Patent Grant
9567054
The present invention is an improved version disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,068 and relates to a rudder mechanism enhancing the control of rudder in backward movement of the marine vessel such as a motor yacht, a boat and in particular a sailboat, thus improving the maneuvering characteristics of the marine vessel.
Steering devices are provided at the rear side of marine vehicles such as vessels to change the direction of movement both in forward and backward directions while maneuvering, such devices consist mainly of an arm, a shaft, and a rudder.
In a typical shaft-rudder construction, vertical axis of the rudder shaft becomes positioned on the front of the rudder when the marine vehicle moves forward, and since the area on the rudder's front section that is exposed to water load during forward motion is relatively small, the rudder can be easily controlled. In other words, since no rudder area is left on the front of the rudder shaft while moving forward, water cannot exert force on such ‘non-present’ area, which provides an easy control of steering attempts of the vessel.
The preceding condition, however, is much different as such vessel moves backward. In other words, the vertical axis of the rudder shaft becomes positioned on the rear with respect to the rudder's surface area, exposing the rudder's area to water load when the vessel moves backward, and making difficult to control the rudder and exposing the mechanical components thereof to external forces.
The disadvantages are proposed to be addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,068 issued to the same inventor. In essence, the rudder device of U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,068 comprises an arrangement attached to the vertical rudder shaft in a way to rotate the rudder around an axis perpendicular to the lateral surfaces thereof at an upper side of the rudder. Rotation of the rudder is achieved by a drive, such as piston extending substantially in vertical direction and connected to the vertical rudder shaft from one end and to the rudder from the other end.
While the rudder mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,068 provides an effective solution for the purpose, it may not always exhibit a robust rudder structure under the impact of high water forces due to relatively insubstantial constructional structure with the vertical rudder shaft. This may be particularly important as far as relatively large sized sailboat rudders are concerned. On the other hand, positioning of the drive element of U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,068 in vertical direction requires higher moment forces to rotate the rudder rotation axis since the directing of the moment force comes close to the rudder rotation axis.
An object of the present invention is to efficiently improve the maneuverability of marine vessels in backward movement and to maintain the mechanical connection stability in an effective manner by minimizing loads on the rudder rudder surface arising from water.
The objectives are achieved by a rudder mechanism for a marine vessel comprising a rudder having an upper side, a lower side, a first water flow surface having essentially a planar form and an opposite second water flow surface having essentially a planar form; a vertical rudder shaft rotatably communicating with the rudder about an axis essentially extending perpendicular to the water flow surfaces of the rudder; and a drive mechanism for rotating the rudder around the axis. The rudder mechanism according to the invention comprises a rudder slot extending from the upper side of the rudder towards the bottom side thereof for receiving the vertical rudder shaft, wherein the rotatable communication of the rudder and the vertical rudder shaft is provided substantially close to the bottom side of the rudder slot and the drive mechanism is communicated with the vertical rudder shaft to exert force in the radial direction thereto.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the drive mechanism is placed inside the space formed within the rudder. According to one embodiment of the invention, the vertical rudder shaft is supported in accurately formed supports in the rudder, which are extending substantially horizontally.
The present invention should be evaluated with the figures described below to ensure the best understanding of the embodiment and advantages together with the additional elements of the invention.
While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings and described in detail herein specific preferred embodiments of the invention. The present disclosure is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiments illustrated.
Throughout the description, the term “marine vessel” should be understood to cover sailboat, motor yacht, boat and all sort of marine vessels.
As illustrated in
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the rudder (1) comprises a first rudder part (1.1) having a shell-like form, and a second rudder part (1.2) having a shell-like form connected to the first rudder part (1.1). The external surface of each rudder part (1.1, 1.2) is formed in such a manner to minimize water resistance. The first rudder part (1.1) is preferably somewhat larger than the second rudder part (1.2) and has slightly different form. That is to say, while the external surface of the first rudder part (1.1) covers one lateral surface of the rudder (1) completely, it covers a certain portion of the other lateral surface.
