JPS62183784A - Underwater viewing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial applications The present invention relates to an underwater viewing device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION PRIOR ART AND THE PROBLEMS It is known to provide a closed passageway (so-called underwater promenade) at the bottom of the water for underwater viewing. However, the problem with constructing such a passage is that it costs a lot of money.

An object of the present invention is to provide an underwater observation device that has a relatively simple configuration and is relatively low in cost.

Means for Solving the Problems The underwater observation device according to the present invention extends from an upper position near the water surface to a lower position underwater, and the upper end is free at any point from the lower end to near the upper end. For underwater viewing, the rail has a slope such that the lower end is located above the rail, and is held on the rail so that it can be moved in at least one direction up and down along the rail using buoyancy and gravity. It is characterized by having a capsule.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an underwater observation device. A station (1) is provided on the quay (G). In front of the station (1), there is an underwater elevator (2) that extends along the quay (G). This elevator (2) transports the underwater observation capsule (3) from the capsule loading position near the station (1) to the seabed (D).
Nearby Cub 9. −゛・.

゛Cell release: carried to the starting position. A capsule guide rail (4) with a circular cross section is provided in the sea, extending from the vicinity of the capsule release position to the vicinity of the capsule retrieval position, and having a middle part that turns in a spiral shape. The guide rail (4) is
Although not shown, it is supported by the upper ends of a plurality of pillars. The portion of the guide rail (4) from the lower end to the uppermost point (P) near the upper end has a slope such that the upper end is at a higher position than the lower end at any point. .

A portion of the guide rail (4) from the highest point (P) to the upper end is inclined diagonally downward toward the capsule loading position. The capsule (3) carried by the elevator (2) to the capsule release position moves along the guide rail (4) by its buoyancy.

Station (1) has three floors and is built on a crosspiece Wi (5) provided on the quay (G). The first floor of the station (1) is used as a passenger boarding room (1a), the second floor as a capsule maintenance room (1b), and the third floor as an elevator operation room (1C). Maintenance'!
(1b) is provided with a capsule loading stand (6). The operation room (1c) is provided with a drum (7), its drive motor (8), and a motor control operation panel (9).

The elevator (2) has four guide columns (10), an elevating body (11) that ascends and descends along the four guide columns (10), and a pulley (12) that extends upward from the elevating body (11). The wire (13) is wound around the drum (7) via the wire (13). Details of the elevating body (11) will be described later.

Figures 2 to 6 show details of the capsule (3). The capsule (3) has a watertight structure capsule body (15)
and a pair of front and rear legs (16) detachably attached to the capsule body (15).

The capsule body (15) includes a cylindrical outer shell (17), an outer shell (
11) Floor plate (18) and floor plate (18) fixed in
It has a chaise longue (19) in the form of a cross-section fixed to the top. The upper half of the rear end surface of the outer shell (11) has a 5 m (20 m)
) is provided. Transparent underwater viewing windows (21) are provided on both sides of the outer shell (17), the upper half of the front end surface, and the opening/closing door (20). A snorkel (22) is provided at the front and rear center of the upper wall of the outer shell (11) so that outside air can be taken into the capsule (15) when the capsule body (15) is floating on the sea surface (U). ing. A snorkel (2) is attached to the outer surface of the upper wall of the outer shell (17).
2) Fishing metal fittings (23) are fixed on the front and rear sides.

The space between the floorboard (18) and the lower wall of the outer shell (17) is
It is divided into five chambers (25) by four partition walls (24) arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction.

Although not shown, each chamber (25) on both sides of the floorboard (18)
An opening is formed in each position directly above.

Each opening is closed by an opening/closing lid. Five chambers (
25), compressed air cylinders (26) are stored in three chambers (25) located at the front and rear intermediate portions, respectively. The hollow space within the chaise longue (19) is also divided into five chambers (28) by four partition walls (27) placed directly above the four partition walls (24). An opening (29) is formed in the clay wall of the chaise longue (19) at a position directly above each chamber (28), and each opening (29) has a W8 closing lid (3).
0) is closed.

