US3635187A

US3635187A - Anchor carrier and guide

Info

Publication number: US3635187A
Application number: US52261A
Authority: US
Inventors: James E Webb
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-07-06
Filing date: 1970-07-06
Publication date: 1972-01-18
Anticipated expiration: 1989-01-18

Abstract

The device serves to position a retrieved anchor on a base mounted on the bow of the boat. It is primarily adapted to an anchor whose fluked yoke is pivoted to its shank and can swing through an angle on each side of the shank. As the anchor passes boat during dropping or retrieving it, the flukes should obviously point away from the boat. The device achieves this end, and also maintains the fully retrieved anchor so balanced that it will begin its descent into the water upon slackening the line attached to it.

Description

6 United States Patent 1 1 3,635,18 Webb 1451 Jan. 18, 1972 [54] ANCHOR CARRIER AND GUIDE 3,554,153 11/1971 Davis ..114/210 [72] Inventor: James E. Webb, 16031 Market St., Chan- PrimryEmminer 1-rygve mix nelvlew' 77530 Assistant Examiner-F. K. Yee 22 Filed: July 6, 1970 Attorney-Frank Ledermann [21] Appl, No.: 52,261 57 T C The device serves to position a retrieved anchor on a base [52] U.S. Cl ..114/210 mounted on the bow of the boat. It is primarily adapted to an [51] lnt.Cl.... ..B63b 21/22 anchor whose fluked yoke is pivoted to its shank and can [58] Field of Search ..1 14/210, 206 R, 208 R, 199, swing gh n gl on ch i e f th shank. As the 1 14/200; 254/ 192, 190 R; 242/157 R anchor passes boat during dropping or retrieving it, the flukes should obviously point away from the boat. The device [56] References Cited achieves this end, and also maintains the fully retrieved anchor so balanced that it will begin its descent into the water UNITED STATES PATENTS upon slackening the line attached to it.

3,481,301 12/1969 Carroll ..114/210 10 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJANIMBYZ 3.635187 SriEU 2 [IF 3 ATTORNEY PATENTEDJANYBBYZ 11635187 SHEET 3 BF 3 F IG.8

IJNVENTOR. JAMES E. W EBB ATTORNEY ANCHOR CARRIER AND GUIDE Where the tenn rectangular" is used hereinafter it is meant to define a figure having one pair of its opposed sides of greater length than the other pair; the term therefore does not signify a square. Referring briefly to the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a small boat's bow, showing in full lines the normal relative position of the various members constituting the device when the anchor is fully retrieved, and in phantom the positions of such of the members as are moveable while the anchor is being dropped or retrieved.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the device per se of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line4-4 of FIG. 1, with parts broken away showing in phantom the anchor shank in a position from which it is turned in the direction of the arrows upon entering the anchor holder tube.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the anchor per se.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view showing the anchor shank nearly wholly entered into the holder tube duringretrieval, just before the anchor yoke is automatically swung into position pointing away from the boat.

FIG. 7 is a similar view but showing the relative positions of the holder tube and the anchor yoke with the shank maximally registered in the tube.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the fixed channel member, per se, of the device as viewed from below.

FIG. 9 is a side elevational view, per se, of the moveable channel member of the device.

FIG. 10 is a bottom plan view of the anchor, per se.

FIG. II is a fragmentary top plan view of the anchor tube, showing a modified detail.

Wherever the positions of the various elements of the instant device are referred to as normal, it is to be understood that the relative positions thereof shown in full lines in FIG. I is meant.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 10, FIG. I designates the bow of a small boat to which, in any suitable manner a trough-shaped or channel-shaped member 11 is attached in approximately or substantially horizontal position. This member includes a floor 12 and opposed side walls 13. At its outer end the member 11 has the floor 12 cut away to provide an end opening or passage 14; that is, in the end portion that extends beyond the bow of the boat. The outer portions 13a of the sidewalls 13, together with the leading edge 20 of the floor, define this passage. A pivot pin 15 is supported between the wall portions 13a.

A second channel-shaped member I6 normally registers and rests in the member 11, and a downward projection 18 from its floor 17 projects into the opening 14 and the pin 15 extends through this projection and pivots the forward end portion of the member I6 to the member II. The projection 18 includes at its rear a nose 19 which, when the member 16 is swung into the tilted position shown in phantom in FIG. 1, engages the forward edge 20 of the floor l2 and is thus stopped from further tilting.

