interacting position retaining elements to retain a desired tilt in different adjustable positions. For example, in one illustrative system in accordance with the present disclosure, a planing blade may have a convexly curved ridge disposed on a surface thereof, generally extending in the front to rear direction. A series of transverse grooves may be disposed in the curved ridge. A central support for attachment to the planing blade may have a counterpart concavely curved receiver formed therein. The curved receiver member may have series of counterpart transverse grooves formed therein. When a user places the planing blade in position with the convex ridge contacting the concave receiver, the blade may be tilted to a desired position. The counterpart transverse grooves interconnect to provide an indexed positive interlock, securely maintaining the blade in the desired position. It will be appreciated that alternate embodiments the placement of the curved ridge and recess may be reversed or vary for a particular application.
The features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in the description, which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the disclosure without undue experimentation. The features and advantages of the disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like, which has been included in the specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all these matters form part of the prior art base, or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this disclosure.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive implementations of the disclosure are described with reference to the following figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise specified. Advantages of the disclosure will become better understood with regard to the following description and accompanying drawings where:
The disclosure extends to methods, systems, and devices for hydrofoil assemblies with planing blades or wings that may be adjusted to, and securely maintained in varying tilts. In the following description of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific implementations in which the disclosure may be practiced. It is understood that other implementations may be utilized, and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
Before the methods, systems and devices of the present disclosure are discussed and described, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the particular configurations, process steps, and materials disclosed herein as such configurations, process steps, and materials may vary somewhat. It is also to be understood that the terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing implementations only and is not intended to be limiting since the scope of the disclosure will be limited only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
In describing and claiming the disclosure, the following terminology will be used in accordance with the definitions set out below.
It must be noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
As used herein, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” “characterized by,” and grammatical equivalents thereof are inclusive or open-ended terms that do not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.
Further, although specific implementations of the disclosure have been described and illustrated, the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated. The scope of the disclosure is to be defined by the claims appended hereto, any future claims submitted here and in different applications, and their equivalents.
A first example of an embodiment of an adjustable planing blade assembly 10 in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure is depicted in
The central support member 100 may be formed of any suitable material having sufficient strength and durability for the intended use. In the depicted embodiment, it may be formed from a plastic material, such as a glass reinforced polymer. In other embodiments, other suitable materials may be used. For example, a reinforced structure having a hollow steel tube as a central core, over which a polymeric material is molded, can provide strength and attachment capabilities form the metal core, and surface durability and reduced friction to fluid flow during use from a suitable surface material.
The rear planing blade 200 may have an upper surface 202 and an opposite lower surface 203. It will be appreciated that the particular shape of the planing blade 200 may vary for particular applications. A convexly curved ridge 204 may be disposed on the upper surface 202, generally extending in the front to rear direction and having a curved top 206. As depicted, the ridge 204 may be formed having columnar sides and a curved top that generally follows the arc of a sphere. It will be appreciated that the relative size and placement of the ridge 204 and the dimension and angles of the curve top 206 may vary for particular installations, to optimize the ability of the planning blade and support to be retained in different positions along the curved top for such installation.
As depicted, a series of index structures, such as transverse grooves 208 may be disposed in the curved top 206. In the depicted embodiment, the transverse grooves 208 may be formed by a series of triangular ridges 210 separated by triangular grooves. This allows the transverse grooves 208 to function in a manner similar to the “teeth” on a gear. It will be appreciated that in addition to the depicted triangular shape, other indexing structures may be used. For example, transverse grooves having a curved profile and separated by curved ridges could be used, grooves having a rectangular profile separated by rectangular ridges, or other interconnection structures and profiles known to those of skill in the art can be used.
One or more connection ports 220 for the passage of a connecting bolt through the planing blade 200 and convex ridge 204 may be present. On the opposite surface 203 of the planing blade, a connection port 240 may be surrounded by a beveled curve to allow for movement of the planing blade and to provide a seat for a bolt with an angled head.
As best depicted in
Concave receiver 150 may have a concave facing surface 153, member may have series of counterpart transverse grooves formed therein. It will be appreciated that the curved facing surface 153 may be formed to correspond to the curved top 206 of ridge 204, to allow the ridge 204 to be position therein in multiple positions having different tilts.