Among the five chambers (28), three chambers (
28) stores life jackets (31) and the like.

Of the five chambers (28) in the chaise longue (19), the two chambers at both ends (hereinafter referred to as "legs") (28) are located on the lower wall (
Leg guide openings (32) are formed in the width center portions of the floorboards (18). Further, leg guide ports (33) are also formed in portions of the outer shell (17) located directly below the guide ports (32). Both side edges of the leg guide opening (32) in the outer shell (17) or upwardly protruding leg guide walls (34) are provided, respectively. Leg detachable room (2
8) On the lower wall (18), there is an inverted U-shaped wall (35) that spans the leg guide opening (32) and has a substantially inverted U-shaped cross section and has both ends fixed to the front and rear walls of the leg attachment/detachment chamber (28). is provided. Upper ends of both sides of the inverted U-shaped wall (35) and the leg attachment/detachment chamber (28)
A horizontal wall (36) is provided between the front and rear walls. A leg attaching/detaching device (37) is attached to each horizontal wall (36).

Each leg attachment (37) is arranged in a space above the horizontal wall (3G) in the leg attachment/detachment chamber (28) and is rotatably supported by the support member (38) and the horizontal wall (36). a vertical drive shaft (39), a vertical operation shaft (40) disposed inside the drive shaft (39) and rotatably passing through the horizontal wall (36) and the floor plate (18);
An inwardly protruding locking piece (41) fixed to the lower end of the drive shaft (39), a handle (42) attached to the upper end of the drive shaft (39), and a rotation of the drive shaft (39) is transmitted to the operating shaft (40). It consists of a gear transmission mechanism (43) for. Operating axis (40)
The portion penetrating the horizontal wall (36) and floor plate (18) in is sealed.

The legs (16) are square bar-shaped, with the width becoming narrower towards the top.
It has a pair of left and right branch parts (16a) at the bottom. leg(
16) is inserted into the leg guide holes (33) and (32) from below, and its upper end penetrates into the inverted U-shaped wall (35). Horizontal locking grooves (44) are formed on both side surfaces of the leg (16) at positions slightly below the upper end of the leg. The locking piece (4) of each leg attaching/detaching device (37) is inserted into the multi-groove (44)
The tips of the capsules 1) have penetrated, respectively, thereby attaching the legs (16) to the capsule body (15). To remove the legs (16) from the capsule body (15),
Leg attachment/detachment @ Turn the handle (42) of (37) to allow the locking piece (41) to escape from the locking groove (44).

Rollers (45) that can be moved along the length direction on both sides of the upper half of the outer circumferential surface of the rail (4) are attached to both the branch parts (16a), respectively. In addition, both branch parts (16a
) are fixed to the lower ends of the rails (46), which extend diagonally downward so as to approach each other, and to each shaft (46) are shafts (46) extending along the length direction on both sides of the lower half of the outer peripheral surface of the rail (4). The 0-ra (41), which can be transferred at any time, are each rotatably attached.

Legs (16) are through! (25) Inside is a chain (48) fixed at one end to the outer shell (17) and at the other end to the leg (16).
is stored.

Figures 7 to 9 show the elevating body (11) of the elevator (2).
details. The elevating body (11) has a rectangular floor plate (5
1), it is equipped with a rectangular top plate (52) and four pillars (53) connecting both plates (51) and (52). Both boards (51
) (52) are provided with through holes (54) at the corners thereof, and each guide column (10) passes through each through hole (54).

A wire fixture (55) is attached to the upper surface of the top plate (52), and the wire (13) is attached to the wire fixture (55).
The bottom edge of is fixed. Therefore, the station (
By driving the drive motor (8) of the elevator operation room (1c) of 1), the elevating body (11) is
It moves up and down along the guide column (10).