The member 16 has in its sidewalls 21 coplanar longitudinal slots 22 whose forward ends are turned downward to provide notches 23; these slots are in mutual alignment throughout their length. Additionally, the sidewalls 21 have mutually aligned forwardly extending ears 230.

An anchor-holding tube 24, open at both ends, is oval or rectangular in cross section with the rectangle having rounded comers. This who normally rests in the member 16 and its cross'sectional longer/dimension is always at right angles to the floors of the members 11 and 16. The tube has aligned pins or nipples 26 extending from its opposed vertical sidewalls near the rearward extremity of the tube, which nipples register slidably in the slots 22. The tube has a second pair of pins or nipples 27 extending from its sidewalls 25 near but spaced from its forward end. With the device in its normal position, FIG. I, the nipples 27 register within the angle or shoulder formed by the ears 23.

An anchor 30 is shown per se in FIG. 5; it includes a shank 28 having a rectangular cross section sufficiently complementary to the rectangular cross section of the tube 24 so that it may enter and register in the tube during retrieval. The anchors yoke consists of a shaft 29 supported pivotally in the lower end ZIIa of the shank, from which shaft flukes 31 lying in a common plane at right angles to the plane of the shank, project. Collars 32 are rigid with the shaft 29. A unitary platelike or weblike member 33 overlies the collars 32 and extends in opposite directions therefrom at right angles to the shaft, thus providing oppositely and substantially tangentially extending wings 34. A slot 35, lying in the same plane as the shank 28, extends nearly throughout the length of the member 33 but terminates short of the ends of the later. Thus the outer ends of the slot 35 serve as limit stops to the swing of the wings 34 and hence of the anchor yoke. A line 35a is secured in any manner to the upper end 36 of the shank, which end, it is to be noted is rounded as are also the outer longitudinal edges of the shank as is clear in FIG. 4.

It is also to be noted that the lower end of the holder tube 24 has its circumferential edge 37 wave-shaped to provide a cam surface such that, in case during retrieval of the anchor the shank 28 is not properly aligned with the tube and thus to enter it, when the shank end 36 meets the edge 37 the cam causes the latter to turn into alignment with the tube and thus to enter it. FIG. 4 shows how the shank, on meeting the tube during retrieval in a position (shown in phantom) at right angles to that necessary for entry, is turned by the cam edge 37 in the direction of the arrows into the full line position.

NOW first to discuss the dropping of the anchor: FIG. I shows that the stationary pivot pin 15 is a fulcrum about which the tube 24 with the anchor within it and the member I6 may pivot counterclockwise. Preferably the individual parts of the device and their assembly are such that the weight of the moveable parts to the left of the said fulcrum slightly exceeds that of the moveable parts to the right thereof, so that when the line 35 is slackened or released the tube and the member 16 will swing clockwise and as soon as such movement has gone a sufficient distance the tube 24 will slide out of the channel 16. During such sliding the nipples 26 on the tube will slide along the slots 22 and drop into the notches 23, thus suspending the tube from the member 16.

The tilting of the member I6 about its pivot 15 is limited by the nose l9 thereon meeting the edge 20 of the floor 12 in the fixed member 11. While the tube is sliding out of the member 16 to its maximum position shown in phantom in FIG. I, the anchor shank is also sliding out of the tube 24. It is to be noted that the engagement of the nipples 27 within the shoulders formed by the ears 230 as mentioned above, prevents the retrieved anchor from bouncing up while the craft is in motion or subject to vibration.

In retrieving an anchor, and in maintaining it in retrieved position on the boat, it is obviously desirable that the flukes 31 point from the boat. This is accomplished as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. A T-shaped trip member 38 has its stem 39 mounted on the top forward end of the tube 24 and extending forward a distance beyond the tube edge 37, and its crossmember or trip rod 40 at right angles to the stem. If the shank passes the edge 37 with the flukes projecting toward the boat, for example, and enters the tube, as it nears complete entry into the tube the rod 40 meets the wing 34 on the side away from the boat (FIG. 6) and turns the adjacent wings 34 and hence the shaft 29 and the flukes 31 to project away from the boat (FIG. 7). Thus, during retrieval of the anchor from the position of the various members of the device shown in phantom in FIG. I, the anchor first enters the tube 24, then the tube is drawn into the channel member 16 while the latter is also being swung clockwise, and finally the various members come to rest in the relative positions shown in full lines in FIG. 1.

