US3389676A

US3389676A - Tow rope retrieving device for water skiers

Info

Publication number: US3389676A
Application number: US633876A
Authority: US
Inventors: John R Sims
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1967-04-26
Filing date: 1967-04-26
Publication date: 1968-06-25
Anticipated expiration: 1985-06-25

Description

J. R. SIMS 3,389,676

TOW ROPE RETRIEVING DEVICE FOR WATER SKIERS June 25, 1968 Filed April 26, 1967 INVENTOR JOHN R. SIMS BY fiwdiaw AT TORNE United States Patent M 3,389,676 TOW ROPE RETRIEVING DEVICE FOR WATER SKIERS John R. Sims, 35930 Rewa Ave., Mount Clemens, Mich. 48043 Filed Apr. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 633,876 8 Claims. (Cl. 115-6.1)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tow rope retrieving device is mounted between and secured to the branches which extend from the tow rope to the handle bar. It contains a constant-torque springwinding appliance having a spring storage drum on which a band spring normally tends to coil itself but which is unwound onto a smaller diameter spring wind-up hub portion of .a double drum in response to the pull, on the larger drum portion, of a retrieving line or cable wound thereon and releasably secured to the wrist of the water skier who has fallen off his skis into the water. In so doing, he relinquishes his grip upon the handle bar, whereupon the spring winding appliance pays out the retrieving line while it winds up the band spring from the spring storage drum onto the spring wind-up drum .and thereby builds up and stores torque force. As the towing motor boat halts and backs toward the skier, the retrieving line maintains his connection with the branches of the tow rope. At the same time, the stored torque force winds up the retrieving line and maintains the tow rope and its branches in a taut condition, eliminating any danger of their being fouled by the propeller of the towing boat.

Background of the invention Hitherto, when a water skier falls off his skis, as frequently occurs with novices, he loses his grip on the handle bar at his end of the tow rope. The towing motor boat cannot back directly toward him without incurring the danger and probability of fouling the now-slack tow rope in the propeller and around the propeller shaft. As a consequence, the towing boat hitherto has been required to make a wide turn of approximately 360 degrees and at the same time to avoid other motor boats, sailing craft and other water skiers or swimmers in order to get back to its own water skier. The present invention enables the water skier who has been thrown olf his skis to maintain a connection to the handle bar and tow rope, so that the motor boat operator merely has to back his motor boat over a short distance to the skier.

In the drawing,

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a tow rope retrieving device mounted between the branches of the tow rope, according to one form of the invention; and

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 22 in FIGURE 1.

Referring to the drawing in detail, FIGURES 1 and 2 show a tow rope retrieving device, generally designated 10, adapted to be attached between and secured to the branches 12 leading from the tow rope 14 at their forward ends 16 to the handle bar 18 at their rearward ends 20. The handle bar 18 is drilled divergently for the passage of the tow rope branches 12, the rearward ends 20 of which are knotted behind thehandle bar 18.

The tow rope retrieving device includes a hollow casing 22 with parallel opposed side plates 24 and 26 in which are mounted stud or pivot bolts or spindles 28 and 30 respectively. Rotatably mounted upon the pivot bolts 28 and 30 are a spring holding or storage drum 32 and a double winding drum 34 having a larger diameter hub or spring-wind-up portion 36. A coiled band torsion motive spring 38 is normally wound on the spring storage 3,389,676 Patented June 25, 1968 drum 32 without its inner end being secured thereto, while its free outer end is bolted or otherwise secured at 42 to the hub or spring wind-up portion 36 of the double winding drum 34.

The double winding drum 34 has a still larger-diameter flanged reel or drum portion 44 to which is secured the forward end of a tow rope retrieving line 46. The rearward end of the line 46 is secured to a quick-release appliance 45 including an eye 48 in a quick-release pin 50 having an enlarged head 52 which is releasably held between the opposite spring side arms 54 of a quick-release pin holder 56 connected at 58 to a wrist band 60 which is secured to the skiers wrist W.

The band spring 38 is of such a nature that it nor mally coils itself around its small diameter holding or storage drum 32 to which its inner end is not secured except by its frictional gripping effect against the storage drum 32. The constant torque arrangement or appliance, generally designated 62, of the spring storage drum 32, torsion band spring 38 and spring wind-up drum 36 is conventional and is made and sold by the Hunter Spring Company of Lansdale, Pa., under the trademark Negator spring. Its construction is disclosed and claimed in the Foster Patents Nos. 2,609,191 and 2,609,193, and the Lermont Patent 2,609,192, all of Sept. 2, 1952; also in the Cook Patent 2,647,743 of Aug. 4, 1953. In the device of the present invention, the band spring 38 has about 40 turns wound on the storage drum, and is about .012 inch thick. In contrast to the ordinary spiral torsion spring where the force varies as the spring is wound up or unwound, this constant-torque arrangement maintains this force at a substantially constant level, so that the pull exerted by it upon the retrieving line 46 when it is nearly fully paid out is substantially the same as that exerted upon it when it is nearly fully wound up on its respective wind-up drum 44. The retrieving line 46 is of sufficient length, such as feet, to permit a considerable distance to open between the handle bar 18 and the water skier in the water, so as to give the motor boat operator ample time to stop and reverse his boat.

