Ships – Sail or control means therefor – Sail assembly freely held by rider
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-01
2001-06-26
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Ships
Sail or control means therefor
Sail assembly freely held by rider
Reexamination Certificate
active
06250241
ABSTRACT:
The present invention refers to a supporting frame for a hand-supported sailing rig in accordance with the preamble of claim
1
and a sailing rig provided with such a supporting frame.
A sailing rig with such a supporting frame is also termed “wingsail” and can for example be used by ice skaters or roller skaters who use this sailing rig in a manner similar to a wind surfer so that they can use wind force for propulsion.
Such a known rig is for example disclosed in the PCT application Wo 95/05973. In the case of this known solution, the rig comprises a supporting frame with two mast tubes which are positioned against each other like an arrow in the rigged state and which are connected via a joint device. At each end section of the two mast tubes, elastic extensions are formed which act similar to a batten in order to stretch the sail. For holding the sail, a cross bar is coupled in the joint area between the two mast tubes, which extends from the joint device to the trailing edge of the sail. The cross bar is supported via V-shaped supports at the respective mast tube. The free end section of the cross bar is connected with the trailing edge for stretching the sail.
This sailing rig is held by the ice skater or the roller skater without support so that the holding forces to be exerted by the user are relatively high.
A further disadvantage of the known structure is to be seen in the circumstance that the supporting structure for supporting the cross bar and the coupling of the cross bar and the connection of the two mast tubes by means of the joint device necessitates a large expense in terms of device technology since a large number of components, such as for examples coupling sleeves and joint connections, have to be provided in order to couple these components with the necessary rigidity. The complexity of the structure also necessitates some practise and time for bringing the known sail from the folded transport state to the ready-to-sail state.
From EP 0152306B1 a rig for skies is known which are provided with receptacles for the mast ends. Such a construction is not provided for the use with ice skates or roller skates.
In contrast, it is the object underlying the invention to provide a sailing rig and a supporting frame for a hand-supported sailing rig which can be easily handled under a minimum of expense in terms of device technology.
This object is attained in view of the supporting frame by the features of claim
1
and as regards the sailing rig by the features of claim
15
.
In the supporting frame according to the invention, the end sections of a mast are provided with support means so that the rig can be supported during sailing on the foot, the ice skate or the roller skate or somewhere else on the user and thus, the holding force does not have to be completely exerted by the arms of the user. The support via one of the two end sections also allows it in a simple way to fend off gusts of wind since it is only the hand which is closer to the trailing edge which has to be released so that the rig can blow about an axis running through the support point and thus no extensive wind pressure is transmitted, which can lead to a fall in unfavourable cases. Since the support occurs at the body of the user, no receptacles have to be provided at the ice skates or at other sporting devices.
It is preferred to form the U- or V-shaped structure of the mast by a middle section with subsequent curved end portions. Although the end portions have a certain inherent elasticity, they can still have about the same flexural strength as the middle portion of the mast.
A particularly good flow acting on the rig is achieved when the middle section is curved in the shape of a circular arc with the radius of curvature of the middle section being larger than that of the two end sections. Naturally, other geometries of curvature, such as for example elliptical curvatures, etc. can be provided instead of a circular arc-shaped curvature of the end portions and the middle portion.
A particularly easy stretching of the sail and a safe handling of the sailing rig can be achieved when the holding means is designed with two V-shaped boom struts meeting at the trailing edge. These boom struts are coupled with the middle section of the mast with their front ends which are distant from the trailing edge. The V-shaped structure of the holding means enables the user to hold the rig below the sail's pressure point so that the top of the sail is pushed away from the skater by the pressure of the wind and the mast is pressed against the body with its support means and thus an optimum three-point-support of the rig is guaranteed.
In order to allow folding of the sailing rig, the middle section is provided with a joint device which divides said middle portion into an upper and a lower mast middle portion. A particularly stable joint device with a simple structure is obtained when said joint device comprises a base portion which is coaxially arranged in relation to the mast and has two spaced joints at which the first mast middle portion and the second mast middle portion are coupled.
Alternatively to the joint device, the division of the mast can also be realised by an inserted connection or a similar structure.
The support in the ready-to-sail state is particularly stable when the base portion has a supporting shell at each end section, which overlaps with the respective allocated mast middle portion so that said portion is supported by the supporting shell.
The back end portions of the boom strut are advantageously connected with each other such as to be disconnectable.
The storing space needed for the folded sail is minimal when the two end portions are likewise coupled with the middle section of the mast such as to be disconnectable.
The sailing rig can be handled in a particularly easy manner when a supporting strut is arranged at each of the free ends of the mast, said supporting strut extending away from the mast. Said supporting strut can then, for example, be supported on the instep of the user's foot.
At the end section distant from the mast of the holding means, an end fitting is provided which allows stretching of the sail's trailing edge.
The swivelling axis of the joint device and the coupling of the boom struts at the mast are selected such that the mast portions and the boom struts are approximately parallel in the folded state.
The curvature and the length of the two mast end portions and optionally the mast middle section are preferably designed such that a connecting line between the two mast ends approximately intersects the sailns pressure point.
Further advantageous developments of the invention are the subject matters of further subclaims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3768832 (1973-10-01), Goldberg
patent: 4563969 (1986-01-01), Le Bail
patent: 5372081 (1994-12-01), Mayer
patent: 5448961 (1995-09-01), Antseensen
patent: 5826530 (1998-10-01), Tuurna et al.
patent: 32 15 668 (1982-04-01), None
patent: 29 00 681 (1982-04-01), None
patent: 32 08 340 (1982-09-01), None
patent: 0 152 306 (1985-08-01), None
patent: 0 152 306 B1 (1988-09-01), None
patent: 0 152 306 B1 (1988-11-01), None
patent: 2 464 881 (1981-03-01), None
patent: WO 82/03053 (1982-09-01), None
patent: WO 95/05973 (1995-03-01), None
Avila Stephen
Oliff & Berridge PLC.
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