EP3984874B1

EP3984874B1 - System for fastening one or more nautical accessories to the boom

Info

Publication number: EP3984874B1
Application number: EP21203080.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Maurizio Bisciotti
Original assignee: Bisciotti Giordano; Bisciotti Gloria
Current assignee: Bisciotti Giordano; Bisciotti Gloria
Priority date: 2020-10-19
Filing date: 2021-10-18
Publication date: 2024-05-01
Anticipated expiration: 2041-10-18
Also published as: EP3984874A1

Description

The present invention concerns a system for fastening one or more nautical accessories to the boom, such as for example boat awnings, the pocket which runs along the boom to fold the mainsail when lowering (also known by the English term "lazy-bag"), the cockpit lights, the bimini tops, i.e. a foldable structure constituted by steel tubes and tarps used to shade the cockpit, and further nautical accessories without having interference problems with each other or with running rigging such as the reef earing or other nautical accessories always present inside boats, such as for example, the lines for holding the mainsail in position when lowering (also known by the English term "lazy-jacks"), which are also used to hold the lazy-bags, the retaining belts of the mainsail clew and the like in position. It should be noted that the English terms set forth above, i.e. lazy-bag and lazy-jack, will be widely used herein and hereunder since now widely used worldwide and well known to the technician of the field.