Means is provided on the casing 22, such as by divergent passageways 64 through the opposite side walls 66 thereof, for securing the casing 22 to the tow rope branches 12. The latter, for example, are conveniently provided with knots 68 (FIGURE 1) Where they enter and leave the divergent passageways 64 so as to securely locate and hold the tow rope retrieving device 10 between the towing cable branches 12. The retrieving cable 46 is knotted at its inner end where it is attached to the drum 44 (not shown), and also near its outer end at 70 to serve as a stop. In lieu of the quick-release appliance 45 attached to the skiers wrist, it will be understood that the retrieving line 46 may be connected in any other suitable manner to the skier or to his equipment, for example, to a belt around his body or to his life jacket.

In the operation of the invention while the skier is still standing on his skis with his hand H gripping the handle bar 18, the pull exerted on the spring wind-up drum 36 by the tendency of the band torsion spring 38 to coil itself around the spring storage drum 32 imparts reverse or wind-up rotation to the spring wind-up drum 36 and consequently to the retrieving line wind-up reel 44, which forms the remaining portion of the double winding drum 34. This torque and consequent rotation imparted to the retrieving line wind-up drum 44 causes the retrieving line 46 to be completely wound up thereon and skiing proceeds normally.

If, however, the skier falls off his skis and relinguishes his grasp on the handle bar 18, the handle bar 18 and retrieving device 10 continue to be towed along by the tow rope 14 and its branches 12 until the motor boat operator is able to halt his boat, reverse it, and back it down. Meanwhile, however, the pull of the retrieving line 46 attached to the skier, upon the large diameter retrieving line wind-up drum portion or reel 44 of the double drum 34 unwinds the retrieving cable 46 and consequently rotates the double drum 34. This in turn forces the torsion band spring 38 to be unwound from the spring storage drum 32 and onto the spring wind-up drum 36 at a substantially constant pulling force inherent in the arrangement 62.

As the motor boat operator brings his boat to a halt and reverses it so as to back it down, the tow rope 14 and the retrieving line 46 are maintained taut by the tow line retrieving device 10 as the torsion band spring 38 is paid out from the spring Wind-up drum 36 and unwinds itself on the spring storage drum 32 in accordance with its normal tendency. The motor boat operator continues to back his boat down until the retrieving line 46 is wound up sufiiciently on its drum 44 to bring the handle bar 18 within reach of the skiers hand. This he grasps as he climbs back upon his skies and resumes; his skiing.

If, by any chance, the motor boat operator fails to notice that the water skier has fallen off his skis, or is unable for any reason to halt the boat. before all of the retrieving line 46 has been paid out, the quick-release appliance 45 comes into operation to prevent the skier from being dragged, by permitting the enlarged head 52 of the release pin 50 to be jerked out from between the yielding spring arms 54.

The present invention has been described and illustrated as an attachment to a conventional towing rope and handle bar. It will be understood, however, that the invention also contemplates manufacturing the handle bar molded integral with the casing such as of synthetic plastic with a steel coil inside the handle bar and with the opposite ends of the handle bar projecting from opposite sides of the casing.

I claim:

1. The combination with a water ski tow rope and handle bar, of a retrieving device comprising a hollow casing having means thereon for connection to the tow rope adjacent the handle bar,

first and second spindles mounted in said casing in spaced parallel relationship,

a motive spring storage drum rotatably mounted on said first spindle,

a motive spring wind-up drum rotatably mounted on said second spindle,

a motive band spring normally spirally wound on said spring storage drum and extending from one side of ,assasrs said storage drum across the space between said drums to the opposite side of said spring wind-up drum and having one end anchored to said spring wind-up drum,

a retrieving line wind-up reel also rotatably mounted on said second spindle and drivingly connected to said motive spring wind-up drum,

a tow rope retrieving line secured at one end to said reel and wound thereon,

and means on the other end of said retrieving line for attachment to the water skier.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein the line windup reel and the spring wind-up drum are integral and coaxial with one another and constitute a double-drum member. v

3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein the line wind-up reel is'of larger diameter than the spring wind-up drum.

4. The combination according to claim 3, wherein the spring wind-up drum is of larger diameter than the spring storage drum.

5.'The combination according to claim 1, wherein said connection means includes divergent passageways through the periphery of said casing, .and wherein the tow rope has divergent branches extending therefrom through'said passageways to the opposite ends of the handle bar.

6. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said attachment means includes an appliance securable to the body of the skier having a line attachment part secured to the retrieving line and a body-engaging part.

7. The combination according to claim 6, wherein said body-engaging part includes a wrist band adapted to be detachably secured to the wrist of the skier.

8. The combination according to claim 6, wherein said appliance includes a separable connection between said line attachment part and said body-engaging part, said connection being responsive to the application of a predetermined tension to said retrieving line for separating said parts from one another.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1962 Lankey 114235 X 8/1962 Calk et al 115 6.1