US1755549A - Cushioning device for marine propulsion - Google Patents

Description

P 1930. A. F. MASURY 1,755,549

CUSHIONING DEVICE FOR MARINE PROPULSION Filed July 15, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet l E] save/14b1, ALFRED fi'MAsz/RY April 22, 1930. A. F. MASURY CUSHIO NIN G DEVICE FOR MARINE PROPULSION Filed July 15, 1926 awuewcoz ALF/v50 FMASl/RY April 1930- A. F. MASURY 1,755,549

cusmonme nsvxca FOR MARINE PROPULSION Filed July 5. 1926 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 awuwntozm ALFRED fin/450m April 1930- I A. F. MASURY' 1,755,549

CUSHIONING DEVICE FOR MARINE PROPULSION Filed July 15, 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 April 22, 1930. A. F. MASURY 1,755,549

CUSHIONING' DEVICE FOR MARINE PROPULSION Filed July 15, 1926 5 Sheets$heet 5 Jig Z,

Patented Apr. 22, 1930 mural) ISITATES P TEN oFFics ALFRED r MASURY, ornnw YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE RUBBER SHOCK INSULATOR CORPORATION, 017 wnmmero v, DELAWARE, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE CUSHIONING DEVICE FOR MARINE PROPULSION App1ication filed July 15,

This invention relates to cushioning devices for power units and associated parts for marine use.v As is well known, a vessel in a seaway is subjected to avariety of stresses and strains since its foundation is unstable and forever shifting and changing, impressing sudden stresses and strains upon the fran'ie and planking which result in momentary distortions of the hull. Thus there occurs variations in the alignment of the propeller shaft bearings and other supporting elements of the power units which result in wear and strain on the parts. Furthermore, the vibrations of the engine when in operation are normally transmitted to the hull causing inconvenience to the occupants of the vessel and having a deteriorating effect upon the structure. .Screw propellers are not ordinarily symmetrical in every detail, each blade varying to some degree from. the

thers and differing therefore in its pitch and thrust and thereby having its own characteristic. As the propeller revolves each blade does a different amount of work on the water and, therefore, in operation a new center of the rotating mass is found which is also a 'tlected by the static and dynamic balance of the propeller. At speeds of 300 to lOO revolutions per minute this tendency of the propeller to seek a new center is not marked but when the speed of the propeller shaft reaches 2,000 to 3,000 revolutions as is quite common, for instance, in some types of pleasure and racing boats, the tendency of the propeller to find its own center causes the propeller shaft to whip and impresses great strain on the bearings. The present ihvention seeks to provide a cushioningsupport for the prime mover, propeller shaft and associated parts adapted for use in any type of marine conveyance which shall permita degree of variation inthe hearings or supports resulting from distortion of the hull or distortion of the propeller shaft and which shall cushion or absorb vibrations and preventtheir transmission in whole or in part to or from the vessel structure. Accordingly yielding or resilient devices are interposed between the prime mover and associated mechanisms and the various propeller shaft 1926.= Serial No. 122,528.

bearings and supports and the hull of the vessel. H v I In order that the invention may be-clearly understood and'readily carried into effect the same willj noiv bedescribed in greater particularity in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is a view in side elevation ofso much of the hull of a vessel as is necessary to an understanding of the invention parts being broken away to show the cushioning supports for the prime mover and propeller shaft. v

FiguresZ, 3 and 4 are views showing 'variations occurringjin the foundation or supporting-media of avessel in a seaway'tending to induce distortion of-the hull,

Figure 5 is a view in side elevation showing yielding or resilient supports for the prime mover of the vessel. I

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view taken in the plane indicated by the line 66 in Figure 5, looking in the direction of the arrows andshowing details of the cushioning supports shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 isa view on an enlarged scale of one of the cushioning connections shown in Figure 5, looking from. the right in Figure 6. parts beingbroken away in the interest of clearness. I i

Figure 8 is a View in plan and partly in section showin the interposition .of the cushioning connectlon between the propeller shaft bearing and the hull. I

Figure 9 is a vertical sectional view taken in the plane indicated by the line 9-9 in F igure 8,1ooking inlthe direction of the arrows and showing in detail; the cushioning connections for the propeller shaft bearin Figure 10 is spun view showing one of the stuffing boxes for the propeller shaft.

. Figure 11 is an end view looking from the right Figure IO'an d showing the stuffing box.. I t. a

Figure 12 is a-view in side elevatijgn and partly in section showing one ,ofthe cushioning supfiort'ffor one of the struts supporting the propellershaft outside the hull.

Every vessel in'fa ,seawexisdistfrted to.

some degree due to the fact that the medium in which it floats is unstable and forever shifting and changing during sudden stresses and strains upon concentrated portions of its anatomy. 'jEorjiinst-ance, in igure 2,.there is illustrated a boat a balanced onthe crest of a wave a; with its ends suspended or unsupported. In .this position the hull meets with what is lgnown ahogging strain since the weight of the forward and after portions have lost the supporting buoyancy of the water while the middle portion carries all the support and the stresses and strains are substantially equivalent .to .those :of a lever or beam weighted at its ends and fulcrumed at a point therebetween. Figure '3 shows a. boat a in the hollow of the wave which causes a sagging .strain such as would occur in a beam supported at its ends and supporting a Weight. at some point therebetween. In Figure 4 there is illustrated in somewhat exaggerated manner the bulking strain to which the boat a is subjected when the forward half is lifted out of the water and about to strike the'next wave. The shearing force. in this instance, maybe likened to that of a cantilever beam which is supported at one end and carries a weight on the unsupported end. In addition, when driven obliquely against the seaway a long narrow hull is subjected to twisting strains and in all these cases there is a constant additional distortion of the frame and planking which cannot be prevented in the construction of a vessel.