KNOWN PRIOR ART

In boating, the use of nautical accessories, such as boat awnings, lazy-bags, lazy-jacks, bimini tops, the light for lighting the cockpit, is consolidated and numerous forms and methods are used to fasten these accessories to the boom of the boat. There are booms especially built with particular shapes, named "Park Avenue," which allow to easily use boat awnings, lazy-jacks, lazy-bags and bimini tops without interfering with running rigging such as the reef earing, the retaining belts of the mainsail clew, etc.
In the event of booms with traditional section profiles, these accessories are instead fastened to be boom separately from each other. The lazy-bags can be fastened through the channel present in the upper part of the boom or directly to the boom with possible serving. The lazy-jacks are directly fastened to the lazy-bags or boom. The boat awning and bimini tops are fastened to the lazy-bag with hinges, generally made of plastic or aluminum, or by positioning plastic profiles with one or more hoisting channels on a side of the boom. The cockpit lights, positioned in the lower part of the boom, are generally powered by electric cables which pass inside the boom and which often interfere with the various rigging inside the boom, in particular with the tackle of the mainsail base and the reefings.
The document DE202010014248U1 in the name of Kiesling Dieter describes a system for fastening nautical accessories to the boom of a boat.
Object of the present invention is thus to implement a system for fastening nautical accessories to the boom which allows to couple such nautical accessories to the boom itself in a quick and fast way.
Further object of the present invention is to implement a system for being able to safely fasten nautical accessories to the boom without having interferences with each other or with running rigging such as the reef earing, the lazy-jacks, the retaining belts of the mainsail clew, etc.
These and further objects are achieved by means of a system for fastening one or more nautical accessories to the boom, wherein said boom extends along a substantially horizontal axis and comprises an upper face and two side faces, said system comprising at least one first fastening device reversibly combinable with at least one side face of said boom, said at least one device comprising at least one profile extending along an axis parallel to said horizontal axis of said boom and provided with one or more outer hoisting channels and an inner through cavity, said fastening system being characterized in that said at least one device further comprises means for constraining said at least one profile to said boom, said constraining means cooperating with said profile inside said inner through cavity for constraining said at least one profile to said boom.
By means of such system, it is possible to be able to fasten nautical accessories to the boom in a quick, simple and safe way without thereby risking that such accessories can interfere with running rigging such as the reef earing, the lazy-jacks, the retaining belts of the mainsail clew and/or other lines present.
Still, said constraining means comprise at least one connector extending longitudinally along an axis parallel to said horizontal axis; said inner through cavity is so defined by two longitudinal side portions each having a free end and an outer upper portion comprising said one or more outer hoisting channels. The two side portions are at least partly combined, directly or indirectly, with said side face of said boom at the free ends and each comprise a guide for slidingly inserting said connector into said through cavity and locking the transverse translation of said at least one connector with respect to said profile.
Still, said constraining means comprise a plurality of screws, or nails, which act on said at least one connector in transverse direction with respect to said longitudinal axis for anchoring said at least one connector to said side face of said boom.
In particular, said connector has a "T" shaped cross section.
Moreover, said profile comprises an inner through hole apt to accommodate one or more electric cables. Preferably, said inner through hole is between two outer hoisting channels of said profile.
Still, at least one of said one or more outer channels is apt to restrain the longitudinal end of a boat awning and/or bimini top.
Advantageously, said profile and/or said at least one connector is/are made of metal, plastic or composite material or anyhow of a material resistant to salt and/or atmospheric agents.
Moreover, said first fastening device comprises at least one closing end piece for closing said profile; said closing end piece is slidingly combinable with said inner through cavity of said profile. Such closing end piece is used both to close the inner through cavity, thus preventing water infiltrations, and to make the presence of the fastening device for fastening to the boom aesthetically pleasing.
Moreover, said constraining means comprise at least two connectors spaced from each other by a given space; said two longitudinal side portions of said profile comprise, at the respective free end, at least one lowered region arranged at an identical cross section for said profile such as to define at least one passage channel to allow the passage of lines and/or webbings through said profile, said at least one passage channel being prearranged at said space between said at least two connectors.
Such solution allows the passage through the aforementioned channel of lines and/or webbings through said profile to tie and/or leave said boat awnings rolled-up on said boom or even to make the reef earing, the mainsail clews, the lazy-jacks or other lines and/or webbings pass through the aforementioned channel. Each passage channel is defined by two lowered regions arranged at the free ends of the two side portions of the profile, along an identical cross section of the profile, thus without touching the side face of the boom with which the profile is combined, thus allowing the passage of said lines and/or webbings into the channel.
According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the system comprises at least one further fastening device reversibly combinable with the side face of said boom, opposite the side face with which said fastening device is combined, at least one outer hoisting channel of said at least one profile of said fastening device and at least one outer hoisting channel of said at least one profile of said further fastening device being apt to restrain the longitudinal ends of the two walls of the lazy-bag inside which to replace the mainsail when furled.
The system can be mounted on new or already existing booms of different nature, such as aluminum, wood or composite. The present invention allows to mount boat awnings or bimini tops on the boom in a quick and safe way by means of one of the hoisting channels of the profile, without needing to untie the fixed or running rigging for the serving of the boom itself, such as the reef earing, the lazy-jacks, the locking belt of the mainsail clew, etc. With this solution, all sailboats will be able to be equipped with very useful accessories such as lazy-bags, lazy-jacks, boat awnings, bimini tops, which are very easy to mount and take apart, which are also usable when sailing and which can be left rolled-up on the boom itself. With this device, it is possible to position one or more watertight LED lights to make the cockpit very livable without risking that the electric power cable can get damaged or become tangled inside the boom with the rigging and tackles of the outhaul and reefing. In fact, the electric cables can pass through the inner through hole of the profile without thereby being touched or interfering with the elements present in the boat.
Several particular embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only and without limitations, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

figure 1 is an axonometric view of the boom and mainsail of a boat according to known art;
figure 2a is an axonometric view of the fastening system according to the invention, in which an end piece of the lazy-bag is combined with a hoisting channel of the profile;
figure 2b is a front view of the fastening system according to the invention;
figure 3 is an axonometric view of the fastening system according to the invention, in which an end of the boat awning is combined with an outer hoisting channel of the profile;
figure 4 is a more detailed axonometric view of the fastening system shown in figure 3;
figure 5 is an axonometric view of several connectors for connecting the profile to the boom of a boat, in which the first connector is partially shown in section;
figure 6a is a view of the profile of the fastening device according to the invention;
figure 6b is a detailed view of the profile of figure 6a;
figure 7 an axonometric view of the profile of the fastening device according to the invention, provided with two passage channels.