A rail (56) is attached to the width center portion of the floorboard (51). This rail (56) has the same shape in cross section as the guide rail (4), and is continuous with the upper end of the guide rail (4) when the elevating body (11) is in the capsule loading position, so that the elevating body (11) When in the capsule release position, it is provided in an inclined manner so as to be continuous with the lower end of the rail (4). In this example, fitting projections (56a) that can fit into the vertical fitting grooves (4a) are formed at the front ends of the vertical fitting grooves (4a) at both ends of the guide rail (4). On the floorboard (51), there are a pair of left and right capsule holders (5) with the rail (56) in between.
7) is provided. A large number of rollers (58) are provided on the pedestal (57)'. In addition, floorboards (51
) is provided with an access step (59) at the rear end. Although not shown, a buffer member is attached to the front surface of the step stool (59).

A column (60) that supports the upper end of the guide rail (4)
A horizontal plate (61) is attached to the horizontal plate (61), and a pair of left and right first stoppers (62) are attached to this horizontal plate (61). Further, a pair of left and right second stoppers (63) are attached to the front end of the floor plate (51) of the elevating body (11).

The first stopper (62) is connected to the bracket (64) via a bracket (64) fixed to the lower surface of the horizontal plate (61) and a horizontal bin (65) that extends in the front-rear direction and whose central length extends in the left-right direction. A swinging link (66) is pivotally connected to the swinging link (66), the lower end of which is pivoted to the front end of the swinging link (66), and the upper end of which passes through the horizontal plate (61) in a vertically movable manner and extends above the horizontal plate (61). Extended lever (67) and swing link (66)
It consists of a spring (68) that always biases the front end in a direction toward the horizontal plate (61).

When the elevating body (11) is in the capsule taking-in position, the rear end of the swing lever (66) is pushed up by the front end of the floor plate (51) against the biasing force of the spring (68).
The stopper (62) is in a capsule passage permitting state where the upward protrusion length of the lever (61) relative to the horizontal plate (61) is short, as shown by the solid line in FIG.

When the elevating body (11) is below the capsule taking-in position, the front end of the swing lever (66) is urged by the spring (68) in a direction toward the horizontal plate (61), so that the first As shown by the chain line, the stopper (62) is in a state in which the capsule is prohibited from passing, with the lever (61) extending upwardly from the horizontal plate (61) for a long time.

The second stopper (63) is pivotally connected to the bracket (69) via a horizontal bin (70) fixed to the lower surface of the floorboard (51) (69L) which extends in the front-rear direction and whose center length extends in the left-right direction. The swing link (11) has a lower end pivoted to the front end of the swing link (71) and an upper end attached to the floor plate (71).
It consists of a lever (72) that extends above the floor plate (51) through vertically movable through the shaft (51), and a spring (73) that always biases the front end of the swing link (71) in a direction toward the floor plate (51). A front protruding piece (14) is fixed to a portion of the lever (12) that protrudes above the floor plate (51) at a required height position. A pressing piece (75) that presses down the front projecting piece (74) when the elevating body (11) rises to the capsule loading position is removably attached to the horizontal plate (61). Also, on the seabed (D) below the elevator (2), there is a push-up platform (76) that pushes up the rear end of the swing link (71) when the elevator (11) reaches the capsule release position (see Figure 1). ) is provided.

When the elevating body (11) is in the capsule taking-in position, the protruding piece (74) moves against the biasing force of the spring (13) and presses the pressing piece (
75), the second stopper (6
In case 3), as shown by the solid line in FIG. 7, the upward protrusion length of the lever (72) relative to the floor plate (51) is short to allow capsule passage. When the elevating body (11) is in the release position, the rear end of the swing link (71) is pushed up by the push-up table (76) against the urging force of the spring (73), so that the second
The stopper (63) enters the capsule passage permission state in the same way as when the elevating body (11) is at the capsule taking-in position. When the elevating body (11) is at an intermediate position between the capsule take-in position and the capsule release position, the front end of the swing link (11) is urged by the spring (73) in a direction toward the floor plate (51). Therefore, the second stopper (63) is in a state where the upward protrusion of the lever (72) with respect to the floor plate (51) is long, as shown by the chain line, to prohibit passage of the capsule.

