US2711150A

US2711150A - Pivoted fluke anchor

Info

Publication number: US2711150A
Application number: US458142A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert D Ogg
Original assignee: DANFORTH ANCHORS
Current assignee: DANFORTH ANCHORS
Priority date: 1954-09-24
Filing date: 1954-09-24
Publication date: 1955-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 1972-06-21

Description

June 21, 1955 R. D. 066 2,711,150

PIVOTED FLUKE ANCHOR Filed Sept. 24, 1954 k k INVENTOR. l3 Robe/"f 0 0 ECAHOFF g8" suck A7 amvera a- 5r C A MEMQER OF THE FIR PIVOTED FLUKE ANCHOR Robert D. Ogg, Kensington, Califi, assignor to Danforth Anchors, a corporation of California Application September 24, 1954, Serial No. 458,142 2 Claims. (Cl. 114-208) either end of the shank although it is common to pivot the shank on the stock so the latter is provided at the after end of the shank.

When such an anchor is cast overboard from a boat or ship and is permitted to fall upon bottom, the pull provided by the attached cable draws the anchor over the bottom. To ensure that the fiukes engage bottom positively and without too much loss of time, it is usual to atent flukes 10 and 11, shank provide, at the after end of the anchor, a structure to facilitate movement of the flukes into operating position and engagement with the bottom. This structure, usually termed the crown, has included arrangements of both arcuate and plane surfaces extending upwardly more or less directly from the plane of the fiukes for a considerable distance above such plane, it being the purpose of the crown to ensure that the anchor engages bottom promptly with the fiukes disposed relative to the shank in their final operative position.

The disengagement of such an anchor from ordinary bottom is a relatively simple matter, it only being necessary to move the boat or ship forward until it is approximately over the anchor and then apply an upward pull on the anchor cable or chain, with the result that the anchor is moved into a position in which te shank extends vertically and the anchor can be readily withdrawn from bottom.

If, by chance, the anchor should become fouled with a rock, tree or other fixed obstruction upon the bottom, release and recovery of the anchor becomes somewhat problematical. The safest way to handle this situation requires forethought in that a light line is attached to the rear end of the anchor before it is cast overboard; such a line enables one to exert a rearward pulling force upon the anchor and thus retract it from its fouled position. This practice is, however, usually too much trouble for the average person and anchors are therefore frequently lost, together with at least some portion of the attached cable or chain.

In accordance with this invention, I provide a twin fluke anchor construction which enables a twin fluke anchor to be used in the ordinary manner and yet its release and recovery from a fouling engagement with a foreign object on the bottom is facilitated.

It is in general the broad object of the present invention to provide an improved twin fluke anchor construction.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a twin fluke anchor construction enabling the anchor to be recovered from a fouled position or engagement.

The invention includes other objects and features of cordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the anchor illustrating operation of the easy-release means embodied in the anchor.

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view of the anchor.

The anchor, as shown in the drawings, includes twin 12, stock 13 and

crown plates

14 and 15.

The. flukes are preferably secured in a co-planar relation on either side of the shank 12, the latter having an eye 16 at its forward end for attachment to an anchor chain or cable.

The flukes 10 and 11 include reinforcing

ribs

18 and 19 formed on the edge nearest the shank by bending of each fluke upon itself at an angle of approximately the flukes are right and left-hand and when mounted in position, the

ribs

18 and 19 extend in the same directions. Each rib, at the rear end of the fluke, is parallel and adjacent to the shank to maintain the fiukes in position and prevent undue lateral movement between the shank and fluke. Of course, the flukes need not be constructed as I have indicated and one can employ cast or fabricated constructions, such as are shown in the aforementioned patents and Patents 2,510,867 and 2,633,626.

To secure the

crown plates

14 and 15 in their correct position, spacer plates 20 and 21 are provided on each side of the shank 12 to confine the shank in position on the stock 13; the stock extends through a suitable aperture in the spacer plates (Figures 1, 2 and 3). Each spacer plate is welded as at 31 to the adjacent fluke and to the reinforcing

rib

18 and 19; the

crown plates

14 and 15 are each welded to the spacer plates as at 32. Each fluke includes an ear 33 thereon, the rear edge of each fluke and each ear being welded to the stock as at 34.

