Marine vessel for passengers, vehicular traffic or freight

Ships – Displacement-type hull – Multiple hulls

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

C114S274000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06729258

ABSTRACT:

This invention relates to a trimaran construction and, in particular, to a construction which is adapted to be used in large sized vessels but which is not restricted to these. Some large sized vessels to which the invention is applicable are those which are used for vehicular and other freight and passenger ferries. In this specification, we shall refer to ferries but it is to be understood that this is purely exemplary.
Historically, ferries were mono-hull vessels and whilst these were satisfactory as far as stability and power usage was concerned, they suffered from the disadvantage of having a restricted beam, and thus carrying capacity.
More recently many ferries have been of a catamaran construction which provide good transverse stability, enhanced carrying capacity because of the spacing between the two hulls with a large portion of the load being carried between the hulls and limited drag because the two hulls can be made relatively narrow.
However, whilst having good transverse stability, catamarans are very ‘stiff’ which can be uncomfortable in beam seas. Also the ride control, which is often fitted to such vehicles has to produce large forces to reduce the motions.
The object of the present invention is to provide a trimaran construction which has benefits over both mono-hulls and catamarans.
The invention in its broadest sense comprises a trimaran vessel having a central hull and two outer hulls each small and of less draft compared to the central hull, the arrangement of the vessel being such that the draft of the vessel lessens when the vessel is moving at speed due to dynamic lift developed by the movement and whereby because of the change in draft the outer hulls have little if any effect on buoyancy of the vessel when moving at speed.
In this specification, the term ‘moving at speed’ indicates that the vessel is being driven at a speed sufficient to develop the lift which is required to satisfy the characteristics required by the invention.
It is preferred that the vessel has at least one lifting surface which provides the necessary lift to lessen the draft when the vessel is moving at speed.
The arrangement may be that when the vessel is moving at speed, the hydrodynamic lift provided by the lifting surface(s) is equivalent to the loss of buoyancy provided by the central and the outer hulls.
It may be preferred that there is provided at least one foil or the like to provide the lifting surface.
Alternatively, the lifting surface may be provided by making the central hull, at least, a planing hull.
In practice, the outer hulls are small relative to the central hull and provide, at rest only a small portion of the total buoyancy of the vessel.
In a preferred aspect of the invention the side hulls have stepped profiles which assist in further reducing drag.
In order that the invention may be more readily understood we shall describe, in relation to the accompanying drawings, a particular form of trimaran made in accordance with the invention.


REFERENCES:
patent: 2375973 (1945-05-01), Cooper et al.
patent: 3995575 (1976-12-01), Jones, Jr.
patent: 4348972 (1982-09-01), Parsons
patent: 4582011 (1986-04-01), Logan
patent: 4907518 (1990-03-01), Tunis, III
patent: 4915048 (1990-04-01), Stanford
patent: 5191853 (1993-03-01), Adler
patent: 5235925 (1993-08-01), Farrier
patent: 5529009 (1996-06-01), Faury et al.
patent: 5653189 (1997-08-01), Payne
patent: 0290170 (1988-11-01), None
patent: 648668 (1993-10-01), None
patent: WO 91/08944 (1991-06-01), None
patent: WO 93/12970 (1993-07-01), None
patent: WO 97/31816 (1997-09-01), None

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Marine vessel for passengers, vehicular traffic or freight does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Marine vessel for passengers, vehicular traffic or freight, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Marine vessel for passengers, vehicular traffic or freight will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3225855

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.