With particular reference to such figures, 1 denotes the generic fastening system according to the invention.
A solution of known art for fastening nautical accessories to the boom 100 of the boat is shown in figure 1. Such boom 100 has a traditional section, i.e. substantially rectangular, and comprises an upper face and two side faces. The lazy-bag 20 can be fastened through the channel (not visible in the figure) present in the upper part of the boom 100 or directly to the boom with possible serving. The lazy-jacks 320 are fastened directly to the lazy-bag 20, or to the boom 100 in further applications of known art not shown herein. The boat awning and bimini tops are fastened to the lazy-bag with hinges 230, generally made of plastic or aluminum, or by positioning plastic profiles 240 with one or more hoisting channels on a side of the boom. Moreover, the cockpit lights, positioned in the lower part of the boom, are generally powered by electric cables which pass inside the boom (not shown herein) and which often interfere with the various rigging or lines. This interference easily causes damage to the electric cable and the locking of the various rigging inside.
It is clear that such solution complicates the boat operations and increases the risks for the people aboard. Moreover, the plastic profiles 240 with one or more hoisting channels cannot be used since they would interfere with the rigging which involve the serving of the boom, like for example the reef earing, the retaining belt of the mainsail clew, the lazy-jack, thus making it necessary to untie these rigging such as to be able to ride boat awnings, bimini tops, and even other nautical accessories.
Moreover, the lazy-bag 20, fastened by means of a single hoist in the upper part of the boom 100, will have a very narrow and flat shape, especially when the lazy-jacks 320 are tightened, thus not allowing the mainsail 300 to fold up when lowering.
Still, both the plastic and aluminum hinges 230 used to connect the boat awnings to the lazy-bag 20 often lock or break, thus the fabric folds, making the help of a second person necessary for keeping the hinge itself straight and taut when closing. Such hinge can also suffer the action of the wind, thus reopening and causing the boat awning to come out. The profiles currently available on the market, generally with one channel, are made of plastic and are not very thick, and cannot thus be firmly fastened to the boom 100 since the screws have little resistance; often, the boat awning, especially in the event of strong wind, easily causes the breaking of the profile itself. In many cases, it is necessary to release the lazy-jacks 320 by placing them near the mast in order to mount the boat awning by passing it above the boom 100, a long and complicated operation.
The fastening system 1 for fastening nautical accessories 20 (see figures 2a and 2b), 30 (see figure 3), 40 (see figure 6b) and 50 (see figure 4) to the boom 100 according to the invention is shown in figure 2a, wherein the boom 100 extends along a substantially horizontal axis X and comprises an upper face 101 and two side faces 102, 103. Such system 1 for fastening one or more nautical accessories 20, 30, 40 and 50 to the boom 100 comprises a first fastening device 10 reversibly combinable with a side face 102 of the boom 100. Such device 10 comprises a profile 11 extending along an axis Y parallel to the horizontal axis X of the boom 100 and provided with two outer hoisting channels 12, 13 and an inner through cavity 14 (also see figures 6a and 6b). The device 10 further comprises means 15 for constraining the profile 11 to the boom 100. Such constraining means 15 (better visible in figure 5) cooperate with the profile 11 inside the inner through cavity 14 for constraining the profile 11 to the boom 100.
In the embodiment described herein, the profile 11 is 40 mm high, however, in other embodiments not shown herein, such height can also be higher or lower than 40 mm and, anyhow, always be higher than 10 mm.
In particular, such constraining means 15 comprise a plurality of connectors 16 extending longitudinally along an axis Z parallel to the horizontal axis Y. The inner through cavity 14 is defined by two longitudinal side portions 14a, 14b each having a free end 141a, 141b and an outer upper portion 14c comprising the two outer hoisting channels 12, 13. The two side portions 14a, 14b are directly combined with the side face 102 of the boom 100 in contact therewith at the free ends 141a, 141b and each comprise a guide 142a, 142b for slidingly inserting the connectors 16 into the through cavity 14 and locking the transverse translation, i.e. along an axis orthogonal to the longitudinal Z one, of the connector 16 with respect to the profile 11.
In particular, the constraining means 15 comprise a plurality of screws 17 which act on the connectors 16 in transverse direction with respect to the longitudinal axis Z and orthogonally to the face 102 for anchoring the connector 16 to the side face 102 of the boom 100.
