US3006309A

US3006309A - Towing apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3006309A
Application number: US833783A
Authority: US
Inventors: Paul D Rowley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1959-08-14
Filing date: 1959-08-14
Publication date: 1961-10-31
Anticipated expiration: 1978-10-31

Description

Oct. 31, 1961 P. D. RowLEY TowING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 14, 1959 JNVENTOR. Paul l). Rowley BY/m' /MW ATToraNsv IIA 1 vini/11141 1 United States Patent Giliee 3,006,309 Patented Oct. 31, 1961 3,006,309 TOWING APPARATUS Paul D. Rowley, 3249 Skanders Drive, Flint, Mich. Filed Aug. 14, 1959, Ser. No. 833,783 2 Claims. (Cl. 114-235) The present invention relates to apparatuses attached to the stern of a boat for towing or trolling purposes, and more particularly to boat attachments for use when water skiing.

Generally, there is provided abracket pivotally mounted on the stern of a boat for elevating a reel carried by said bracket and upon which a tow line is secured and wound, there being a pair of crank arms at opposite ends of the spool of the reel which are constructed in a manner so that either may be engaged with the spool for manually rotating the same, while the other of said crank arms is employed as a handle for holding the reel in the elevated position most convenient for winding the tow line thereon. When water skiing it is desirable to have the tow line attached to the boat as near the water level as is possible. Such low lattachment of the tow line makes it difticult to wind in the tow line after use thereof, lwhich accounts for the provision of the above mentioned bracket structure for elevating the spool and crank arms.

It is laccordingly an object of a novel apparatus of the above indicated character having a reel capable of assuming a lowered position during towing, and -an elevated position during winding of a tow line thereon.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a device of the character set forth, novel reel rotating and positioning means at opposite ends of said reel wherein either of said means may be used to either rotate or position the reel.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a device of the character set forth, novel `additional load carrying means in the support of the pivoted bracket when said bracket is ina lowered towing position.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a towing device of the above indicated character, which is simple and substantial in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and thoroughly eicient and practical in use.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specication taken in conjunction with the drawing, in which:

FIGURE l is -a side elevation of the stern portion of a small boat, showing the improved towing apparatus attached thereto;

FIGURE 2 is a rear view of apparatuses employed;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan and sectional v-iew taken substantially on line 3-3 of FIGURE 2, and showing a hand holding bar such as used in water skiing attached to the free end of the towing line;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation and sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a still further enlarged fragmentary section taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is `also a fragmentary section and is taken on line 6-6 of FIGURE 3.

Referring more specifically to the accompanying drawing, wherein like numerals designate simil-ar parts throughout the various views, there is indicated by numeral 10 the stern portion of a small boat having the usual transom 11 upon which is clamped in the customary manner an outboard motor 12.

The improved towing apparatus forming the subject of the present invention and generally indicated by the the invention to provide same, showing two towing being rearwardly of and mounted on the transom 11 and in FIGURE 2. as being two in number with one at each side of the motor 12. A boltlike member 14 having its head in the form of an elongated lug 15 is rigidly secured to the transom by extending the shank portion 16 of said bolt-like member through a hole 117 drilled in the transom and threading a nut 18 on the e `d of said shank portion, there being washers 19 on said shank portion at opposite sides of said transom land against which the inner end of said elongated lug and nut bear.

The elongation of the lug 15 is in a direction opposite the direction in which the shank y16 extends and there are opposite flat sides 19 on said lug that extend the full Vlength thereof and against which is supported a pair of forwardly Vdirected legs 20 of a bracket designated generally by the numeral 21. A bolt 22 extends through aligned Iholes in the end portions of said legs 20 and the lug 15 adjacent to its attachment to the transom and forms a pivotal connection of said bracket to said lug for upward and downward swinging movement of said bracket. The bolt 22 is of a type that can be easily removed without the use of tools when detaching the bracket from the lug, there being a small bar 23 pivoted intermediate its ends to the bolt which can be positioned crosswise of Vthe bolt for retention of said bolt or positioned lengthwise of the bolt tor its removal.

Spaced rearwardly of and parallel with the pivot pin 22 is a cross pin 24, which has its opposite ends iixed to the legs 20 by welding or the like, and which extends between and rigidly supports said legs in spaced relation to one another. There is a notch 25 extending 'downwardly -in the lug 15 from its upper edge and adjacent its rear end into which the cross pin 24 is received upon lowering of the bracket 21 on its pivotal connection to a position where the legs 20 thereof are aligned with the lug 15. The notch 25, as shown in FIGURE 4, is of an arcuate shape and has its opposite sides on substantially true arcs from the center of the pivot pin 22 and is arranged in size and location relative to the cross pin 24 so as to fiorm contact of the lug with the cross pin at least along the rear side of the notch 25 and thereby applies =a portion of a rearward pull load on the bracket 21 to the lug 15. The cross pin 24 engages the bottom of the notch 25 -to limit downward swinging movement of the bracket 21 when the legs 20 of said bracket and lug are 'aligned side by side.