As depicted, a series of index structures, such as transverse grooves 108 may be disposed in the curved surface 153. In the depicted embodiment, the transverse grooves 108 may be formed by a series of triangular ridges 110 separated by triangular grooves. This allows the transverse grooves 108 to function in a manner like the “teeth” on a gear when interacting with the counterpart grooves 208 on planing blade 200. It will be appreciated that in addition to the depicted triangular shape, other indexing structures may be used. For example, transverse grooves having a curved profile and separated by curved ridges could be used, grooves having a rectangular profile separated by rectangular ridges, or other interconnection structures and profiles known to those of skill in the art can be used. The use of interconnection structures that allow the blade to be adjusted by tilting as the interconnection structures “mesh” allows for fine adjustments to be made with the interconnection structures in place before the system is secured for use.
One or more connection ports 120 for the passage of a connecting bolt through the planing blade 200, convex ridge 204, and concave member 150 may be present. It will be appreciated that depending on the construction of the support member 100, the ports 120 may lead to a seat formed on the opposite surface for placement of a fastener, such as a nut, to which a bolt may be connected, or to a connection port formed in an internal reinforcing member, such as a metal rod or tube disposed in the connection member 100. It will be appreciated that although two connection port 120 are depicted, that this is merely illustrative and any suitable retaining system or number of ports, including a single connection port or a plurality of ports may be used as may be appropriate for a particular installation.
For use, a user may place the planing blade 200 in position with the convex ridge 202 contacting the concave receiver 152 of the support member with the blade 200 tilted to tilted to a desired position. The counterpart indexing structures, such as counterpart transverse grooves 208 and 108 interconnect to provide an indexed positive interlock, securely maintaining the blade in the desired position, once secured therein as by the bolt(s), resisting movement during use from the abutting nature of the interconnection. To adjust the tilt, a user can loosen the fastener (such as the bolts) and tilt the blade 200, using the gear-like interaction of the indexing structures, or simply reposition the blade 200 by lifting and setting it in the desired position. The fastener(s) may then be actuated to secure the blade in place.
In the depicted embodiment for
It will be further appreciated that in addition to the triangular grooves and ridges depicted in the FIGS, that other indexing structures and connection may be used and are within the teachings of this disclosure. For example, an exemplary embodiment that lacks grooves, and instead features knurled or roughened curved surfaces that contacted one another with sufficient frictional engagement to prevent slippage during installation and adjustment as well as use could be used. Similarly, smooth curved surfaces that are formed of material having sufficient frictional engagement under the pressure from the fasteners (such as bolts) may be used. It will be further appreciated, that in addition to bolts passing though the ports discussed previously herein, that other suitable fasteners may be used.
In the foregoing Detailed Description, various features of the disclosure are grouped together in a single implementation for streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed disclosure requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed implementation. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description by this reference, with each claim standing on its own as a separate implementation of the disclosure.
It will be further appreciated that the embodiments depicted and discussed in this disclosure are exemplary rather than limiting. For example, in the depicted embodiments, the convex receiver member is disposed on the support member and the concave ridge is disposed on the planing blade, this could be reversed. Additionally, embodiments where the planing blade may be attached to any side of the support member, or different planing blades may be attached to different sides thereof (such as top and bottom or opposite lateral sides).
It will be further appreciated that the number of planing blades may vary in a system. Additionally, different planing blades having different shapes and properties may be used. For example, planing blades of differing sizes and shapes that have different lift properties may be desirable for use in differing hydrofoil applications, such as surfboards, water skis, kite boards, and the like. The principles of the present disclosure may be used to provide tiltable planing wings with different properties for such differing applications.
It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the disclosure. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure and the appended claims are intended to cover such modifications and arrangements. Thus, while the disclosure has been shown in the drawings and described above with particularity and detail, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use may be made without departing from the principles and concepts set forth herein.
This application is a continuation of U.S. Application No. 17/020,557, filed Sep. 14, 2020, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/900,062, filed Sep. 13, 2019, each of these related applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, including but not limited to those portions that specifically appear hereinafter.
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| WO-8302760 | Aug 1983 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220169342 A1 | Jun 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62900062 | Sep 2019 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17020557 | Sep 2020 | US |
| Child | 17544533 | US |