The surface at one lateral side of the rudder (1) substantially defines a first water flow surface (2) in planar form, and the surface on the other lateral side substantially defines a second water flow surface (3) in planar form.
Therefore, the front edge (11) of the rudder (1) that cuts (splits) the water for reducing water resistance, and the rear edge (10) thereof where the water leaves has an integrated structure with a perfect form. The second rudder part (1.2) comprises a plurality of connection holes (5) formed along the body thickness thereof. As illustrated in
The first rudder part (1.1) and the second rudder part (1.2) have outwardly arcuate form and when the first rudder part (1.1) and the second rudder part (1.2) are attached one another, the space between them define a rudder slot (4) in the rudder (1). The rudder slot (4) has a slot inlet opening (20) running from rudder upper part (8) and the rudder slot (4) then terminates at a point that forms the rudder slot bottom (16) at a certain distance in vertical direction of the rudder (1). The rudder slot bottom (16) is preferably positioned at a lower level than the center of the rudder (1) height with respect to the vertical length of the rudder (1). The rudder slot bottom (16) is positioned at a higher level than the rudder bottom part (9).
A vertical rudder shaft (7) coupled to the steering system (not shown in figures) of the marine vessel from the upper end, extends downwards from the slot inlet opening (20) in vertical direction into the rudder slot (4). The bottom end of the vertical rudder shaft (7) is attached to a spot being close to the rudder slot bottom (16), or preferably right at the bottom (16), by means of a rotary hinge (19). The upper part of the vertical rudder shaft (7) extending upwards from the bottom end has a slightly tilted form.
The first rudder part (1.1) comprises one or more support pieces having arcuate form extending substantially in horizontal direction at the inner surface thereof. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the rudder (1) comprises two support pieces being a first support piece (13) and a second support piece (14) spaced apart from the first piece in the vertical direction. As illustrated in
A housing (22) is formed at a spot close to the upper side of the first rudder part (1.1) for receiving a motor (17). At the output of the motor (17), there is provided a threaded motor shaft (18) substantially extending radially to the vertical rudder shaft (7). A slide (26) is placed on the motor shaft (18), which can move linearly upon rotation of this shaft (18). Threads are formed at the inner surface of the slide (26). The threads of the slide are in conformity with those of the motor shaft (18). Such a motor configuration is commercially available from Maxon under the “spindle drive” type motors.
The slide (26) comprises slide pins (25) oppositely extending outwardly from the sides of thereof. The slide pins (25) communicate with the axial slide supporting cavities (24) in such manner to move inside the same formed mutually at the vertical rudder shaft (7). The vertical rudder shaft (7) further comprises axial shaft inlet cavities (23) oppositely formed for insertion of the motor shaft (18) therethrough.
Before the marine vessel starts its backwards movement (depending on the user or automatically, when starting to move backwards and even may be after moving backwards) the shaft drive motor (17) is activated and upon rotation of the motor shaft (18), the slide (26) is forced to a linear movement. As the vertical rudder shaft (7) is fixed to the rudder mechanism from the upper end, the rudder (1) rotates around the hinge (19) and gets the position as illustrated in
The motor housing (22) is made sufficiently large in order to avoid jamming of the motor (17) within the motor housing (22) when the rudder (1) rotates around the hinge (19) axis relative to the vertical rudder shaft (7). Likewise, as the slide pins (25) are located at the uppermost side of the slide support cavity (24) during forward movement of the marine vessel, when the rudder (1) is rotated for backwards movement of the marine vessel, the slide pins (25) come to the lowermost part of the slide supporting cavity (24).
The drive mechanism rotating the rudder (1) around the vertical rudder shaft (7) may also be a hydraulic piston as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,068 other than the motor (17), motor shaft (18) and slide (26) combination. U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,068 is incorporated herein by reference.
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.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 07241 | Jun 2015 | TR | national |
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| 5167547 | Kobayashi et al. | Dec 1992 | A |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170008605 A1 | Jan 2017 | US |
