WO2006038233A1

WO2006038233A1 - Electronic displacement check system for boats in general

Info

Publication number: WO2006038233A1
Application number: PCT/IT2004/000553
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fabrizio Casoli
Original assignee: Sonar Electronic S.R.L.
Priority date: 2004-10-06
Filing date: 2004-10-06
Publication date: 2006-04-13

Abstract

An electronic antitheft system is described, able to be used on several kinds of boats (1) provided or not with instantaneous speed check means integrated therein, comprising an electronic device (15), fed by the electric system present on the boat, provided with hydraulic or electronic means for checking an undesired movement of the boat (1) and with means for emitting one or more alarm signals after checking, by the electronic device (15), the undesired movement of the boat (1).

Description

"ELECTRONIC DISPLACEMENT CHECK SYSTEM FOR BOATS IN GENERAL"

The present invention is about an electronic system which checks the displacement of boats in general, preferably but not necessarily suitable for being used as antitheft system.

It is known that many types of antitheft systems, both of mechanic and electronic type, are present on the market, to be used on all kind of land vehicles, such as motor vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and so on. Said antitheft systems, more or less efficient and elaborated, can operate on different parts of the vehicle and they differ for the type of protection they give to said vehicle.

First of all, there are antitheft systems whose purpose is to prevent ill- intentioned persons to steal the vehicle or its components: this is mostly the case of antitheft systems of mechanic type, usually without means for signalling that a theft is occurring, whose peculiarity is to make difficult, or even impossible, to tamper and steal said vehicle.

Another kind of antitheft system commonly used on land vehicles is one able to send a mainly sound but also light alarm signal, which acts as a deterrent against the theft and it is capable to warn the vehicle's owner or the persons nearby that a theft attempt occurred.

Furthermore, there are antitheft systems of positional kind, still applicable on land vehicles, like the satellite tracking system or GPS (Global Positioning System), that is a sophisticated system which allows to know the exact position, as a function of the geodetic coordinates, of a vehicle even if it is in motion after having undergone a possible theft, and also to send said coordinates to said vehicle's owner or to the police force.

However, no kind of antitheft was specifically designed for the nautical field up to now, although it is possible in any case, and unfortunately sometimes usual, that thefts or theft attempts of small and medium size boats, mostly pleasure crafts, take place, both by the misappropriation of said boats and, this being the most frequent situation, by dragging the craft once the moorings are cast off.

Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide for an electronic antitheft system to be applied on several kinds of boats, said electronic antitheft system being either connectable to a particular device of known type, normally present on most of the fishing-boats and pleasure crafts, for checking the movement of the craft, or able to autonomously check said movement.

A further object of the present invention is to provide for an electronic antitheft system which is economic, easy to install and to use but also efficient and reliable, such as the systems applicable to land vehicles, even if a theft attempt of the boat on which said antitheft system is installed unfortunately happens.

The electronic antitheft system according to the present invention has the features set forth in the independent claim 1. Further advantageous features of said device are set forth in the dependent claims. Characteristics and advantages of the invention will be better described in greater detail hereinafter, also with the aid of the annexed drawings, which show illustrative but not limiting embodiments of the antitheft system. Obviously, the same reference numbers in the different figures show the same or equivalent components.

Figure 1 is a schematic axonometric view of a boat provided with a first device of known type to which the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention is applicable.

Figure 2 is a schematic view of a first configuration of the known type device shown in Figure 1 , provided with the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention. Figure 3 is another schematic view of a second configuration of the known type device shown in Figure 1 , provided with the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a schematic axonometric view of a boat provided with a second device of known type to which the electronic antitheft system accord ing to the present invention is applicable.

Figure 5 is a schematic view of a first configuration of the known type device shown in Figure 4, provided with the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention.

Figure 6 is another schematic view of a second configuration of the known type device shown in Figure 4, provided with the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention.

With reference to Figures 1 , 2 and 3 of the annexed drawings, a generic boat 1 is shown, on which a ship's log 3 of known type is applied. The ship's log 3 is generally connected to a speedometer 5 through a conduit 7 suitable for containing a fluid, normally the water on which the boat sails.

The function of the ship's log 3 is that of checking the instantaneous speed of the boat, thus indicating it to the user on the dial 5 by using the well known principle of the "Pitot tube". The Pitot tube is a device for measuring the dynamic pressure and the speed of a fluid in motion. When the boat is moving, the ship's log 3, which is submerged in the water, checks a variation of fluid pressure, said fluid being represented by water, and transmits this variation through the conduit 7, in which consequently a pressure increase with respect to the condition in which the boat is steady takes place, to the dial 5 indicating the craft speed according to the proportional relation between said speed and the difference between the dynamic and the static pressure of the fluid (water).

Therefore, even if the boat undergoes a theft and/or it is dragged, the device formed by the ship's log 3 and the conduit 7 checks an increase of water pressure. Advantageously, the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention makes use of such pressure variation check device to signal in time that the boat is being stolen, or simply that it has been undesirably and accidentally put in motion.

The electronic antitheft system according to the present invention comprises a conduit 9, put in communication at its first end 11 with the tube 7. Said conduit 9 is thus connected, at its second end 13, to an electronic device 15 provided with a proper pressure sensor to check the pressure variation of the water contained in the tube 7, and thus in the conduit 9, which takes place when the boat is in motion. The electronic device 15 is furthermore provided with signalling means, preferably but not necessarily of acoustic type, directly activated by the pressure sensor. For those boats which are not provided with the speed measuring device working as a Pitot tube, it is possible to install the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention anyhow. Said electronic antitheft, system, shown in Figure 3, comprises in this case the conduit 9, always connected at its end 13 to the electronic device 15. At the other end 11 , the conduit 9 is directly connected to the ship's log 3, having in this case the sole function of sending fluid to the pressure sensor of the electronic device 15, to activate the signalling means.

