Claims
- 1. A keel appendage comprising an elongated four-sided symmetrical diamond shaped ballast support member adapted to be fixed at its upper end to a canoe body in perpendicular relationship to the longitudinal axis of said canoe body, a ballast member fixed to the outer end of said ballast support member, the leading and trailing edges of said ballast support member being pointed and disposed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said canoe body, a hollow hydrodynamic fin completely surrounding said ballast support member and having a constant crossectional shape from its leading edge to its trailing edge as it is rotated in sliding contact with such ballast support member whereby the undesirable dynamic drag of the ballast support member is eliminated when the canoe body is sailing.
- 2. A keel appendage according to claim 1 wherein said rotatable fin extends from the top of said ballast member and enters into the interior of said canoe body whereby turbulence is reduced at the region where the rotatable fin enters the interior of the canoe body.
- 3. A keel appendage according to claim 2 wherein said rotatable fin is rotatably supported on a top surface of said ballast member.
- 4. A keel appendage according to claim 3 wherein the ballast support member has a major axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the canoe body and a shorter minor axis perpendicular to said major axis, the two spaced corners on said minor axis of said four-sided elongated symmetrical diamond shaped ballast support each has a convex sliding surface and the interior of said rotatable fin has two concave sliding surfaces each of which mates with one of the convex sliding surfaces of said diamond support member.
- 5. A keel appendage according to claim 4 including a first cylindrical member fixed at its bottom end to the cabin sole of the interior of the canoe body and at its top end to the cabin top of the canoe body, said ballast support member at its two pointed corners on its major axis being fixed to the interior of said first cylindrical member.
- 6. A keel appendage according to claim 5 including a second cylindrical member fixed to said first cylinder member and to the sole of the canoe body, the interior of said second cylinder surrounding without touching the leading and trailing edges of said rotatable fin and means rotating said rotatable fin from the inside of said canoe body.
- 7. A keel appendage according to claim 6, wherein said rotatable fin means includes a pin fixed to the top of said rotatable fin and movably extends through an arcuate opening in the top of said second cylinder member and means selectively moving said pin whereby the angle of attack of said rotatable fin to the water truck is selectively adjusted.
- 8. A keel appendage according to claim 7 wherein said canoe body has a waterline therearound and said first and second cylindrical members are anchored in the cabin interior with their axes perpendicular to the plane of the canoe body waterline.
- 9. A keel appendage according to claim 8 including a plurality of diagonal members surrounding said first and second cylindrical members fixed at their lower ends to said cabin sole and fixed at the their top ends to said cabin top, and means anchoring said first and second cylindrical members to the plurality of said diagonal members.
- 10. A sailing vessel according to claim 1 wherein the shape of said rotatable fin is selected to generate a hydrodynamic force when its rotatable fin is pointed at an angle to the water track for countering the wind force that is drifting the canoe body leewardly, the net leeward wind force reducing the leeward drift distance of the canoe body and thereby reducing the leeward wasted drift energy of the canoe body, the savings in said leeward wasted drift energy being transferred to the portion of the wind energy which propels the canoe body forwardly in accordance with the Laws of Thermodynamics in accordance with the following formula:We=(Fe+Fe′)+(Le−Le′)+He+Ke+Te−Ebs−Ebw−Ecw (2), where We=Energy of the wind transferred to the canoe body, Fe=Energy of the wind which forwardly propels the sailing vessel when the canoe body is pointing at an angle to the apparent wind, Fe′=Incremental energy available to increase the forward velocity of the canoe body with the energy saved when the leeward drift of the canoe body 18 reduced, Le=Energy wasted by the canoe body drifting leewardly by the wind when the keel is not making leeway, Le′=Leeward drift enemy wasted by the canoe body drifting leewardly when the keel is making leeway, He=Energy wasted by drag of the canoe body when it is not Pointing into the water track and tacking, Ke=Keel induced wasted drag when it is making leeway, Ebs=Energy saved when the support members of the ballast bulb has no wetted surfaces, Ebw=Energy saved when the bow wave is eliminated, Ecw=Energy saved when the canoe body has no crabwise motion, Te=Total Entropy lost energy by the energy transfers when the keel is making leeway, whereby the forward velocity of the canoe body is increased when:(a) the leeward drift of the canoe body is reduced by the asymmetrical effect of the fin; (b) the energy saved of Ebw+Ecw occurs as the canoe body is pointed directly into the water track; and (c) the support member of the ballast bulb has no wetted surfaces.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
This application incorporates by reference U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/317,796 and claiming the priority date of its filing date of Sep. 7, 2001.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1 567 395 |
May 1980 |
GB |
2 270 040 |
Mar 1994 |
GB |
10090701 |
Oct 1999 |
JP |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/317796 |
Sep 2001 |
US |