GB1558784A - Wich - Google Patents

Description

(54) WINCH (71) We, BARWIN PTY. LIMITED, a company incorporated in the State of New South Wales, Commonwealth of Australia, of 52 Wentworth Avenue, Granville, Ncw South Wales, Commonwealth of Australia, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to winches, and more particularly to marine winches of the kind used to manipulate the sheets of sails or the like.It is known to construct marine winches having variable rotation speeds and in which, for example, a reduction gear is located so that a handle turned in a clockwise sense gives a low speed to a drum in a clockwise sense, whereas an opposite rotation gives said drum a high speed in a clockwise sense.

It is a problem when winding in a sheet with the aid of such a drum to be able to cleat said sheet (that is, hold it) and also be able to ease it as it comes off the drum, which is meanwhile being wound at either a high or low speed depending upon which direction of rotation is given to said handle.

Attempts have been made to solve this problem by simply having, in addition to the operator of the handle, an extra operator or tailer who secures and hauls in the spare end of the sheet and who, if necessary, pulls on the sheet and then when sufficient turns are on the drum for friction to hold the sheet temporarily, cleats the sheet so as to prevent it from sliding back around the drum, especially at those times when extra strain is put upon the sheet due to an increase in load imparted. for example, by a sail.

However, it is clearly a disadvantage to employ two operators to control the same winch, especially on board a racing yacht or the like where the weight factor is critical.

Further attempts to sove the problem have been made, for example, using a system which is the subject of U.S. Patent No.

3,343,809 wherein a disc-shaped member or pulley is provided with a groove completely around the periphery thereof. Tapered inner walls of the groove have semi-cylindrical recesses channeled out of the surfaces thereof. These recesses are spaced equidistant from each other. They are positioned transversely in respect to a shaft through the centre of the pulley. A power source is secured to said shaft for rotating the pulley.

A sheet engages with the recesses in the groove and follows an arcuate path around the major portion of the pulley. An idler wheel helps guide the sheet into the groove and a finger helps disengage the sheet from the recesses. A load attached to the end of the sheet is pulled in the direction of rotation of the pulley as it is driven by the power source.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-cleating winch which is capable of operation by a sole operator.

The invention consists in a winch comprises a drum rotatable about a substantially vertical axis by a handle, said drum having a chamfered flange at the top thereof and a stationary top plate mounted above said drum and a pair of contiguous friction discs flush-mounted coaxially with said drum and below said top plate and either being springloaded so as to be normally urged axially towards each other or being made of inherently resilient material, said drum and said discs being arranged so as to turn in unison when the handle is rotated, said top plate having an exit flute or guide formed in a depending peripheral extension thereof, whereby a sheet having turns thereof wound around said drum and caused by the rotation of said handle to have its turns compressed and forced up said chamfered flange is deflectable via said guide into the interspace between tapered edges of said discs to be jammed therebetween as the relative rotation of said discs with respect to said stationary top plate is arrested.

One embodiment of the invention defined in the preceding paragraph will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which similar references indicate corresponding parts, and in which: Figure 1 shows, in front elevation, the winch with its handle "exploded" therefrom, Figure 2 shows, in plan view from above, the winch with its handle removed, Figure 3 shows, in front elevation, a section along the line III--III of Figure 2, to an enlarged scale, fragmented for clarity to show only the upper part of the winch, Figure 4 shows, in elevation, a view of the guide from the side shown in Figure 1, Figure 5 shows, in elevation, a view of the guide from the side opposite that shown in Figure 1, Figure 6 shows said guide in front elevation Figure 7 shows said guide in rear elevation Figure 8 shows said guide in plan view from above, Figure 9 shows said guide in plan view from below, Figure 10 shows, in a cross-sectional view similar to that of Figure 3, a second embodiment of the winch wherein the lower friction disc is spring-loaded instead of the upper friction disc and, Figure 11 shows, in a cross-sectional view similar to Figures 3 and 10, a third embodiment of the winch wherein separate springloading is omitted in favour of inherently resilient discs.