With reference to Figures 4, 5 and 6 of the annexed drawings, a second embodiment of the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention, connected to a different device of known type present on several boats, is shown, the generic boat 1 (Figure 4) is provided in this case with a patent log 17 immersed in the water, connected to the dial 5 for reading the speed by means of an electric connector 19. The boat movement is checked by the rotation of the patent log 17, which transmits an electronic signal through the connector 19 to the dial 5, to indicate the instantaneous speed of the craft.

Therefore, the electronic antitheft system according to this embodiment comprises a cable 21 , connected at its first end 23 to the electric connector 19 and at its second end 25 to the electronic device 15. In this case, the electronic device 15 is provided with means for processing the electronic signal transmitted by the rotation of the patent log 17, the reception of said electronic signal activating the theft signalling means belonging to said electronic device 15.

Similarly to what previously described for the boats provided or not with the ship's log 3, this second embodiment of the electronic antitheft system can be designed also for boats without the patent log device 17 for checking the instantaneous speed. Therefore, the electronic device 15 of the electronic antitheft system could be directly connected, through the cable 21 , to a generic propeller 17 (Figure 6), or other similar rotating element, to be subsequently installed on the boat, for sending the electronic displacement signal to said electronic device 15 in order to immediately activate the theft signalling means. The electronic device 15 belonging to the electronic antitheft system according to the present invention is normally fed by the battery present on the boat, but it can also be provided with its own internal battery, having enough autonomy to grant the operation of said antitheft system in emergency cases, or if the electric system of the boat should be tampered. To avoid that false alarms occur, for instance in case of pressure variations checked by the pressure sensor of the electronic device 15 due to an increase or a decrease of water level, meteorological variations or constant rolling of the moored boat because of different factors, alarm activation thresholds, not modifiable by the user, are set via software in the electronic device 15, thus granting the correct operation of the electronic antitheft system and its activation in case of effective need only. Obviously, the settings regarding the activation thresholds can be modified, both as a function of the use conditions of the electronic antitheft system, and at user's will.

Therefore, it should be understood that the electronic antitheft system described so far in two preferred embodiments brilliantly achieves the intended purposes, providing for a valid alarm system for a plurality of sail and motor boats, being them provided with speed check means or not, which is in any case economic, easy to be installed and reliable in its operation. The electronic antitheft system according to the present invention is also extremely easy to use, because the user is only required to perforrn the switching on and switching off operations of said system, being all the other functions referred to a specific software, installed in the electronic device 15, which is able to autonomously manage its connection and disconnection according to numerous parameters, avoiding at the same time that false alarms occur.

Although the electronic antitheft system according to the invention has been disclosed and shown only with reference to its particular embodiments and it has been mentioned its particular application on a motorboat, it will be clear for a person skilled in the art that various changes, variations, replacements and additions of parts with other functionally equivalent components could be made, without departure from the scope of protection defined by the appended claims. Therefore, for example, the alarm signal with deterrent function coming from the electronic device 15 can be emitted in different ways, both singularly and mutually combinable, that is by acoustic, optic or telematic signalling, via radio or even in other way. Furthermore, the electronic device 15, although remaining able to check the event of theft or undesired displacement of the boat, can also be manufactured without the signalling means integrated therein, thus being able to be coupled with any kind of electronic or electromechanical device or antitheft alarm system of other type, even for instance satellite tracking systems (GPS). In this case, the alarm signal is transmitted to the external device through a proper dedicated line, with analog and/or digital signal.

Claims

1. A system which checks the displacement of boats in general, preferably but not necessarily suitable for being used as antitheft system on boats (1) provided or not with instantaneous speed check means integrated therein, characterized in that it comprises an electronic device (15) provided with first means for checking an undesired movement of the boat (1) and with second means for emitting one or more alarm signals after checking, by said electronic device (15), said undesired movement of the boat (1 ).

2. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said first means for checking an undesired movement of the boat (1 ) comprise a pressure sensor, able to check the pressure variation of the water which is collected by a log (3) when the boat (1) is in motion and which is sent to said pressure sensor through one or more conduits (9).

3. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said first means for checking an undesired movement of the boat (1 ) comprise means for elaborating an electronic signal which is generated by the rotation in the water of a propeller (17), or another similar rotating device, and which is. transmitted to said elaboration means through one or more connection cables (21 ).

4. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that said second means for emitting one or more alarm signals after checking said undesired movement of the boat (1) are actuated by said pressure sensor.

5. The system according to claim 3, characterized in that said second means for emitting one or more alarm signals after checking said undesired movement of the boat (1) are actuated by said means for elaborating said electronic signal.

6. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said electronic device (15) is fed by the battery present on the boat.

7. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said electronic device (15) can be provided with an internal battery, having enough autonomy to grant the operation of said antitheft system in emergency cases, or if the electric system of the boat should be tampered.

8. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said electronic device (15) is programmed through a specific software which manages the actuation of said one or more alarm signals and prevents that false alarms occur.

9. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said electronic device (15) can be connected to satellite security/tracking systems (GPS/GSM).

10. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said means for emitting one or more alarm signals can be acoustic, optic or telematic signalling means.

11. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said means for emitting one or more alarm signals are radio signals transmission means.

12. The system according to claim 1 , characterized in that said one or more alarm signals can be transmitted, through a proper dedicated line, to one or more external devices with respect to said electronic device (15), with analog and/or digital signal.