Ships – Ballasting – Floats
Patent
1994-11-04
1996-05-14
Sotelo, Jesus D.
Ships
Ballasting
Floats
114219, B63B 4314
Patent
active
055158021
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a buoyancy device which is particularly but not necessarily exclusively suited to mounting on small craft such as row boats or dinghies for adding buoyancy and thus render them less likely to overturn or sink in the event of an accident.
DISCUSSION OF PRIOR ART
Many proposals have been put forward to provide reserve buoyancy for small craft. For example, it is common to construct the seats of rigid row boats and small power driven boats as water tight compartments. Non-rigid inflatable boats are also common. These are constructed of flexible material incorporating one or more watertight compartments into which air can be pumped through suitable valves. When inflated, the compartments become rigid enough to hold the boat in its designed shape and provide the necessary buoyancy to enable the boat to float. Boats have also been designed comprising rigid hulls to which tubes of flexible material are attached. The tubes can be inflated to provide buoyancy. An example of this latter construction is disclosed in international patent application #PCT/AU91/00207, now abandoned.
It would in principle be possible to attach one or more inflatable devices such as conventional fenders (or "bumpers" as they are called in the USA) to a boat so as to increase the buoyancy thereof. It would be logical to position such devices around the hull of the boat so as to spread the buoyancy evenly and ensure maximum stability. It would be natural to use tubular fenders for this purpose. It has however been found by the applicant that a conventional tubular fender or similar straight tubular device is not well suited to this purpose since the wall thereof has a tendency to kink when the device is pulled against the curved side of the hull in the process of being mounted. (Analogously, the tubes mounted on the boats disclosed in the above-mentioned international application #PCT/AU91/00207 are moulded to conform to the shaped of the hull to avoid kinking). On the other hand it is not economically feasible to provide a variety of tubular devices with different curvatures so that individual ones can be selected to fit particular hull shapes.
It is an object of the invention to provide a buoyancy device which can more readily take up a curved shape without kinking.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a buoyancy device comprising an inflatable shell having a resiliently deformable tubular wall including at least one zone located between two substantially cylindrical portions of said wall, in which zone the wall comprises segments which project inwardly from the periphery of said substantially cylindrical portions, characterised in that each segment is disposed about at least a part of the periphery of the shell and comprises a pan of maximum width on each side of which part the width of said segment diminishes progressively with increasing distance from the pan of maximum width.
In one aspect of the invention said substantially cylindrical portions are right circular cylindrical.
In another aspect of the invention each said segment comprises sub-segments each of which has the shape of pan of an annulus. In an alternative aspect of the invention each said segment is substantially crescent shaped.
According to a particular aspect of the invention said segments adjoin the respective substantially cylindrical portions adjacent their outer peripheries and are joined to each other adjacent their inner peripheries.
In one form of the invention the shell is provided with means for assisting mounting of the device on a support.
According to one aspect of the invention said pans of maximum width of said segments and said means for assisting mounting of the device on a support are located on opposite sides of the shell.
According to a particular aspect of the invention the means for assisting mounting of the device on a support comprise formations which are moulded integrally with the shell. Advantageously the formations comprise lugs provided with apertures fo
REFERENCES:
patent: 3026548 (1962-03-01), Dollinger
patent: 3498252 (1970-03-01), Peacock
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