Reference will now be made to Figures 1 to 9 of the drawings. The winch comprises a drum 12 which is caused to rotate by a handle 23 mounted on an upright axle 13 by splines 24 and 25. The axle 13 has a first spline 14, and friction discs 15 and 16 are movable longitudinally of the axle 13 by virtue of a second internal spline 17 movable along a co-acting external third spline 18 located on a sleeve 19, and of greater diameter than said first spline 14. The friction discs are normally urged together by a helical spring 20. The upper friction disc 16 has one internal spline 17 which fits about said third spline 18 and said sleeve 19 has a further internal spline 21 which engages the smaller external spline 14 upon said axle. The drum and friction discs rotate in unison, but a top plate 22 remains at rest when the handle 23 is turned.

Thus the sheet (not shown), as it is fed from the drum 12 via a guide 26 to the space between the friction discs 15 and 16, forces these two discs apart against a restoring force imparted by the spring 20, so that the upper friction disc 16 acts as the upper half of a pulley whose cheeks are adjustable, said pulley therefore being in effect a clutch which jams the sheet with great efficiency, partly because the two discs have been initially separated with great force and partly because the upper surface 27 of the lower friction disc 15 and/or lower surface 28 of the upper surface disc 16 are preferably roughened by suitable indentations or similar gripping aids.

However, the sheet can be released simply by peeling it outwardly from the interspace, by means of a finger on the guide 26, from which interspace it emerges easily despite the firm grip of the clutch. As the sheet is wound onto the drum 12, the downstream portion of the sheet simply emerges from a suitable obliquely located groove formed in said guide 26.

As the sheet leaves the clutch the latter is immediately ready again to grip a sheet of the same size, or one of substantially different size. If desired, a particular winch could be made for one range of sizes, for example 14 inch to -4- inch sheets, and other versions of the winch could embrace further widely different ranges which may be outside the scope of the first-mentioned winch.

Because the clutch grips the sheet very firmly there is no need to provide any friction surfaces upon the drum itself, which may thus be a simple casting having a plated surface of known kind. The gripping ability provided is inherent in the design of the self-cleating means itself, and this will be seen to be an add-on item of simple construction, capable of inexpensive manufacture by the usual industrial processes of stamping, drilling and the like.

In the second embodiment of the invention, shown in Figure 10, the spring 29 is located so as to spring-load the lower friction disc 30 with respect to the upper friction disc 31, contrary to the case illustrated in Figures 1 to 9.

In the third embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 11, an economy version of the winch, adapted to handle one specific sheet size, has the helical springs omitted therefrom and employs instead a pair of friction discs 33 and 34, fastened to the drum 12 by screws such as 35, the discs having a merely nominal degree of resilience imparted thereto by virtue of the use of materials such as moulded rubber, plastics or the like, which inherently possesses this property.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A winch comprising a drum rotatable about a substantially vertical axis by a handle, said drum having a chamfered flange at the top thereof and a stationary top plate mounted above said drum, and a pair of contiguous friction discs flush-mounted coaxially with said drum and below said top plate and either being spring-loaded so as to be normally urged axially towards each other or being made of inherently resilient material, said drum and said discs being arranged so as to turn in unison when the handle is rotated, said top plate having an exit flute or guide formed in a depending

