US2662501A - Small boat restrainer - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 15, 1953 Filed Jan. 11, 1951 INVENTOR' w mfi m ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 15, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SMALL BOAT RESTRAINER John H. Bascome, Jr., Mamaroneck, N. Y. Application January 11, 1951, Serial No. 205,566 7 Claims. (01. 114-230) My invention relates to a device for keeping a small boat which is tied to a dock or vessel, in a fixed position notwithstanding the pressure of wind, wave or current tending to deflect it.

My device comprises a pair of arms under spring tension, pivotally mounted upon a support secured to a structure to which a small boat is tied, said arms straddling the bow of the small boat and engaging both outer forward sides thereof, the spring tension of each arm serving to resist its displacement by a lateral movement or swing of such boat under the deflecting pressure of wind, wave or current.

The term small boat as employed herein comprises yacht tenders, dinghies, row boats, inboard and outboard power boats, usually not ex ceeding sixteen feet in overall length and more commonly of a lesser overall length. I am not however restricting the invention to application to these sizes of boats, as it may be applied to boats of greater length.

The term structure as employed herein and in the appended claims comprises landing and boat floats, sail and power boats, floating craft of any kind, and non-floating docks, bulkheads or other small boat landings.

In the case of yacht clubs not furnishing launch service, the yachts of the club members are usually moored offshore, thus requiring a tender or small boat whereby the owner and his crew may reach the yacht from the shore and may return to the shore. In these instances the yacht club provides so-called dinghy floats to which the tenders are secured when not in use, generally in an orderly manner which leaves clearance between the small boats, to facilitate reaching and leaving the float, as well as to prevent the small boats from chafing each other. Many shore stations provide like service, not only to yacht tenders, but to small boats used for fishing, rowing or sailing, with the same sort of floats to accommodate them when not in use.

In many instances, however, the structure to which the small boats are secured, is located in a position exposed to strong winds or currents, or waves produced by passing craft, which deflect the small boats from their proper, orderly posi tions and cause them to collide with and chafe against each other to their mutual damage, and in addition such deflection of the small boats closes the initial clearance gaps between them, making access to the structure or egress therefrom, diflicult.

A similar situation exists where the boat to which the small boat is a tender, is moored olishore by both bow and stern, as is the case in crowded harbors, where when the tender reaches or current direction the moored boat.

Even in the case where the boat is moored only by the bow, where the condition exists of a strong current running in an angular direction relative to the keel of the small boat and a lighter wind blowing in another direction, the same difiiculty exists of avoiding collision between the moored boat and its tender tied to it, as the moored boat, due to its displacement, will lie with the current, and its tender, of light displacement, will lie with the wind.

It is an object of my invention to provide a device which will be secured to the structure to which the small boat is tied which will prevent the deflection of the small boat by reason of pressure of wind, current, wave or otherwise.

It is a further object of my invention to provide such a device which, when not in use may be removed and stowed away.

It is a further object of my invention to provide such a device which when in position will not materially obstruct the deck of the vessel upon which it is mounted.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device mounted on the deck of a structure, showing in broken lines, the forward portion of a small boat to which the device is applied.

Fig. 2 is a partial side elevation of the device in operating position.

Fig. 3 is a partial plan view of the device in operating position.

Referring to the drawings:

A is a fragment of the deck of a structure, in this case, a boat float, B being a side and C the deck thereof. D is the support upon which spring arms E and E are mounted.

In the embodiment of my invention shown, the support 1) consists of two upright posts I and 2, secured to a base 3, which in turn is secured to deck 0. The spring arms E and E, in the device shown, consist of a continuous spring steel rod 4, having a straight section In sufiicient to span the upright posts I and 2, coils 5 and 6 being formed in rod 4 respectively outside of posts I and 2. Opposed arms E and El" emerge from coils 5 and 6 in a diverging direction, as best seen in Fig. 3, and then converge, to cross each other 3 at I, whence they diverge so as to contact each side of the small boat F indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Said last named divergence of arms E and E is of a nature which will generally conform to the convergence of the forward sides of boat F, whereby the latter will be gripped by arms E and E when said boat F is secured to float A.