As shown in figure 5, each connector 16 has a "T" shaped cross section. Moreover, as shown in figure 4, the profile 11 further comprises an inner through hole 35 able to accommodate a plurality of electric cables 40 for conducting electric power from one part of the boom 100 to the other without having "loose" electric cables. Such inner through hole 35 is arranged between the two channels 12 and 13.
Still, one channel 12 of the two outer channels 12 and 13 can be apt to restrain the longitudinal end 30a of a boat awning 30 (or bimini top) (see figure 3).
Advantageously, the profile 11 and the connectors 16 are made of aluminum resistant to salt and atmospheric agents. In further embodiments, the profile 11 and the connectors 16 could be made of another stainless metal, and/or of a composite material or plastic or other material without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention, as long as the materials used are resistant to salt and atmospheric agents and/or were treated to withstand to salt and/or atmospheric agents.
Always according to the invention, the fastening device 10 comprises a closing end piece 19 for the profile 11. Such closing end piece 19 is slidingly combinable with the inner through cavity 14 of the profile 11. Such closing end piece 19 is advantageously used both to close the inner through cavity 14 and/or also the inner through hole 35, thus preventing water infiltrations therein, and to make the presence of the fastening device 1 for fastening to the boom 100 aesthetically pleasing.
Still, said constraining means 15 comprise a plurality of connectors 16 spaced from each other by a given space S. The two longitudinal side portions 14a, 14b of the profile 11 in turn comprise, at the respective free end 141a, 141b, a plurality of lowered regions 143a, 143b (the lowered region 143a is not visible in the accompanying figures, but is in a position opposite the lowered region 143b). Each couple of lowered regions 143a, 143b is arranged at an identical cross section L for the profile 11 such as to define a passage channel 70 to allow the passage of at least one line and/or webbing 50 through the profile 11. Such passage channel 70 is prearranged just at the space S between the two consecutive connectors 16. The lines and/or webbings 50 can thus be tied around the mainsail 100 by passing inside the channel 70. The number of channels 70 and, thus, of couples of lowered regions 143a, 143b, can also be greater than one (for example two, as shown in figure 7), without thereby departing from the protection scope of the present invention. This way, multiple lines and/or webbings 50 can be comfortably tied to the mainsail without interfering with other nautical accessories or requiring additional operations for carrying out operations inside the boat.
The lowered region 143a is not shown in the accompanying figures, but is however identical to the lowered region 143b and is on the opposite part with respect to the longitudinal axis Y. The two lowered regions 143a and 143b, together with the cavity 14, thus form a channel 70 along the cross section L. The lowered regions 143a, 143b are obtained through milling operations of the profile 11.
Such solution allows the passage through the aforementioned channel 70 of lines and/or webbings through said profile 11 to tie and/or leave the boat awning 20 rolled-up on the boom 100 or to make the reef earing, the mainsail clews, the lazy-jacks or other lines and/or webbings pass.
Each passage channel 70 is defined by the two aforementioned lowered regions 143a, 143b arranged at the free ends 141a, 141b of the two side portions 14a, 14b of the profile 11, along an identical cross section L of the profile 11 and the boom itself 100. Thus, the space S between two consecutive connectors 16 is arranged inside the inner cavity 14, along the channel 70 in direction of the cross section L.
As shown in the embodiment described herein and better visible in figure 2b, the system 1 comprises a further fastening device 10', completely identical to the fastening device 10 and reversibly combinable with the side face 103 of the boom 100 opposite the side face 102 with which the fastening device 10 described above is combined. In an very advantageous way, an outer hoisting channel 12 of the profile 11 of the fastening device 10 and an outer hoisting channel 12' of the profile 11' of the further fastening device 10' are apt to restrain the longitudinal ends 201a, 201b of the two walls 20a, 20b of the lazy-bag 20 inside which to replace the mainsail 300 when furled.
For simplicity, the further fastening device 10' has the same numbering as that of the fastening device 10, but additionally has a superscript to distinguish it from the fastening device 10.
As shown in figure 2b, the further fastening device 10' is arranged along the boom 100 at the same height at which the fastening device 10 is arranged.
Such a solution favorably allows to widen the dimensions of the traditional lazy-bag and to thus house the mainsail 300 more easily.