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (7)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. winch with its handle "exploded" therefrom, Figure 2 shows, in plan view from above, the winch with its handle removed, Figure 3 shows, in front elevation, a section along the line III--III of Figure 2, to an enlarged scale, fragmented for clarity to show only the upper part of the winch, Figure 4 shows, in elevation, a view of the guide from the side shown in Figure 1, Figure 5 shows, in elevation, a view of the guide from the side opposite that shown in Figure 1, Figure 6 shows said guide in front elevation Figure 7 shows said guide in rear elevation Figure 8 shows said guide in plan view from above, Figure 9 shows said guide in plan view from below, Figure 10 shows, in a cross-sectional view similar to that of Figure 3, a second embodiment of the winch wherein the lower friction disc is spring-loaded instead of the upper friction disc and, Figure 11 shows, in a cross-sectional view similar to Figures 3 and 10, a third embodiment of the winch wherein separate springloading is omitted in favour of inherently resilient discs. Reference will now be made to Figures 1 to 9 of the drawings. The winch comprises a drum 12 which is caused to rotate by a handle 23 mounted on an upright axle 13 by splines 24 and 25. The axle 13 has a first spline 14, and friction discs 15 and 16 are movable longitudinally of the axle 13 by virtue of a second internal spline 17 movable along a co-acting external third spline 18 located on a sleeve 19, and of greater diameter than said first spline 14. The friction discs are normally urged together by a helical spring 20. The upper friction disc 16 has one internal spline 17 which fits about said third spline 18 and said sleeve 19 has a further internal spline 21 which engages the smaller external spline 14 upon said axle. The drum and friction discs rotate in unison, but a top plate 22 remains at rest when the handle 23 is turned. Thus the sheet (not shown), as it is fed from the drum 12 via a guide 26 to the space between the friction discs 15 and 16, forces these two discs apart against a restoring force imparted by the spring 20, so that the upper friction disc 16 acts as the upper half of a pulley whose cheeks are adjustable, said pulley therefore being in effect a clutch which jams the sheet with great efficiency, partly because the two discs have been initially separated with great force and partly because the upper surface 27 of the lower friction disc 15 and/or lower surface 28 of the upper surface disc 16 are preferably roughened by suitable indentations or similar gripping aids. However, the sheet can be released simply by peeling it outwardly from the interspace, by means of a finger on the guide 26, from which interspace it emerges easily despite the firm grip of the clutch. As the sheet is wound onto the drum 12, the downstream portion of the sheet simply emerges from a suitable obliquely located groove formed in said guide 26. As the sheet leaves the clutch the latter is immediately ready again to grip a sheet of the same size, or one of substantially different size. If desired, a particular winch could be made for one range of sizes, for example 14 inch to -4- inch sheets, and other versions of the winch could embrace further widely different ranges which may be outside the scope of the first-mentioned winch. Because the clutch grips the sheet very firmly there is no need to provide any friction surfaces upon the drum itself, which may thus be a simple casting having a plated surface of known kind. The gripping ability provided is inherent in the design of the self-cleating means itself, and this will be seen to be an add-on item of simple construction, capable of inexpensive manufacture by the usual industrial processes of stamping, drilling and the like. In the second embodiment of the invention, shown in Figure 10, the spring 29 is located so as to spring-load the lower friction disc 30 with respect to the upper friction disc 31, contrary to the case illustrated in Figures 1 to 9. In the third embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 11, an economy version of the winch, adapted to handle one specific sheet size, has the helical springs omitted therefrom and employs instead a pair of friction discs 33 and 34, fastened to the drum 12 by screws such as 35, the discs having a merely nominal degree of resilience imparted thereto by virtue of the use of materials such as moulded rubber, plastics or the like, which inherently possesses this property. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A winch comprising a drum rotatable about a substantially vertical axis by a handle, said drum having a chamfered flange at the top thereof and a stationary top plate mounted above said drum, and a pair of contiguous friction discs flush-mounted coaxially with said drum and below said top plate and either being spring-loaded so as to be normally urged axially towards each other or being made of inherently resilient material, said drum and said discs being arranged so as to turn in unison when the handle is rotated, said top plate having an exit flute or guide formed in a depending

peripheral extension thereof, whereby a sheet having turns thereof wound around said drum and caused by the rotation of said handle to have its turns compressed and forced up said chamfered flange is deflectable via said guide into the interspace between tapered edges of said discs to be jammed therebetween as the relative rotation of said discs with respect to said stationary top plate is arrested.

2. A winch as claimed in claim 1, wherein said friction discs are tapered near the peripheries thereof.

3. A winch as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least part of the surface upon the interfacing registering portions of either or both discs is roughened.

4. A winch as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the upper disc of said pair of discs is movable with respect to said lower discs against a restoring force imparted to said upper disc via a helical spring.

5. A winch as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the lower discs of said pair of discs is movable with respect to said upper disc against a restoring force imparted to said lower dise via a helical spring.

6. A winch as claimed in any one claims 1 to 3, wherein each said disc is fastened firmly to the other disc, when each is formed from resilient material.

7. A winch substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.