US3815412A

US3815412A - Wind direction indicator

Info

Publication number: US3815412A
Application number: US00239686A
Authority: US
Inventors: M Keim
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-03-30
Filing date: 1972-03-30
Publication date: 1974-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 1991-06-11

Abstract

A flexible cloth strip having adhesive tape extending from a first end of said strip approximately one half of the length of the strip, which tape holds against the strip a plastic monofilament bristle which extends from a first intermediate point on the strip partway toward the second end of the strip; said tape having fiberglas strands extending the length of the tape along the length of the strip; said strip being split longitudinally at said first end to form two ties with reinforced tape on each of said two ties. Said indicator also including a flat anchor member having a first hole at one point through which the ties are extended and then brought back around the strip and tied to secure thereby the strip to the anchor member, which anchor member has a split ring at a second point through which may be received a stay.

Description

EJnEted States Patent n91 Keim [ WIND DIRECTION INDICATOR [76] Inventor: Melville Keim, 933 Via Lido Soud,

Newport Beach, Calif. 92660 [22] Filed: Mar. 30, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 239,686

[52] US. Cl. 73/188, 116/173 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Publication: The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford W. Ashley.

[ 1 June 11, 1974 Primary ExaminerLouis J. Capozi 57 ABSTRACT A flexible cloth strip having adhesive tape extending from a first end of said strip approximately one half of the length of the strip, which tape holds against the strip a plastic monofilament bristle which extends from a first intermediate point on the strip partway toward the second end of the strip; said tape having fiberglas strands extending the length of the tape along the length of the strip; said strip being split longitudinally at said first end to form two ties with reinforced tape on each of said two ties. Said indicator also including a flat anchor member having a first hole at one point through which the ties are extended and then brought back around the strip and tied to secure thereby the strip to the anchor member, which anchor member has a split ring at a second point through which may be received a stay.

7 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures WIND DIRECTION INDICATOR BACKGROUND OF INVENTION the wind direction and velocity. Those tails have had.

the problem that they become tangled with the stay and cannot perform their function.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION One aspect of the present invention is the provision of stiffener means extending'from the point that the tail is connected to the swingable anchor member. And, the tail is connected to the anchor member so that the stiffener means holds the tail away from the stay to which the device is swingably connected by the anchor member.

Another aspect of the present invention is that the stiffener means includes adhesive tape having fiberglas strands which can be quickly. applied to the tail in order to hold a bristle, preferably a piece of plastic monofilament material, to the tail at an intermediate position of the length of thetail. The tape extends fromthat intermediate position to a first end of the tail. Then, the tail is split from the first end of the tail to the point of the bristle-thus providing twoties each of which is strengthened by fiberglas reinforced tape.

Another aspect of the present invention is that the tail can be quickly connected to theanchormember by merely extending the ties through a hole in the anchor member and then bringing the ties back around the body of the tail where the ties are tied together. Of particular importance is the fact that this arrangement of securing holds ag'ainsta face of the anchor member a portion of the tail which is reinforced by the bristle. Thereby, the tail will extend parallel to that faceofthe anchor member. And, by providing that such face extends at a right angle to a hole on the anchor member through which the stay is received, the tail will extend away from the stay at a right angle thereto.

A further aspect of the present invention is the fact that'it provides a long-lived product which can be produced at a very low cost and quickly installed.

' With the foregoing in mind, it is a major object of this invention to provide an improved wind indicator.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wind indicator which is particularly adapted to the stay of a sailboat and tends to avoid tangling with the stay.

A further object of this invention is to provide a rugged, low cost wind indicator for use with sailboats.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a low cost wind indicator for sailboats which can. be quickly installed without any significant skill.

Other and furtherobjects of this invention will become apparent in the detailed description below in connection with the attached drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

' the anchor member;

FIG. 6 is a full plan view of the tail after it is connected to the anchor member; and,

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the tail taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 6.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a portion of a boat stay 10 to which a preferred embodiment of the present invention is connected. As will be described in further detail below, the wind indicator includes an anchor member 11 to which is connected a tail, indicated generally by the arrow 12. Before going on with the detailed description of the wind indicator, the preferred manner of supporting the wind indicator at the desired position on the stay l0 should be described.

At the selected heighth, a piece of adhesive tape 14 is wrapped around the stay (preferably about eight times) to form a support shoulder for split Washer 15. Then, the anchor member 11 rests on top of the washer 15 and may rotate around the stay 10.

Preferably, the anchor member is made in a plane having a first face 16 and a second fact 17 each extending parallel to the plane. The anchor member 11, preferably further includes a first hole 18 at a first point on the anchor member for use in securing thereto the tail 12 as will be described in further detail below.'At a sec ond point on the anchor member ll, there is provided a larger hole 19 through which is loosely received the stay 10. As can be seen, the provision of a split 20 in the anchor member. ll enables a person to swingably connect the anchor member to the stay 10 at a midportion thereof without the necessity of threading the stay through the hole 19. 1

The main portion of the tail 12 is a relatively long flexible strip 22. Preferably, the strip 22 is made of a cloth material such as, e.g., dacron; however, even plastic sheet material would work. Also, it is preferred that the strip 22 be approximately 10 inches long with a width of approximately one-half inch. As can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 6, the strip 22 has a first end .23 and a second end 24. Further, there can be seen how a piece of fiberglas reinforced adhesive tape has been adhered to one face of the strip .22 and extends from the first end 23 toward the second end 24 approximately onehalf of the length of the strip 22. As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 7, there is provided a plastic monofilament bristle 27 extending lengthwise of the strip 22. The bristle 27 furnishes stiffener means for. holding the tail 22 away from the stay 10 as will be described further below.