It is not customary to machine the propellers of boats to true lead and pitch. In consequence there is never the same effort on each blade and the propeller has a tendency to seek its true running center. This true running center. because of the difference in balance, lead and thrust of each blade, differs from the theoretical center for which the balances are originally laid out and as a result whenever the propeller is turned the shaft attempts to assume its normal position and if the bearings have no capacity for movement strains and stresses are set up on the struts of the hull and the .propeller shaft tends to whip between the points of support.

Further, the engine as originally anchored to its engine bed, impresses vibrations thereon which are annoying and detrimental.

, T he present invention seeks to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages by the interposition of yielding or resilient devices between the hull and the propeller shaft and prime mover whereby vibrations or distortions maybe absorbed in great measureand not impressed-upon the co-opera'ting elements. The. legs orpadsb of the engineb are shown in Figures 5, 6 and 7 as bolted as at b to bronze,longitudinally extending brackets 4 along either side pf the engine which-termi- --n a te' -in outwardly extending arms a yielding-l-ysu'pported in all directionsfrom ahous hull where the shaft leaves the interior.

are retained -.within a two part housing comprising the main portion (Z and the cover portion which'are bolted together as at (Z to exert a predetermined degree of compression upon the rubber whereby its molecular activity may be increased in the interest of longer life. wearing qualities and resiliency. The propeller shaft bearings within the hull which are indicated in general at g in Figure 1 are shown in detail in Figures 8 and 9. The shaft h is shown as turning within ball bearings 5 supported in a transversely extending casting having outwardly extend ing arms 7" formed at their ends with opposed seats j j engaged. in the illustrated embodiment, by blocks of yielding non-metallic material retained within separable housings Z support-ed, say, from a rib a of the vessel.

Here again the yielding-non-metallic material may be retained under the desired degree of internal static pressure by the clamping action of the housing sections Z, Z effective through the bolts Z or if yielding non-metallic material is not availed of metallic springs may be substituted. In Figure 1, stuffing; boxes are illustrated at m, m, respectively, the first at a bulkhead a and the second in the Ordinarily the stuffing box m is bolted directlv to the bulkhead and the shaft passes through the bulkhead within. say, a copper tube n. the usual packing nut 0 and lock nut 72 be ing disposed well within the interior of the vessel. In the present instance, the flange 7): on the end of the stuffing box is embedded within or engaged by an internally grooved annulus q of yielding non-metallic material which engages the bulkhead a and the inwardly turned flange n of the copper tube n and is retained in position by a clamping ring 7* through the medium of the bolts 7-. Here the, annulus .not only serves as a cushioning supportforithe stuffing-box but also effectively seals the joint between the bulkhead and the flange.

@utwardly of the hull the propeller is shown as supported from a plurality of struts S. S and S the strut S at the extreme end adjacent the propeller 6 being, if desired,

of 'V-shape as is common in the art. The shaft ft is supported in the usual way in a ljbearing 8 carried on the end ofthe upwardly extending shank s", but tl 1e shankinstead of being secured outwardly ofthe hull extends inwardly thereof through a grummet if sealed and cushioned by a non-metallic ring u. At its upper end the shank is also T form and the enlarged port-ion s is engaged by yielding non-metallic material a seated against displacement upon a plate 20 positioned upon the base 3 of the housing which is bolted to the ribs i) and maintained under the dc sired degree of compression by a separable cap 3 secured as by the bolts 3 to the base portion In Figure 12 the planking of the hull is indicated at l and uprights between the ribs to support the deck are shown at 2, the base 1 being supported in desired position by means of blocks 4, 4 some of which may be separated from the planking 1 by the canvas and white lead seals 5.

It will thus be seen that a construction has been provided wherein all stresses and strains impressed either upon the hull or upon the prime mover and its associated parts are cushioned or absorbed and prevented from transmission to co-operating elements in order that a certain degree of distortion may be permitted without effecting wear of the moving parts of the vessel or of the connections.

arious modifications may be made in the configuration and composition of the instrumentalities as a whole availed of for cushioning and no limitation is intended by the phraseology in the foregoing description or illustrations in the accompanying drawings except 15 indicated in the appended claim.

\Vhat is claimed is:

In combination with the hull of a vessel and prime mover, flanges formed along the sides of the prime mover, channels extending substantially the full length of the engine, formed with rigid arms and secured to the flanges, separable housings carried with the hull and having open sides, respectively, thrtmgh which the arms enter, yielding;- nonmetallie material retained within the housings and engaging the ends of the arms and bolts securing the parts of the housings together and retaining the yielding nonmetallic material under compression.

This specification signed this 12th day of July, A. D. 19:26.

ALFRED F. MASURY.

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