With the elevating body (11) at the capsule take-in position and the capsule (3) inside the elevating body (11), the audience is placed inside the turnip hill (3). After this, the elevating body (11) must be lowered. During this descent, the second stopper (6
3) is prohibited from passing through the capsule, so the capsule (3) is prohibited from passing through the capsule.
) is held within the elevating body (11). When the elevating body (11) reaches the capsule release position, the second stopper (63)
is allowed to pass and the rail (56) becomes continuous with the lower end of the guide rail (4), so the capsule (3) self-supports the guide rail (56H4) by its buoyancy and the slope of the rail (56H4). Move on to 4) and guide rail (
4).

Then, when the capsule (3) reaches near the upper end of the guide rail (4), the capsule (3) is moved to the first stopper (62).
) and stop. Thereafter, the elevating body (11) is raised to the capsule loading position.

When the elevating body (11) arrives at the capsule loading position, the first
Both the stopper (62) and the second stopper (63) enter the capsule passing permission state, and the guide rail (4
) is continuous with the rail (56), so the capsule (3) automatically moves into the elevator (11) due to its own weight and the slope of the rail (4056). After the capsule (3) is taken into the elevating body (11),
offload passengers.

For some reason, the capsule (3) is stuck on the guide rail (
4) In case of an emergency, such as when the machine stops midway, the legs can be attached and detached f2! (37) by capsule body (15)
Separate the legs (16) from the Then, the capsule body (1
5) floats above the sea surface (U) due to its buoyancy, as shown by the chain line in FIG. At this time, the capsule body (15
) is connected to the leg (16) by the chain (48), so there is no risk of it being swept away. Further, since the capsule body (15) is provided with a snorkel (22) and has a compressed air cylinder (26), there is no need to worry about running out of breathing air.

In the above embodiment, the capsule (3) is moved from the lower end to the upper end of the guide rail (4), but a ballast weight is removably attached to the capsule (3), and the capsule (3) is moved from the lower end of the guide rail (4) to the upper end. (4) It may be moved from the upper end toward the lower end. In an emergency, the ship can float by detaching the ballast weights.

Alternatively, the capsule (3) may be provided with a ballast tank, and the guide rail (4) may be moved back and forth by adjusting the ballast position within the tank. In this case,
Elevator (2) is unnecessary.

Effects of the Invention The underwater viewing device according to the present invention is simple in construction because it only needs to be equipped with a rail, a capsule for underwater viewing, and if necessary, a transport device such as an elevator to transport the capsule from one end of the rail to the other. be. Furthermore, since the underwater viewing capsule moves along the rail using buoyancy and gravity, the underwater viewing capsule also has a simple configuration. Therefore, an underwater viewing device with relatively low cost is obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram;
Figures 2 to 6 show details of the underwater observation capsule, with Figure 2 being an enlarged partially cutaway front view, Figure 3 being a plan view of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of Figure 2, Figure 5 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the leg attachment/detachment part, Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the leg attachment/detachment part, and Figures 7 to 9 are details of the elevating body. Figure 7 is an enlarged front view, and Figure 8 is an enlarged front view.
The figure is a horizontal sectional view of FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 is a horizontal sectional view of FIG. 7. (3)...Underwater observation capsule, (4)...Rail. that's all

Claims (1)

[Claims] The slope extends from the upper position near the water surface to the lower position in the water, and the slope from the lower end to near the upper end is such that the upper end is at a higher position than the lower end at any point. What is claimed is: 1. An underwater observation device, comprising: a rail; and an underwater observation capsule held on the rail so as to be movable in at least one direction up and down along the rail using buoyancy and gravity.