Preferably, the bristle 27 is made of polyethylene or polyvinyl plastic rod approximately 0.032 inches in diameter. Such material will furnish sufficient rigidity.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the strip 22 is split from the first end 23 to a first intermediate point 29 to form first and

second tie portions

30 and 31, respectively. It will I be noted that the split in the strip 22 has been located simple knot 32.

so that one half of the tape 25 is on each of the

tie portions

30 and 31. Therefore, the fiberglas strands in the tape will give great strength to each tie portion. Preferably, the split in the strip 22 does not extend all of the way to thebristle 27. This will assist the tape 26 in holding the bristle 27 against longitudinal movement.

Of particular importance is the manner in which the tail 12 can be rapidly secured to the anchor member 11. The two

tie portions

30 and 31 are threaded through the hole 18 from the first face 16 to the second face 17. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the two

tie portions

30 and 31 are brought laterally away from each other. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the two

tie portions

30 and 31 are brought back up around the anchor member 11 and the strip 22 and wrapped around each other to form the first half of a simple knot 32. Then, as seen in FIG. 6, the two

tieportions

30 and 31 are wrapped around each other again to form the second half of the It is particularly important to note how this above are rangernent results in the bristle 27 holding the tail 12 directlyaway from the stay at a right angle thereto. This is because the bristle 27 is held against the upper face 16 of the anchor member 11, and therefore,- ex- .tends parallel-thereto. Since the face 16 extends at a g by way'of illustration only and numerous changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention should be limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.

'1 claim: Y 1. An improved wind direction indicator particularly adapted forv a stay on a boat comprising:

an anchor member, said anchor member having at a first point thereon a hole extending therethrough from one face of the member to another face 'thereof, said member being adapted at a second point thereof to be swingably connected to a stay, said second point being spaced from said first point, said one face being relatively flat in the direction of aline joining saidfirst point and said second point so as to provide a flat anchor portion; a tail connected to said member, said tail comprising:

a flexible relatively long sheet material strip having a first end and a second end, said strip having a predetermined length, said strip being split from said first end to a firstintermediate point to form two tie portions, said tie portions extending through said first hole from said one face to said another face and extending around the strip and holding the strip tight against said one face at said flat anchor portion, whereby said flat anchor portion influences the direction that said tail extends from said anchor member.

2. The indicator set forth in claim 1 wherein said tail includes:

a relatively rigid stiffener extending from said first intermediate point toward said second and and at least a portion of said stiffener is held against said flat anchor portion.

3. Theindicator set forth in claim 1 including:

adhesive tape adherred to said strip from said first end to at least said first intermediate'point, said tape having at least two reinforcement strands which are spaced apart and extend generally parallel to the length of the strip, said tape being split so that part of said tape is on each of said tie portions and one of said reinforcement strands is on each tie portion. 4. The indicator set forth in claim 3 wherein: said tape extends from said first end substantially be-' yond said first intermediate pointtoward said second end of said strip. 5. ln an improved wind direction indicator swingably connected to a boat stay, which indicator has an anchor member swingably connected to the boat stay at a second point on said anchor member, a tail connected to said member at a first point which is spaced from said second point, said tail comprising: a

a flexible realtively long sheet material strip of predetermined length having a first end and a second end;

and stiffener means on said strip extending from a point intermediate said first and second end toward said first end, said stiffener means engaging said anchor member, whereby said stiffener means causes said tail to extend from said anchor member at a predetermined angle dependent upon the engageanchor mem-

Claims

1. An improved wind direction indicator particularly adapted for a stay on a boat comprising: an anchor member, said anchor member having at a first point thereon a hole extending therethrough from one face of the member to another face thereof, said member being adapted at a second point thereof to be swingably connected to a stay, said second point being spaced from said first point, said one face being relatively flat in the direction of a line joining said first point and said second point so as to provide a flat anchor portion; a tail connected to said member, said tail comprising: a flexible relatively long sheet material strip having a first end and a second end, said strip having a predetermined length, said strip being split from said first end to a first intermediate point to form two tie portions, said tie portions extending through said first hole from said one face to said another face and extending around the strip and holding the strip tight against said one face at said flat anchor portion, whereby said flat anchor portion influences the direction that said tail extends from said anchor member.

2. The indicator set forth in claim 1 wherein said tail includes: a relatively rigid stiffener extending from said first intermediate point toward said second and and at least a portion of said stiffener is held against said flat anchor portion.

3. The indicator set forth in claim 1 including: adhesive tape adherred to said strip from said first end to at least said first intermediate point, said tape having at least two reinforcement strands which are spaced apart and extend generally parallel to the length of the strip, said tape being split so that part of said tape is on each of said tie portions and one of said reinforcement strands is on each tie portion.

4. The indicator set forth in claim 3 wherein: said tape extends from said first end substantially beyond said first intermediate point toward said second end of saiD strip.

5. In an improved wind direction indicator swingably connected to a boat stay, which indicator has an anchor member swingably connected to the boat stay at a second point on said anchor member, a tail connected to said member at a first point which is spaced from said second point, said tail comprising: a flexible realtively long sheet material strip of predetermined length having a first end and a second end; and stiffener means on said strip extending from a point intermediate said first and second end toward said first end, said stiffener means engaging said anchor member, whereby said stiffener means causes said tail to extend from said anchor member at a predetermined angle dependent upon the engagement of said stiffener means with said anchor member.

6. The indicator set forth in claim 5 wherein said stiffener means comprises: a piece of adhesive tape adherred to said strip.

7. The indicator set forth in claim 6 wherein said stiffener means comprises: a piece of monofilament material held against said strip by said tape.