AUSTRALIA Patents Act COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (ORIGINAL) Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: Name of Applicant: Alstom Actual Inventor(s): Yann Gourier Address for Service and Correspondence: PHILLIPS ORMONDE & FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Invention Title: A SYSTEM FOR STOWING AND FOR LAUNCHING A LIFE RAFT Our Ref: 738387 POF Code: 375552/353683 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): 600-q 2 Those systems suffer from the drawback of being relatively complex mechanically, and thus of suffering from a risk of malfunctioning and of blending in poorly with the structures of the ship, thereby giving rise to 5 major loss of space and to problems of unattractive appearance depending on the type of ship. The above discussion of background art is included to explain the context of the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any of the documents or 10 other material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in Australia at the priority date of any one of the claims of this specification. Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the word "comprise" and variations of that 15 word, such as "comprising" and "comprises" are not intended to exclude other additives, steps or integers. A desirable outcome of the invention is to provide a system that is mechanically simple and reliable and that blends attractively with the structures of the ship. 20 To this end, the invention provides a stowage and launching system for stowing and for launching a life raft of a ship, the stowage and launching system comprising: a compartment presenting a side opening equipped with at least one pivotally mounted wall mounted to pivot relative 25 to the compartment, about a first substantially horizontal hinge that is positioned at the bottom edge of said wall, between a closed position in which the compartment is closed and a launching open position in which the compartment is open and in which the raft can be launched; 30 and, inside the compartment, a cradle suitable for receiving at least one life raft; the cradle is mounted to pivot relative to the compartment, about a second substantially horizontal hinge, between a stowage position in which the raft is stowed and a launching SPEC-739397.doc 2a position, the cradle and the wall defining a sloping guide chute for guiding the raft solely under the action of gravity, when they are in the launching position. According to other characteristics of the system of 5 the invention: - it further comprises an unlocking device for unlocking the wall from its closed position; - it further comprises a device for causing the wall to be pushed by the cradle from its closed position to its 10 launching position; 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 SPEC.733I7.doc 3 - it further comprises thrust means for pushing the wall from its closed position to an intermediate position in which it is substantially in alignment with the cradle, and securing means for securing the wall, in the 5 intermediate position, to the cradle, such that the cradle pivoting towards its launching position causes the wall to pivot towards its launching position; - the thrust means comprise at least one actuator system positioned between the cradle and the wall; 10 - the securing means comprise at least one abutment positioned on the bottom edge of the wall; - the second hinge is secured to the cradle; - the first and second hinges are positioned on a common horizontal axis; 15 - it further comprises an actuator system for pushing the cradle from its stowage position towards its launching position, which actuator system is interposed between the cradle and the compartment; - it further comprises a gas accumulator connected 20 to the actuator system; - it further comprises a latch for striking the gas accumulator, said latch having a hydrostatic holding system; - it further comprises a latch for striking the 25 pyrotechnic cartridge, said latch having a hydrostatic holding system; and - the cradle is provided with side chocks for holding the raft; The invention also provides a ship including 30 bulwarks and a stowage and launching system, the ship being characterized in that the pivotally mounted wall of the compartment is included in the bulwarks of the ship. The invention will be better understood on reading the following description given merely by way of example 35 and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 4 Figure 1 is a section view of a ship having systems of the invention; Figure 2 is an elevation view of an embodiment of the invention in its stowage position; 5 Figure 3 is an elevation view of the same embodiment of the invention in its launching position; Figure 4 is an elevation view of another embodiment of the invention in its stowage position; Figure 5 is an elevation view of said other 10 embodiment of the invention in an intermediate position; and Figure 6 is an elevation view of said other embodiment in its launching position. As shown in Figure 1, in its superstructure, a ship 15 includes systems of the invention for stowing and launching life rafts. As shown in Figure 2, the invention includes a compartment 1 which, in general, is part of the structure of the ship and is secured thereto or integral therewith. 20 The compartment 1 includes a frame 2 that is stationary relative to the remainder of the structure of the ship. The frame includes a vertical wall 2A facing inboard, and a bottom 2B. The wall 2A is preferably equipped with an access system (not shown) providing 25 access for crewmembers. A side opening 2C for launching the life raft is defined by the compartment 1. Said opening 2C faces outboard. A second wall 3 facing outboard is provided for the purpose of closing off the opening 2C. Said wall 30 3 is a moving wall that is mounted to pivot relative to the compartment 1 about a horizontal hinge 4, positioned on the bottom edge of said wall 3. Said hinge 4 makes it possible for the wall 3 to pivot outboard through a maximum of 1800 between a closed and raised position 35 shown in Figure 2 and a launching lowered position shown in Figure 3.
