Ships – Sail or control means therefor – Specific sail structure or arrangement
Patent
1996-02-20
1998-10-27
Basinger, Sherman
Ships
Sail or control means therefor
Specific sail structure or arrangement
114103, B63H 906
Patent
active
058265309
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a wing sail to be held by hand and intended for sailing on snow or ice and in suitable terrain conditions. More precisely, the invention relates to a handheld wing sail to be used preferably for sailing on ice and snow, which wing sail comprises a sailcloth or the like supported on frame portions, the frame portions comprising two mast tubes positioned in a V shape and defining a nose angle between themselves, a boom located in the area between the mast tubes and connected to each mast tube by means of supporting tubes, which are at one end fastened to the boom by means of a connection member and at the other end to the respective mast tubes by means of connection means, and a traverse tube joining the mast tubes together and fastened to the mast tubes by means of connection pieces.
The field of use of the wing sail according to the invention is preferably other than water. The sail is preferably used when moving on ice on skis or skates. Ice sailing by means of a wing sail and skis is a new demanding sport, making great technical demands on the wing sail. On hard ice, for instance, speeds of 50 to 90 km/h can be achieved. The wing sail must take a balanced driving position by itself and must not begin to sway in an uncontrolled manner, for instance. The sailer shall have an immediate and firm hold on the rig so that he "feels" its movements in his hands all the time and can coordinate the movements of the wing and his own movements according to the circumstances. This makes special demands on the structure and geometry of the rig.
An essential structural feature of known kite-like sailing rigs intended for sailboards and other light sailing equipments is a frame originally planned for sailing on water. Small rigs have been developed, in which wind power can be used in the same way as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,800 relating to a sailboard rig, with the difference that kite rigs can be held also in the horizontal position during sailing. One objective of kite rig constructions has been to achieve a controlled flight of sailboards by means of a symmetric, relatively small rig utilizing wind buoyancy, and accordingly, by means of a small sail area.
From Patent Application WO 87/03553 of Thomas A. Magruder and German Offenlegungsschrift 3 222 756 A1 of Georg Hamann are known wing-like sail constructions, which are fastened to a sailboard by means of a mast. U.S. Pat. No. 4 382 417 of Harri Talve discloses a planar symmetric wing construction to be mounted to rest on the mast of the craft. From WO 90/13477 of Alan D. Ryon is known a symmetric rig construction also supported on the mast of the craft. A similar sailing equipment for sailing on snow or water skis is known from the Application WO 86/00590 of Robert N. Keller. All five last-mentioned wing sail solutions require that they are supported on the craft by a mast bearing their weight.
Symmetric sailing rigs to be held merely by hand are described for example in European Patent Application 82108870 of James R. Drake and Ulrich Stanciu, Published Application 0076954, and in Finnish Patent Application 0823813 of Roland Claude Le Bail. Each hand-held wing-like sail construction known from the above-mentioned publications allows the whole rig to sail soaring, having overcome its weight upon achieving a sufficient speed. The sailing rig disclosed in European Published Application 0076954 is suitable both for being mounted onto a mast and for being held merely by hand. Since the boom of the last-mentioned rig is straight and the supporting tubes are positioned in the rear in such a way that they are not suitable for being used as handles, sailing properties and balance are not very good. In addition, the rig is not easy to disassemble for transport. The sail construction according to Finnish Patent Application 823812 is not easy to disassemble for transport. The long supporting tubes of the sail construction make the structure heavy. Further, the tips of the sail construction are in use prone to breakag
REFERENCES:
patent: 2329220 (1943-09-01), Rummler
patent: 3487800 (1970-01-01), Schweitzer
patent: 4269133 (1981-05-01), Brown
patent: 4382417 (1983-05-01), Talve
patent: 4651665 (1987-03-01), Drake
Fogelholm Carl-Magnus
Tuurna Sami
Basinger Sherman
OY Skywings AB
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