US3238733A - Boat elevator for marine railway system - Google Patents

Description

March 8, 1966 H. J. KREIS BOAT ELEVATOR FOR MARINE RAILWAY SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 25, 1963 ATTORNEY Howard J Kre/s i BY Median 5M March 8, 1966 H. J. KREIS BOAT ELEVATOR FOR MARINE RAILWAY SYSTEM Filed Oct. 25, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Howard J. Kre/s an E ATTORNEY O f lixlllll United States Patent M 3,238,733 BOAT ELEVATOR FOR MARINE RAILWAY SYSTEM Howard J. Kreis, 3523 Abbie Place, Baltimore 7, Md. Filed Oct. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 319,926. 1 Claim. (Cl. 61-67) This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 128,841, filed Aug. 2, 1961, now abandaned.

This invention relates generally to marine railways, and more particularly it pertains to a boat elevator for removing water craft from a :body of water to the shore.

In congested waterways there is not usually space to install a conventional marine railway to bring a boat upon the shore. Often it is not permitted to construct a shelter or even dockage for the craft.

It is an object of this invention to provide an arrangement of boat elevator which operates at a steep angle and so conserves and utilizes water and shore space.

Another object of this invention is to provide a marine railway which removes a boat from the water and deposits it on land maintaining a horizontal attitude thereof at all times during the process.

Still other objects of this invention are to provide a boat elevator system which is economical to manufacture, efficient and reliable in operational use and which is easy to install and maintain.

These and other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent and understood from the following detailed specification and accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a shoreline depicting the side elevation of a boat elevator system embodying features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the boat elevator shown in FIG. 1 with the boat omitted and the carriage in phantom for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2 and illustrating the conveyance of a boat from the water to land;

FIG. 4 is a detail view, much enlarged, of the hoisting shackle arrangement on the front axle of the carriage; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the details of the drawings, there is shown depicted in FIG. 1 a boat elevator which, in the nature of a marine railway, is designed to lift a boat 12 from water to land but with a minimum of dockyard. For this purpose, there is provided a pair of ramps 14 and 16 preferably of reinforced masonry extending from a footing 18 in the bed of a body of water to the top of a shoreline bulkhead 20.

As best shown in FIG. 2, these ramps 14 and 16 are both split into right and left halves and are each provided with wheel channels or tracks 22 and 24, respectively.

The tracks 22 and 24 on the ramps 14 and 16 originate beneath the surface of the water from spaced points A and B respectively, in a common horizontal plane and rise at approximately 45 degree angle in parallel spaced relationship one to the other to points designated A and B, respectively, in a common upper horizontal plane.

3,238,733 Patented Mar. 8, 1966 Both ramps 14 and 16 then carry the tracks 22 and 24 shoreward over the bulkhead 20 in a common plane. This is possible because, as shown best in FIG. 2 the tracks 22 are of greater gauge than tracks 24 and thus can straddle the latter. This shoreward portion of the trackage can be extended as far as desired as indicated by the broken lines in the drawings.

A wheeled carriage 26 is provided as shown in FIG. 1 and in phantom in FIG. 2. As best shown in FIG. 5, the front wheels 28 are adapted for the narrower gauge of tracks 24 whereas the rear wheels 30 conform to the wide gauge tracks 22. The gauge of the latter must also be great enough to permit the passage of the boat 12 between the halves of ramp 14.

The front wheels 28 are spaced from the rear wheels 30 a distance equal to A-B (A'B) which permits the carriage 26 to ascend the ramps 14 and 16 with the boat 12 in a horizontal position.

An endless driving rope 32 extends between the rails of tracks 24 from a drive wheel 38 of a power winch 40 to a pair of upper sheaves 34 and thence to a lower sheave 36 near the footing 18.

As shown in FIG. 4, a hoisting shackle 42 is mounted on the axle 44 between the front wheels 28 of the carriage 26 and attached to an eye 46 which is clamped to the driving rope 32.

With the carriage 26 submerged at its lowest point, as shown in solid lines in FIG. 3, the boat 12 is moored to a staff 48 which extends above the water line from the front of carriage 26. This places the boat 12 directly over cradle blocks 50 which are secured on the carriage 26 and correctly aligned between the halves of ramp 14. When the winch 46 is operated, the eye 46 of drive rope 32 lifts the shackle 42 and the carriage 26 moves upwardly along the tracks 22 and 24. This movement continues as the boat 12 settles in the cradle blocks 50 and, thus supported on the carriage, the boat 12 is lifted from the water without being tilted from the horizontal.

The eye 46 passes readily over the uppermost upper sheave 34 and continues to pull the carriage onto the shoreward extension of the tracks 22 and 24 which are now in a common plane if the ground is level. It is obvious that should the shore be sloping a corresponding depression or elevation of one track with relation to the other will still maintain the boat 12 and carriage 26 in a horizontal attitude.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be'understood that within the scope of the appended claim the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

A marine railway for removing watercraft from a body of water, comprising, inside and outside pairs of tracks rising at an angle of about 45 in parallel planes and horizontally spaced relationship from a lower common horizontal plane beneath the surface of the water to a common upper horizontal plane thereabove, horizontal extensions of said inside and outside tracks in said common upper horizontal plane, horizontal extensions of said inside and outside tracks in said common lower horizontal plane, a boat supporting carriage having front and rear axles with wheels mounted thereon, with the horizontal distance between said inside and outside angularly rising spaced tracks in said parallel planes being equal to the distance between said front and rear axles of said carriage so that said carriage rides on said spaced tracks in a horizontal attitude, winch means including a cable formed into an endless loop for moving said carriage at a constant attitude along said angularly rising spaced tracks, a driving sheave positioning one end of said loop between said horizontal extensions of said inside and outside tracks in said common upper plane, an idler sheave positioning the other end of said loop between said inside and outside tracks beneath said water, a pair of vertically spaced idler sheaves positioned between and at the crest of said inside and outside tracks rising from said Water to receive the upper and lower strands of cable forming said loop thereof, and means connecting said carriage to said loop, whereby movement of said cable is positively transmitted to said carriage.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 697,202 4/ 1902 Donne 6167 2,373,327 3/1921 Haalck 61-67 X 1,585,193 5/1926 Haalck 61-67 1,860,177 5/1932 Dravo et al. 6167 2,371,461 3/1945 Newell 61-67 2,564,951 8/1951 Blagden 61-67 FOREIGN PATENTS 26,466 1906 Austria. 1,080,332 5/1954 France.

852,664 10/ 1952 Germany.

EARL J. WITMER, Primary Examiner.

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