The bracket 21 while being supported and movable as a single unit, is constructed `from a pair of pieces of ilat stock held together by the cross pin 24 and is angularly bent to `also provide a pair of rearwardly directed legs 26 that are spaced apart a much greater distance than the pair of forwardly directed legs 20. Between the legs 26 and rotatably mounted thereon is a spool 27 having a spindle 28, a pair of flared end discs 29 and a pair of trunnions 30 outwardly of said discs and extending through bearing holes 31 in the rear end portions of the legs 26. Nuts 32 threaded on the trunnions 30 and shoulders 33 formed on said trunnions, suport therebetween the legs 26 for proper positioning the bearing surfaces on said legs and on said trunnions relative to one another. Outwardly of the nuts 32 the trumnons have provided thereon reduced portions 34 that are circular in cross section and larger portions 35, which are square in cross section. In the ends of the trunnions are tapped holes into which are threaded small bolts 36 that iirmly support washers 37 of a diameter greater than the cross sectional size of the squared portions 35. :It is onto and off of three

different portions

34 and 35 of the trunnions that cranks 38 are mounted and are shiftable between the nuts 32 and washers 37, there being square holes 39 in the cranks through which these portions of the trunnumeral 13 is shown as nions extend and which 'are of a size for engaging the larger squared portions 35 so as to rotate the spool upon turning of said cranks. Thus, it can be seen that either one of the cranks can be used to rotate the spool while the other off said cranksA is disengaged from the spool and is used to hold said spool in an elevatedposition.

An eye bolt 40 connected to the spindle 28 of the spool 27 has an end of a rope 41 secured through the eye wthereof for winding the rope on the spool upon manual rotation of the spool.` In FIGURE 3 the rope 41 is shown for use in water skiing, there being a oat 42 and a hand bar 43 on its free end. However, it is to be understood that the rope 41 may be used as a tow line for pulling other boats, fishing lines, or other objects over and through the water. When the reel is not in use the bolt 22 may be easily removed so as to disconnect the bracket 21 from the `lug 15, which remains on the boat and may be used for many other purposes.

As previously mentioned, it is desirable when water `skiing to connect the tow line as low as possible to the boat used to pull the skier over the water. Because of such low connection it is ditiicult to wind the tow line on the spool after use of said tow line. It is for this reason that the bracket 21 is pivotally supported and can be elevated to -a position more convenient to wind the tow line on the spool. To further aid in convenient and ecient operation of the device, the spool can be rotated with either hand of the operator while holding the spool ele- Vvated with his other hand.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of the construction, operation and advantages of the improved towing apparatus will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A more detailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shown yand described a preferred embodiment of the invention, various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and full intendment of the invention.

What is claimed is: v n

1. A towing apparatus for attachment to the stern of a boat, said apparatus comprising a at sided elongated lug rigidly attached to the transom of the boa-t and projecting rearwardly therefrom, a bracket having a pair of closely spaced parallel legs extending forwardly along opposite at sides of said lug and having a pair of greater spaced legs extending rearwardly and beyond said lug, the forward end portions said lug, a cross pin exa pivot pin extending through of said closely spaced legs and tending between and rigidly fixed to said closely spaced legs of said bracket, said cross pin being parallel with and rearwardly of said pivot pin, said lug having its upper edge portion notched for reception and bottoming of said cross pin when said bracket is swung on said pivot pin to its lowermost position, said notch being of an arcuate shape and having its opposite sides on substantially true arcs from the center of the pivot pin and arranged relative to the cross pin so as to form contact of the lug with `the cross pin `at ieast along the rear side of the notch and thereby applying a portion of a rearward pull load on. the bracket to the lug at such location, `a spool rotatably supported by and between said greater spaced rearwardly directed legs of said bracket, a tow line having an end thereof iixed to said spool, yand a crank Varm for rotating said spool.

2. A towing apparatus for attachment to the sternl of a boat, said Yapparatus comprising a bracket rearwardly of the boat and pivotally connected to the transom thereof for swinging movement from a position directed rearwardly of said transom to a position extending rearwardly and upwardly, said bracket having a pair of rearward spaced legs thereon, a spool having trunnions at opposite ends thereof that extend through the rearward end portions of said legs so as to rotatably support said spool by and between said spaced legs, each of said trunnions having `a reduced cylindrical portion and a noncylindrical portion `of larger size thereon, and a crank arm mounted on each of said trunnions by having a hole therein through which a tnlnnion extends, said holes in said crank Karms being of noncylindrical shape similar to the noncylindrical cross sectional shaped portions of the trunnions, said crank arms being shiftable endwise of said trunnions to positions on and oi of said cylindrical and noncylindrical portions so as to rotate said spool with either of said crank arms while holding said bracket and spool carried thereby in an upward position with the other of said crank arms.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 930,390 Kneisley June 29, 1909 967,601 Bouard Aug. 16, 1910 983,795 Youngren Feb. 7, 1911 Y 1,362,856 Drake Dec. 21, 1920 2,466,688k Culver Apr. 12, 1949 2,551,149 McCampbell May 11, 1951 2,816,310 Nale Dec. 17, 1957 2,821,726 Correll Feb. 4, 1958 2,915,259 Force Dec. 1, 1959