Posts I and 2 are slotted vertically, the slots being designated as II, to receive the straight section I of rod 4. A key pin I2 is inserted in the upper portion of slots I I, which are bored to receive it. Key pin I2 is reduced in diameter and screw-threaded at its outer end as is shown in Fig. 3. Slot II in post 2 is bored to'receive the full diameter of key pin I2, while slot II in post I is bored and screw-threaded to receive screw-threaded end I3 of key pin I2. The opposite end of key pin I2 is formed into a wing I4 to facilitate hand turning. The functionof key pin I2 is to keep the straight section II) of rod 4.-in place in slots II,.at the same time, permitting it to be removed on the withdrawal of key pin I2; Key pin 12 also serves as a convenient bar. to-which to securethe painter i5 of small boat 5-.

The height of posts I tom of slots II therein, will begoverned by the height of float A relative to the height of the small boats F secured thereto. Usually the deck C of float A is of greater than the forward. gunwales of small boats F, so that, to embrace. the forwardsides of small boats F, arms E and E shouldhave a sufficient downward inclination. Such height of posts I and 2 may be reduced by mounting them flush or nearly so with the edge of deck C. Aiurther alternativewould be to bend down arms E and E from the points where they contact the edge of deck'C. t is preferable that arms E andE after leaving the edge of deck Cv should be deflected downwardly and. thence upwardly in agentle: curve;

asshown in Figs. 1 and 2.

water, than the sections aft of the bow, and the purpose of thus curving arms E and" E is to ensure that they will-engage not only the portions of the sides of small. boat F immediately adja cent the bow, but several feet of each side aft of the. bow.

ArmsE and E are provided, intheir boat contacting portions I1, with. aguard IE to avoid chafing the sides of small boat F.

Arms E and E are pivotally mounted in slots I I. When in position in slots II, they may fall to the edge of deck C, or theymay be raised and dropped to deck C in the opposite direction.

It is preferable that they should not. beleft protruding over the edge of deck C afterthe small boat F has left the float, as that might present an awkward obstruction to access to float A,and;at the same time. it ispreferable that they should not beleft lying on. the deck C of floatv A as that might be inconvenient-to those using it. The best out-of-use position of arms E and E isa vertical one, inclined at an angle of about 45 rearwardly of the edge of float A. Thisis accomplished by arranging the setting of key pin I2 in slotv II or post I so that when it is screwed home its wing Idwill take that angle; as shown in Fig. 2, and serve as a stop for arms E and E when they are turned upwards and rearwardly.

Where small boat F is to be secured to a boat mooredoffshore, as. distinct from afloat at the shore, supportD may be mounted upon the deck,

andv 2', andof the bot-' height above the. water The bows, of most small boatsF arev considerably higher from. the

as shown in the drawings, or on the transom or sides of the vessel. It is preferable in these cases that support D be removably mounted, so that when not in use, it and arms E and E could be stowed away. This could be accomplished by securing short tracks to the deck, sides or transoms, within which base 3 would slide, with conventional stoppers at the ends of the tracks, or by other means which would occur to one made acquainted with the problem by this disclosure.

Spring steel rod of approximately one-quarter inch diameter should be adequate for small boats, with inboard or outboard motors, of 16 feet in overall length, even in exposed locations.

A spring tension of arms E and E of pounds should be adequate for such small boats. A length of two feet of arms E and E, measured from posts I and 2, for such boats, should be adequate. I am however not in any way limiting my invention to such spring pressures or arm lengths.

On inland lakes and the Great Lakes, where there is no'rise and fall of the tide, floating boat landings are not necessary, and in instances the landing consists of 'a platform hinged to a structure on. the shore thus permitting it to be adjusted to the level of' the water, which may vary from time to time due to other than tidal conditions; or the boat landing may be a perma- -nently installed dock or bulkhead. It will be understood that the said device may be used upon such non-floating structures to keep the small boats in their proper berths at such docks or landings.

