Ships – Bitts – cleats – and pin rails
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-28
2001-11-27
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Ships
Bitts, cleats, and pin rails
C024S130000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06321674
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a cleat component that is lockable to a padeye to provide a cleat. More particularly, the invention is related to a cleat component that is mountable and lockable to a padeye while a locking member is attached to a body of the component, protruding therefrom in a locking position.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Sailboats typically employ horned cleats which permit lines, including running rigging such as a halyard, to be tied and secured quickly. Horned cleats generally have two horns extending in opposite directions from each other. The cleats are fixed to the boat, often on the walking surface of the deck, with the horns elevated from the surface. A line can be rapidly tied to the cleat by wrapping the line around the cleat beneath the horns and securing the line with a clove hitch, in which loop of the line is twisted and secured around one of the horns, forming a figure eight.
As typical cleats often protrude from the deck in high traffic areas, the cleats present a hazard as crew can easily stub their toes or trip, or the cleat can catch a sail, tearing it if the wind is strong. Several solutions to this problem are known. For instance, spring loaded, retractable cleats, such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,694, are known that are depressible to a position in which they are flush with the deck. Folding cleats are also known, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,355, which fold to a position flush with the deck.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,339,034 teaches a mooring bit with a grooved pin that fits into a lateral opening in a body that is held firmly to a sailboat deck. The body is rounded with sloped sides and has a rounded stop member which is spring biased into the groove of the pin such that the pin may be snapped into place in the body. To render the mooring bit non-fouling, the pin can be pulled out from the opening, and sheets and lines passing across the body will not be caught on the rounded body contour. Once the pin is removed, however, the lines can no longer be attached effectively to the body because the disclosed body opening is narrow and has sharp edges that would tend to fray a line.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,336 teaches an adjustable cleat which is rockable with respect to a base that is secured to a boat deck. Flanges of the cleat extend downwardly about a boss of the base. A capscrew extends through the flanges and the boss to permit the cleat to rock thereabout. Similarly to the '034 patent, if the cleat were removed from the base, the remaining hole would not provide an effective structure around which to tie a line. In addition, as the cleat is not easily separable from or replaceable on the base.
In some sailboats, padeyes have replaced horned cleats. Typically, padeyes are made from hardened steel and have a base that is boltable to a boat deck and which is fixed to a semiannular bale with a rounded cross section to prevent snagging a line that passes across the padeye, and to prevent fraying a line passed through the bale. Since padeyes lack horns, they are smaller obstacles to crew moving about the deck when compared to horned cleats, reducing the risk of tripping or toe stubbing.
Lacking horns, however, lines cannot be tied to padeyes as quickly as to horned cleats. An end or a portion of a line must by passed through the opening in the bale in order to secure the line. Alternatively, a shackle, such as a snap shackle, can be spliced to the line to permit a more rapid attachment to the padeye, albeit by foregoing the ability to vary the position along the line to be secured.
Padeyes are normally positioned at the bow and stern of sailboats, and centrally along the sides of the deck. It is desirable to have horned cleats at these locations when a rapid line tying is required, as loads of more than 1000 lbs can be created on rough days in 35-50 ft. sailboats. Thus, a cleat component is needed that is readily attachable to and detachable from a padeye to provide a horned cleat.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a cleat component that is attachable to a standard padeye to provide a cleat. The invention is also related to the combination of the component and the cleat. The component includes a cleat body with first and second elongated cleat horns that extend in substantially opposite directions. A locking member is attached to the body and protrudes therefrom in a locking position. At least one of the body and the locking member is receivable in an opening in the padeye bale. The body is mountable to the bole while the locking member is attached to the body, and the body is lockable to the bale when the locking member is in the locking position. Together, the padeye and attached cleat component provide a readily available cleat around which a line may be tied rapidly.
In a preferred embodiment, the locking member is mounted to the body for movement from an unlocked position to the locking position. The component is separable from the bale when the locking member is in the unlocked position. Less than a full rotation of the locking member with respect to the body is required to move the locking member from the unlocked to the locking position. Also, to keep the body from excessively twisting axially when locked to the padeye, a base surface of the body has edges spaced from each other to limit any such axial rotation.
The locking member preferably has an end exposed for abutting a line tied around the component and the padeye between the horns and a mounting surface to which the padeye is attached. The line thus retains the locking member in the locking position.
In a preferred embodiment, the first horn is receivable through the bale. The body includes a recessed portion disposed between the first and second horns and configured for receiving the bale. The locking member is configured and dimensioned for displacing the recessed portion of the body against the bale when in the locking position to retain the first horn in attachment with the bale. In this embodiment, the locking member is movable through the bale between the body and the padeye, from the unlocked to the locking position. The locking member has a wedge shape that tapers towards an end of the first horn and is configured for variably biasing the first horn against the bale. The first horn has a first bottom edge, at least a portion of which is locatable closer to the mounting surface than the bottom edge of the second horn. This permits a line to wedge the first horn upwardly against the bale.
In a similar embodiment, a spring is disposed for biasing the locking member with respect to the body towards the locking or unlocked positions. The body may be pressed against the locking member to unlock the body from the bale.
Suitable manners of mounting the locking member to the body include mounting the locking member slidably or rotatably for movement between the locking and unlocked positions. The locking member may also be fixed in the locking position. In one embodiment, the locking member is fixed protruding from the body adjacent the first horn by a distance sufficient to lock the body to the padeye in snapfit association therewith when the first horn and the locking member are biased through the bale.
In some embodiments, the locking member and the body are securable around a side of the bale when the locking member is in the locking position. For instance, in one embodiment, the first end is receivable through the bale, and the locking member is positionable around a leg of the bale in the locking position. In other embodiments, the body defines a slit configured to receive the bale, and the locking member in the locking position is receivable in the bale. In some embodiments, the locking member is fixable to the body in the locking position.
In one embodiment, the body is pivoted between the horns. The locking portion includes a first latch fixed to the first horn and a second latch fixed to the second horn. The latches are in the locking position when the horns are pivoted away from each other. The locking portion includes a first horn
Morano S. Joseph
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
Vasudeva Ajay
LandOfFree
Cleat component and padeye combination does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Cleat component and padeye combination, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cleat component and padeye combination will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2613542