Patent Application
20180273149
None.
This invention relates to an automatic ski rope reel and tow mechanism for winding and storing the ski rope when not in use by a water skier, and more particularly the invention relates to a device adapted for positioning on an inboard or outboard boat where in the rope used to tow a water skier is mechanically wound on a reel, which reel also serves as a connection for the rope to the boat.
As a product, a Ski Tow device will be influenced by several different industries or consumers. Wikipedia indicates that the number of people in the US, who actively participate in water skiing, is about 11 million people. Additionally, in the US each year there is about 900 events, which focus on waterskiing activities, such as competitions or other events.
However, the one problem with ski tows are they are not interchangeability; thus, people cannot use them on boats that are not their own and if they do it could leave “scars” on the borrowed boat.
There is still room for improvement in the art.
The present invention is ski tow with a base, cover, motor, spool and ski rope. The ski tow would have a wireless controller to set the length of the ski rope.
The main object of the invention is to ease to use of ski tows and get them in front of the public to change to sport of water skiing forever. The current invention makes any conventional ski rope fully automatic, while increasing the safety of the sport.
The ski tow speeds up skiing (especially tournament events) by shortening the rope without stopping the boat to manually execute the task.
The ski tow will have five models or settings allowing any rope to meet all the skier's needs. The top will advance thee skier with continuous slalom without a need to stop the boat to a manually shorten the rope as it is performed automatically. The settings are novice, national, master, Sunday skier and pro. The ski rope is also remote controlled so that officials of a skiing event and control the ski rope.
The ski tow are portable and can be easily mounted to any watercraft regardless of the size.
The current invention is more efficient, effective, accurate and functional than the current art.
Without restricting the full scope of this invention, the preferred form of this invention is illustrated in the following drawings:
and
There are a number of significant design features and improvements incorporated within the invention.
The current invention is an improved automatic ski rope reel and tow mechanism 1 for winding and storing the ski rope when not in use by a water skier. It is a device adapted for positioning on an inboard or outboard boat where in the rope used to tow a water skier is mechanically wound on a reel, which reel also serves as a connection for the rope to the boat.
Referring now to
The cover 20 is attached to the base 10 through a number of bolts 21 which run through the cover 20 into bolt attaching holes 22 in the base 10. These connections secure the cover 20 to the base 10.
The end plate 91 is mounted on the spool axis/ratchet 27 by a press fit. The end plate 91 is adapted to be snapped onto the spool portion 331 and can be removed when it is desired to tie or untie a knot in the end of the rope 50. The spool drive gear 95 is mounted on a stub shaft 43 and is connected to the plate 91 so that they will rotate together. A level wind spring-loaded guide finger 45 is disposed between the spool 90 and the electric motor 70 on a shaft 47 provided with left and right hand treads or grooves. In the preferred embodiment, the level wind guide finger 45 is made of plastic. The guide housing 51 is carried on the shaft 47 by a holder 53 having a follower 55 provided with a thin blade 57 as shown in
The guide housing 51 is provided with a recess 52 which adapted to receive a track 54 mounted on the casing or rousing 14. The track 54 serves to maintain the guide rousing 51 and plunger 67 in radial alignment with the spool 90.
The cover 20 is provided with a rectilinear opening 35. A recess 79 is provided in the cover 20 and is adapted to receive a flange 83 mounted on the guide member 81 which is disposed in the opening 35.
The guide member 30 is substantially square in shape and is provided with a round opening 91 having a flared portion at 93 so that the guide member will not fray the ski rope as it passes therethrough.
A plate 97 having a round opening 99 for receiving a plastic grommet 101 which has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the ski rope 50 is mounted on the posts through openings (not shown) in the plate 97. A projection 96 extending from the plate 97 is adapted to contact a copper strip to form a normally closed electrical switch 95. The plate 97 is resiliently mounted on the posts by means of springs as illustrated at 109 and 113. A backing plate 107 is mounted on the posts and is provided with a round opening 117 slightly larger than the opening in the grommet 101. The edges of the opening 117 are rounded so as not to fray the ski rope 29 as it passes therethrough. The opening 117 in the backing plate also serves as a guide to center the ski rope 29 in the plastic grommet 101 as the rope passes therethrough to prevent accidental breaking of the contact between the projection 96 and the plate 115 in the normally closed switch 95. The posts are flared at 118 after the parts described above have been assembled.