Claims

System (1) for fastening one or more nautical accessories (20, 30, 40, 50) to a boom (100), wherein said boom extends along a substantially horizontal axis (X) and comprises an upper face (101) and two side faces (102, 103), said system comprising at least one first fastening device (10) reversibly combinable with at least one side face (102) of said boom (100), said at least one device (10) comprising at least one profile (11) extending along an axis (Y) parallel to said horizontal axis (X) of said boom and provided with one or more outer hoisting channels (12,13) and an inner through cavity (14), said system being characterized in that said at least one fastening device (10) further comprises means (15) for constraining said at least one profile (11) to said boom, said constraining means (15) cooperating with said profile (11) inside said inner through cavity for constraining said at least one profile to said boom.
System according to claim 1, characterized in that said constraining means (15) comprise at least one connector (16) extending longitudinally along an axis (Z) parallel to said horizontal axis (X), said inner through cavity (14) being defined by two longitudinal side portions (14a, 14b) each having a free end (141a, 141b) and an outer upper portion (14c) which comprises said one or more outer hoisting channels (12, 13), said two side portions being at least partly combined, directly or indirectly, with said side face of said boom at the free ends (141a, 141b) and each comprising a guide (142a, 142b) for slidingly inserting said at least one connector (16) into said through cavity (14) and locking the transverse translation of said connector (16) with respect to said profile.
System according to claim 2, characterized in that said constraining means comprise a plurality of screws (17), or nails, which act on said at least one connector (16) in transverse direction with respect to said longitudinal axis (Z) for anchoring said connector to said side face of said boom.
System according to one or more of claims 2 to 3, characterized in that said at least one connector (16) has a "T" shaped cross section.
System according to one or more of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said profile (11) comprises an inner through hole (35) apt to accommodate one or more electric cables (40).
System according to one or more of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that at least one of said one or more outer channels is apt to restrain the longitudinal end of a boat awning (30) and/or bimini tops.
System according to one or more of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that said profile and/or said connector is/are made of metal, plastic or composite material.
System according to one or more of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that said first fastening device (10) comprises at least one closing end piece (19) for closing said profile, said closing end piece being slidingly combinable with said inner through cavity (14) of said profile.
System according to one or more of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that said constraining means (15) comprise at least two connectors (16) spaced from each other by a given space (S), said two longitudinal side portions (14a, 14b) of said profile (14) comprising, at the respective free end (141a, 141b), at least one lowered region (143a, 143b) arranged at an identical cross section (L) for said profile such as to define at least one passage channel (70) to allow the passage of lines and/or webbings (50) through said profile, said at least one passage channel (70) being prearranged at said space (S) between said at least two connectors (16).
System according to one or more of claims 1 to 9, characterized by comprising at least one further fastening device (10') reversibly combinable with the side face (103) of said boom (100), opposite the side face (102) with which said fastening device (10) is combined, at least one outer hoisting channel (12) of said at least one profile (11) of said fastening device (10') and at least one outer hoisting channel (12') of said at least one profile (11') of said further fastening device (10') being apt to restrain the longitudinal ends (201a, 201b) of the two walls (20a, 20b) of the lazy-bag (20) inside which to replace the mainsail (300) when furled.
System according to claim 10, characterized in that said at least one further fastening device (10') is arranged along said mainsail at the same height at which said fastening device (10) is arranged.