The crown plates act as stops to limit the swing of the shank and flukes relation to one another to provide for the correct angular relations between the shank and fiukes when these are in operative position and, in the form shown, each crown plate is formed with a long narrow slot 22 to engage the shank and permit of an adequate swing of the shank, as will be further described. By providing opposite spacer plates secured to each fluke, adequate support is provided. for the

crown plates

14 and 15 in the desired relation to the plane of the flukes. The spacer plates are made quite simply as by stamping; they provide an adequate support for the crown plates with a very low resistance to burial.

In accordance with this invention, the narrow slot 22 provided in each of the crown plates is made quite deep in each plate, enabling the shank to swing rearwardly, for example, into the dotted line position indicated at 23 in Figure 2. However, the normal operating position of the shank is as shown in full lines in Figures 2 and 3, and wherein the edge of the shank is engaged with one or the other of cotter pins 24 extending transversely through suitably positioned apertures in the spacer plates 20 and 21. The position of the cotter pins 24 in relation to the shank is such that these define the angle of swing of the shank about the stock 13. Normally, the shank can swing through a total are of from 30 to as much as corresponding to a fluke angle, as defined in Patent 2,249,546, for example, of from 15 to 50. However, the extent of the normal swing of the shank relative to the fluke forms no part of the present invention as this is fully spelled out in the prior art and the position of the cotter pins 24 is chosen in accordance with such teachings and to provide the desired fluke angle. The cotter Patented June 21, 1955 pins, however, do provide frangible elements which are severed upon application of a pull in excess of that to which the anchor is normally subjected in use as an anchor. Thus, if the anchor should become accidentally fouled when in use and its withdrawal is not possible by ordinary efiorts, continued pull applied upon the attached cable or chain will result in breakage of one of the frangible elements 24, as provided by the cotter pins, and so permit the shank 12 to swing through the full depth of slot 22 and into that position in which it is shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, and in which position the pull of the cable or chain is sutliciently rearwardly that the opportunity for withdrawal of the anchor from engagement with the object with which it has become fouled is vastly improved.

In place of cotter pins, one can use other frangible elements such as brass rods, and in smaller sizes of an chors, even ordinary nails bent so as to remain in place until broken. The shank can swing through an arc of as much as from about 90 to 180 to the plane of the flukes, it being first necessary in the case of the latter swing to extend slot 22 to the full length of the crown plates so these are, in effect, divided.

From the foregoing, I believe it will be apparent that I have provided a novel and improved twin fluke anchor construction.

I claim:

1. In an anchor of the twin fluke type having a pair of spaced flukes each having parallel faces thereon extending substantially in a single plane and simultaneously engaging bottom when in operative position, a stock, a shank pivotally mounted for a swinging movement between the flukes, the flukes being disposed substantially symmetrically with respect to the shank, a crown at the rear of the anchor includin'g a crown-plate on each side of the flukes disposed laterally centrally be-J tween the spaced flukes, each crown plate having a slot therein for engaging the shank and thereby permitting the shank to swing away from the plane of the flukes through an angle of at least about 90, and a frangible element extending across the slot and normally limiting swing of the shank away from the plane of the flukes to an angle of from about 15 to about I 2. In an anchor of the twin fluke type having a pair of spaced flukes each having parallel faces thereon extending substantially in a single plane and simultaneously engaging bottom when inoperative position, a

stock, a shank pivotally mounted for a swinging movement between the flukes, the flukes being disposed substantially symmetrically with respect to the shank, a

crown at the rear of the anchor including a crown-plate on each side of the flukes disposed laterally centrally be: tween the spaced flukes, each crown plate having a slot therein for engaging the shank and thereby permitting the shank to swing away from the plane of the flukes through an angle in excess of and a frangible element extending across the slot and normally limiting swing of the shank away from the plane of the flukes to an'angle of from about 15 to about 50.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Millen June 13, 1950