FIG. 11 shows a modification wherein the trim member 380 has its stem 3% adjustably secured to the tube 24 so that the trip rod 40 may be positioned at varying distances from the end of the tube. An example of such adjustability is shown in the form of a plurality of spaced screws securing the stem to the tube whereby such adjustment may obviously be made. This adjustable trip permits of shifting of the balance of the moveable parts of the device about the fulcrum 15, to assure that the anchor will start its descent immediately upon slackening or releasing the line 35. This is because the position of the rod 40 determines the distance the anchor shank may enter the tube 24.

It is obvious that a roller or pulley may be provided at any place in any of the members ll, 16 and 24 to reduce friction on the line 35; for example, at the rear end of the tube 24, or at the rear end of the member 16. Such rollers or pulleys would, of course, make the line about them travel more smoothly and resist chafing.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In combination with an anchor, an anchor carrier and guide comprising a first channel member fixedly secured to a boat in substantially horizontal position, a second channel member normally registering in said first member, each of said members consisting of a floor and opposed sidewalls, said first and second members being pivotally joined on a fulcrum close to the forward end of said first member and relatively more distant from the forward end of said member, the forward portion of the floor of being said first member being away beneath said fulcrum to provide a passage, said second member having aligned longitudinal slots in the sidewalls thereof, an anchor holder tube open at both ends and normally registering in said second member, said tube having a first pair of opposed pins thereon near the rear end thereof registering in said slots, said anchor having a shank the greater portion of whose length normally registers in said tube, said shank and said tube having complementary oval cross sections, said tube having its longer cross-sectional dimension in a plane at right angles to said floors, means partly on the forward end of said tube and partly on said anchor limiting the distance said shank can enter said tube during retrieval of the anchor, said shank having a line secured thereto and extending through said tube and thence along said second member.

2. A combination according to claim 1, said longitudinal slots in said second member extending forward to a position forward of said fulcrum.

3. A combination according to claim 2, the forward extremities of said longitudinal slots extending downward to provide notches serving as limit stops to the forward movement of said tube outward from said second member during dropping of the anchor.

4. A combination according to claim 3, said tube having a second pair of opposed pins thereon near the forward end thereof, said second member having forwardly projecting ears on the front end thereof, said second pair of pins normally registering under said ears.

5. A combination according to claim 1, the part of said means which is on said tube comprising a stem extending forward from the top surface of the tube beyond said forward end thereof and a trip rod on the outer extremity of said stem at right angles thereto, said anchor having a fluked yoke rigid on a shaft pivoted to said shank, a platelike member rigid with said shaft at the middle thereof and extending equidistantly from both sides thereof to provide oppositely extending wings, said platelike member having a continuous slot therethrough whose extremities are positioned near the opposed edges thereof, said slot lying in the plane of said shank with the shank extending therethrough, said extremities of said lastnamed slot providing limit stops to the swinging of said yoke in either direction by engagement with the side edges of said shank, said trip rod engaging whichever of said wings is uppermost as said shank approaches maximal registration in said tube.

6. A combination according to claim 5, the forward edge of said tube being wave-shaped into a cam, the upper end of said shank being rounded, said cam and said upper end of said shank together providing means for turning said shank on its longitudinal axis during retrieval of the anchor to mutually align the complementary cross sections of the shank and the tube so that the shank may enter the tube.

7. A combination according to claim 6, said stem having a length such that said trip rod engages said one of said wings while said fluked yoke is sufficiently distant from said tube to permit the trip rod to swing the flukes from one side of the shank to the opposite side.

8. A combination according to claim 7, wherein said one of said wings is upwardly extending wing.

9. A combination according to claim 8, having means for varying the distance to which said stem extends beyond said forward end of the tube.

10. A combination according to claim 8, said second member having on the underside thereof a downward extension positioned below said fulcrum and extending through said passage, said extension including a nose engageable with the forward edge of said floor of said first member to limit the pivotal swinging of said second member about said fulcrum.

Claims

5. A combination according to claim 1, the part of said means which is on said tube comprising a stem extending forward from the top surface of the tube beyond said forward end thereof and a trip rod on the outer extremity of said stem at right angles thereto, said anchor having a fluked yoke rigid on a shaft pivoted to said shank, a platelike member rigid with said shaft at the middle thereof and extending equidistantly from both sides thereof to provide oppositely extending wings, said platelike member having a continuous slot therethrough whose extremities are positioned near the opposed edges thereof, said slot lying in the plane of said shank with the shank extending therethrough, said extremities of said last-named slot providing limit stops to the swinging of said yoke in either direction by engagement with the side edges of said shank, said trip rod engaging whichever of said wings is uppermost as said shank approaches maximal registration in said tube.