5 The moving wall 3 is advantageously integrated into the bulwarks of the ship, as shown in Figure 1. A conventional locking device 5 holds the wall 3 in place. 5 A cradle 6 for supporting and holding a life raft 7 is installed in said compartment 1. Said raft 7 is in the conventional form of a cylinder that, on hitting the water, opens into two halves so as to release an inflatable dinghy. 10 The cradle 6 is equipped with chocks 7A suitable for holding the raft 7 on the cradle. The cradle 6 is mounted to be tiltable relative to the compartment 1 about a hinge 8 having a horizontal axis. Said hinge is fixed to the compartment 1 and is 15 situated in the vicinity of the hinge 4 of the pivotally mounted wall 3. The hinge 8 makes it possible to pivot the cradle between a stowage lowered position shown in Figure 2 and a raft-launching raised position shown in Figure 3. The hinge is suitable for allowing tilting 20 through greater than 200 which is the standard amount of list to be taken into account for life-saving systems. In practice, the tilting is preferably through greater than 450. In its stowage position, the cradle 6 stands 25 parallel to the bottom 2B of the compartment, held firstly by the hinge 8 and secondly by a pneumatic actuator system 9 installed between the cradle and the bottom of the compartment. This actuator system 9 is itself connected to a gas 30 generator system 11 such as a nitrogen accumulator via a trigger latch connected to a hydrostatic system 12 that is well known to the person skilled in the art. Operation of the system of the invention is described below with reference to Figure 2, in which the 35 system is in the stowage position, and to Figure 3, in which the system is in the launching position.
6 When the life raft does not need to be used, the system is in the position shown in Figure 2. The moving wall 3 closes the compartment. It is held in place by the locking device 5. The cradle 6 is in a substantially 5 horizontal position, the raft 6 being held on said cradle under its own weight via the chocks 7A, optionally supplemented by removable strapping (not shown). When it is necessary to launch the raft, the locking system 5 releases the moving wall 3. 10 The actuator system 9 then pushes the cradle 6 so that it pivots about its hinge 8. After it has been unlocked, the moving wall 3 is caused to pivot by the raft 7 which, as the cradle 6 pivots, pushes the wall 3 until it swings open. 15 The cradle 6 extended by the wall 3 thus form a launching chute for the raft as shown in Figure 3. Once any strapping holding the raft 7 has been removed, said raft slides off its cradle, solely under gravity, and slides and/or rolls down the launching chute 20 towards the sea. Since the system of the invention is mechanically very simple, high operating reliability is guaranteed. In a variant shown in Figures 4, 5, and 6, the hinge 4 and the hinge 8 are positioned on the same horizontal 25 axis. But it is also possible to position the hinge 8 secured to the cradle 6. An actuator system 15 is installed between the cradle 6 and the moving wall 3. In addition, the moving wall 3 has an abutment 16 on its bottom edge. 30 In this type of embodiment, the pivotally mounted wall 3 pivots through about 1350 outwards from the ship so that the abutment 16 comes into contact with the cradle 6. The wall 3 is thus substantially in alignment with the cradle 6. 35 The actuator system 15 has two functions in this movement. Firstly, it takes part in pivoting the wall 3 until, after going beyond the vertical, said wall is 7 driven under its own weight. Secondly, at the end of the movement, said actuator system damps the pivoting of the wall 3, and participates in securing the cradle 6 and the wall 3 together to form an integral unit. 5 The system is then in the position shown in Figure 5, the cradle 6 and the moving wall 3 forming an integral unit. The actuator system 9 then pushes the cradle 6, thereby driving the wall 3 towards the launching position as shown in Figure 6. 10 In another variant, the cradle 6 is equipped with a mechanical device 13 of the abutment or actuator type suitable for bearing against and pushing the wall 3 so as to cause it to pivot when the cradle pivots. Compared with the initial embodiment, this offers the advantage of 15 not generating any stress on the life raft 7. In addition, in order to guarantee that it operates under all circumstances, the thrust actuator 9 is fed by the pressurized gas accumulator 11. The gas is then released when necessary by the accumulator being struck 20 by the latch which, at rest, is held in place by the hydrostatic system 12. It us also possible to replace the gas accumulator with a pyrotechnic charge 11 whose combustion generates a gas for feeding the actuator. 25 In a variant, after unlocking, the moving wall 3 pivots under the action of its own weight about the axis of the hinge 4 so as to reach its launching lowered position when the configuration of the ship and in particular of the bulwark and when the overall center of 30 gravity so permit. Since the bulwarks in ships are often in zones that are little used or unused, installing systems of the invention in the bulwarks makes it possible to optimize use of the spaces of the ship. And since the moving wall 35 3 is designed to be integrated into the bulwarks, this makes it possible to hide the rafts and to protect the 8 system from the elements, thereby increasing its reliability.