A recess 119 is formed in the cover 20 to receive a stiff ribbon 121 which is attached to the guide member 81 at 82 and 84. As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As describe above, located on the top front of the cover 20 is a ski rope opening 35. A guide member 30 is located in the ski rope opening 35 and runs along a track within the ski rope opening 35. The guide member 30 is substantially oval in shape and is provided with a round opening 31 having a flared portion so that the guide member will not fray the ski tow rope 50 as it passes there through. The round opening 31 would be slightly bigger than the diameter of the ski tow rope 50. The ski tow rope 50 goes through the round opening 31 from the spool 90. The guide member 30 go back and forth on a guide track with the opening 35 when the spool 90 is either letting out the ski tow rope 50 or pulling it back in so that the ski tow rope 50 spools on the spool 90 evenly without knots or kinks.
The lower part of the housing 10 supports and holds the spool 90, the motor 70 and the gears that attach the motor 70 to the spool 90. The motor 70 is housed in the back of the housing 10 and held up by supports. It is connected to a drive shaft 75 which connects the motor 70 with the drive gear 76. The drive gear 76 is attached the transfer gear 80.
The transfer gear 80 has a dual gear system with two gears sizes attached which is attached to the transfer gear axis 81 supported by gear supports 83 and 81. The transfer 80 transfers the rotations from the drive gear 76 to the spool gear 95. This is done in the preferred embodiment having an outer gear 80 that is meshed and driven by the drive gear 76 and an inner gear 84 that meshes with and rotates the spool gear 95 although any method that transfers the movement from the motor 70 to the spool 90 can be used
The motor 70 and the gears are multi-directional so that the spool 90 can release and pull in the ski tow rope 50. The spool 90 is removable so that the tow rope 50 can be attached to it or replaced when need be.
The tow ski rope 50 will have a knot or attachment means 60 to attached to the ski bar and also to prevent the ski tow rope 50 from being retracted into the spool 90 as it will be stopped at the guide member 30.
As a safety function, the ski tow 1 will not work if the lid 20 is removed. There will be a circuit breaker that will cut the power to the motor 70.
Assuming that the rope 50 has been secured to the spool 90 and wound completely thereon, the rope 50 may be manually unwound by exerting a small force on the end of the rope 50. The spool 90 will have a slight drag due to the rotation of the gear train, however, the drag is not sufficient to retard the unwinding of the rope. As a general rule, a ski rope 50 is approximately 75 feet in length and formed of nylon or other suitable plastic.
The guide member 81 will position the rope 50 perpendicular, or at an angle of approximately 90 with respect to the axis of the spool 90. This will assure that the rope 50 will remain in proper alignment with the guide member 45 which guide member, through the action of the plunger 67, will axially space the rope 29 on the spool 90, thus it will be seen that the entire rope can be wound or stored in a relatively small case.
At the close of the day or at the conclusion of the water skiing, it is desirable to reel in the entire length of the rope, whereby the remaining 10 or 12 feet is wound by turning the switch 110 which will re-energize the motor and the remaining portion will be wound on the spool 90. A knot 60 is disposed adjacent the end of the rope, and the knot 60 being larger than the Opening in the grommet 101 will open the normally closed switch 95 when the knot comes in contact with the grommet, thus breaking the holding circuit to the coil 127 which will de-energize the motor 70.
The ski tow 1 will have the ability to be remotely controlled. The ski tow will have a control box 100 with the remote control circuits. There will be a on and off switch 120, a wireless connection 110 and power source 130 as shown in
The ski tow 1 in the preferred embodiment, will have five models or settings allowing any rope to meet all the skier's needs. The top will advance thee skier with continuous slalom without a need to stop the boat to a manually shorten the rope as it is performed automatically. The settings are novice, national, master, Sunday skier and pro. The ski tow rope 50 can be also remotely controlled so that officials of a skiing event and control the ski rope.
The user can stop or start the ski tow 1 at any time during manual recall of the ski tow rope 50. The ski tow 1 can pull a skier closer to the boat while the boat is stopped.
The ski tow 1 is portable and can be easily mounted to any watercraft regardless of the size. It is removable so it is not connected to a single boat. In the preferred embodiment, the ski tow 1 is attached with the use of a conventional T-post adapter.
In the preferred embodiment, the ski tow 1 would have a disengagement level 37 that extend from the back of the base 10. As shown in
The ski tow 1 is an improvement over the prior art. For Slalom, the ski tow has a a larger motor 70 as well as steel gears. The ski tow 1 has a larger spool 90 than a ski tow used for standard water skiing.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the point and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.
As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided. With respect to the above description, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