The operation of the device should be apparent from the foregoing description. In the drawings, the small boat is shown to be secured to float A by painter I5 fastened to key pin. I2. Such painter could be secured tofloat A directly. As

shown in the drawings, arms E and E do not secure small boat F to float A, but serve to prevent its lateral displacement, when properly securedlto-float A, against the deflecting pressure of wind, current or wave. However, the outboard ends ofarms E and E could be secured to the gunwales of small boat F, which would'avoid the necessity of tying it to the float by a painter; I am. aware of. the fact that variousfenders, gunwale guards and other. expedients have been used to prevent the chafing of colliding small boats at boat floats. Most of these expedients, particu larly the continuous gunwaleguards, are-expensive, and most particularly, are not used-by every boat attached to a float, with the result that the owner'who provides these-guards, frequently has a neighbor who does not. In addition, those expedients do not goto the heart of the problem, which isv to keep the small boats in the orderly position intended, leaving clearance between them, so that those approaching or leaving the float in their tenders are not obliged to clear their way of obstructing small boats, but may enter or leave an-unobstructed berth.

While Lhave shown arms E and E to be provided with coils 5 and 6,:suchor any coils are not necessary. Rod 4 could be bent, outside of posts I and 2, at the proper angle, without forming any coil. Also, it is not necessary to cross arms E and E as at I. The crossing shown enables arms E and E to embrace the forward sides of small boat F closer to the bow.

It would also be possible to make the boat engaging portions of arms E and E of non-resilient material and to place. them under spring pressure, as for example,,by connecting them to the portions of rod 4 which lie between coils 5 and 6 and the turns 20.

Other changes in the embodiment shown may be made without departing from the invention.

I claim:

1. A restraining device to prevent the lateral deflection of a floating small boat moored bow end to, to a boat landing structure connected to a shore, comprising a support adapted to be mounted on said structure, a pair of opposed arms removably and pivotally mounted on said support for vertical angular motion, said arms being diverged so as to enable said arms to be adapted to straddle the bow and engage the forward opposite sides of the boat to be restrained, and spring means associated with each said arm tending to resist its lateral deflection.

2. A restraining device in accordance with claim 1 in which the said arms, in their boat contacting portions are covered by a guard to avoid chafing the sides of the boat to be restrained.

3. A restraining device to prevent the lateral deflection of a floating small boat moored, bow end to, to a boat landing structure connected to a shore, comprising a support adapted to be mounted on said structure, spring means removably and pivotally mounted on said support, for vertical angular movement, a pair of arms secured to and placed under the spring pressure of said spring means, said arms being diverged so as to enable said arms to be adapted to straddle the bow and engage the forward opposite sides of the boat to be restrained, said spring means being such as to resist the lateral deflection of said arms.

4. A restraining device in accordance with claim 3, in which the said arms, in their boat contacting portions, are covered by a guard to avoid chafing the sides of the boat to be restrained.

5. A restraining device to prevent the lateral deflection of a floating small boat moored, bow end to, to a boat landing structure connected to a shore, comprising a support adapted to be mounted on said structure, a pair of diverging opposed arms and spring means associated with each said arm forming an integral unit fashioned out of a single spring bar, removably and pivotally mounted on said support for vertical angular movement, said spring means comprising two coils formed in said bar, one coil tending to resist the lateral deflection of one of said arms, and the other coil tending to resist the lateral deflection of the other of said arms.

6. A restraining device in accordance with claim 5, in which said arms, in their boat contacting portions are covered by a guard to avoid chafing the sides of the boat to be engaged.

7. A device for restraining small floating boats moored to a boat landing structure, comprising a support adapted to be mounted on said structure, and an integral unit including a pair of arms, spring means controlling the lateral deflection of said arms, mounted removably and pivotally on said support for vertical angular movement, said arms diverging to enable them to straddle the bow of the boat to be restrained and adapting them to engage the opposite forward sides of said boat, the spring means being such as to tend to resist the lateral deflection of each said arm.

JOHN H. BASCOME, JR.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Images