Ships – Sail or control means therefor – Specific sail structure or arrangement
Patent
1991-04-02
1993-03-09
Basinger, Sherman
Ships
Sail or control means therefor
Specific sail structure or arrangement
114108, 114112, B63H 908
Patent
active
051918510
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an arrangement for those sails which are provided with battens in accordance with what is stated in the preamble of Patent claim 1. It relates in particular to those battens which are found on the mainsail of a Bermuda rig, i.e. in the most common rig type in sailing boats for leisure use and regatta purposes.
In the said type, battens, i.e. rods inserted in pockets in the sail, are used to increase the rigidity of the sail and to prevent it from flapping. A more advanced use is the use of the battens to control the bellying of the sail by means of the battens being tensioned so that they bend and create a belly in the sail which can be controlled by means of this tensioning and permits an increase in its degree of efficiency in certain winds. For this to be achieved, the battens must extend across the whole width of the sail, so-called full-battening, and one end of the batten must have a fixed support while the other end rests against a displaceable support, so that the degree of tensioning of the batten can be varied.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Arrangements are previously known by means of which a batten can be given different degrees of tensioning. Certain arrangements are relatively primitive and use cords or ropes but do not have actual fittings, for which reason they are difficult to handle and are timeconsuming, and their securing function is of limited reliability. In other known arrangements there is a fitting, but this is attached separately to the sail, and its function is therefore dependent on the movements of the canvas, which results in less satisfactory control of the securing of the batten. In addition, known arrangements are often designed in such a way that the securing arrangement for the batten is located on the rear edge of the sail, which makes access difficult, and the arrangement can moreover catch in the stay and shroud.
The aim of the present invention is to provide an arrangement for securing a batten, which arrangement is situated close to the mast and is satisfactorily controlled by means of the latter and can, in addition, be combined with those arrangements for securing of the sail which are necessary in any case.
Another aim is to provide an arrangement which secures the batten very reliably and permits a rapid and reliable tensioning of the latter in the desired position.
A further aim is to provide an arrangement which does not interfere with the other rig functions, but permits an unimpeded hoisting and lowering of the sail and the necessary movement of the latter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
An embodiment of the arrangement is shown in the attached drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic side view of a mainsail in a Bermuda rig, which sail is provided with battens which are intended to be secured with the aid of the arrangement according to the invention;
FIG. 2 shows, on an enlarged scale, a cutaway of the arrangement according to the invention in a section designated II--II in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 shows a side view of the arrangement on the same scale as the cutaway in FIG. 2 and seen in the same viewing direction as in FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 shows a mast 1 with a boom 2 and a sail 3. The sail is connected to the mast by means of a number of track slides 4 which run in a groove in the mast and permit hoisting and reefing of the sail. Running across the sail from its fore edge close to the mast to its free aft edge are a number of pockets 5 which enclose battens, that is to say rods of a hard, resilient material such as reinforced plastic. These battens are designated by 6 in the following figures.
According to FIG. 1 the battens 6 start from a number of track slides 4 which are specially designed for connection to those ends of the battens facing towards the mast, in the manner which emerges from the following description. In the cutaway in FIG. 2, the mast 1 is shown in section. It is assumed to be made of extruded light metal and has a groove 8 with an opening 9 which is directed
REFERENCES:
patent: 1695674 (1928-12-01), Wilson
patent: 1829413 (1931-10-01), Kozlay
patent: 4649848 (1987-03-01), Belvedere
patent: 4823720 (1989-04-01), Foster
Basinger Sherman
Rutgerson Marin AB
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