EP0746495B1

EP0746495B1 - A device to facilitate furling and setting of sails

Info

Publication number: EP0746495B1
Application number: EP95911545A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Tore KÄLLMARK; Jan KÄLLMARK
Original assignee: ROYAL SAILS AB
Current assignee: ROYAL SAILS AB
Priority date: 1994-03-03
Filing date: 1995-03-03
Publication date: 1999-06-09
Anticipated expiration: 2015-03-03
Also published as: WO1995023732A1; DE69510184T2; SE9500133D0; SE9500133L; SE503044C2; EP0746495A1; DE69510184D1

Description

The present invention refers to an improved device to facilitate furling and setting of sails, a so called spinnaker sleeve. The device is intended for spinnakers or similar sails such as the family spinnaker and the new sail genuaker, which normally only are suspended at the top and at the bottom.

A known spinnaker sleeve mainly consists of 4 parts:

1. A ring with a gently shaped funnel which collects the sail at pull-down of the sleeve.

2. A tube of fabric, as long as the sail is high. The fabric is attached to the funnel and thus follows down at pull-down of the funnel and thereby keeps the sail collected.

3. An upper terminal consisting of a plastic ring with a through bolt. The upper part of the fabric tube is attached to the plastic ring. The upper clew of the spinnaker is attached to the bolt with a wire strap. To the bolt the shackle is also attached to which the hoisting device (halyard) is fixed with which the whole sleeve is hoisted up. A block is also attached to the bolt downwards.

4. A control line with which the sleeve itself can be hoisted and hauled. The line is "endless" (continuously circulating) and is threaded through the above mentioned block and through a block attached to the deck or other appropriate location with a short line.

Mounting of the sail in a sleeve is carried out as a suggestion horizontally. The sleeve "is hoisted" by means of the control line, that is, compressed to a length of about 200 mm. Thereby the wire strap is uncovered, to which the sail is going to be fastened. The top of the sail is fixed with a shackle in the wire strap. The sail is drawn out in its full length without being twisted or turned, whereupon the sleeve with the control line is drawn downwards over the sail. The mounting is completed.

When the sail is going to be used one fastens the hoisting device (the halyard) in the shackle at the top of the sleeve, whereupon the sleeve with the confined sail is hoisted. The lower block with its line is fixed to the deck. The sail is now hoisted but the wind cannot take hold of it (it does not fill) since it is collected in the sleeve.

The length of the sleeve is adapted such that the two lower clews of the sail, to which sheet lines are going to be fastened, protrudes about 300 mm. When the above mentioned sheets and additional devices being required for sailing with spinnaker are mounted, the sail can be uncovered by the sleeve being hoisted by means of the control line. Thereby the sleeve is compressed and ends up above the sail. Sailing with a spinnaker subsequently is done exactly as usual.

Hauling in of the sail is initiated with the sleeve again being drawn downwards over the sail by means of the control line. In order to facilitate pull-down in freshening wind one releases one of the sheets (the lee sheet) whereby the spinnaker falls together. When the sleeve once is down the sail is again powerless and confined, why it easily can be hauled and stowed under deck.

At a spinnaker sleeve of a known construction the following problems exist:

The control line is attached to the funnel with a crowfoot that divides the funnel right in two, that is, halves the space that the sail disposes in the aperture of the funnel. Moreover, that the crowfoot only is attached in two articulated points implies that the funnel, at the least hooking up on the edge tilts and is put on end, which entails that the sail obtains still less projected area in the funnel, which entails still increased friction. Besides the sail may gush out respectively above and under the crowfoot, which causes the sail to hook up.

Parts of the sail, which still are not catched, can partly be located above the funnel at the pull-down, whereby the design of the funnel causes the friction of the sail against the edge of the funnel to give unnecessary wear on the sail and even may entail that the sail hooks itself up.

These and further problems are solved by a device according to the present invention which has been given the features stated in the subsequent patent claims. This is thus designed such, that at least a part of the inside of the ring is provided to extend essentially axially outwards and that the control line in at least two locations, separated by a substantial axial distance is attached to and/or runs through support points at one side of the ring so that the opening of the ring, when the control line is stretched, is held essentially perpendicular against the control line. Further the ring at the opening of the sleeve has soft flared edges folded up about 180 degrees. Further features are evident from the patent claims.

The invention will now be described in closer detail with reference to the enclosed drawing, in which

Fig. 1: shows a device according to the invention,
Fig. 2A and 2B: shows in two different projections the ring and the funnel at the lower part of the sleeve and the mounting of the control line,
Fig. 3A-C: shows a conventional mounting of a spinnaker sleeve with a crowfoot, and
Fig. 4: shows a design of the upper terminal 5.

As is evident from Fig. 1 a device according to the invention is built up of the sleeve 1 with an upper terminal 5 and a ring 3 which is applied about the sleeve at its lower end. The ring 3 supports a funnel 4 or is made integral with the funnel. A control line runs in the sleeve between an upper block 14 (Fig. 2) and a lower block 18, connected with a hook 19 to be fastened at the deck with a line 20 which has been adapted in length so that the control line becomes somewhat tight.

The ring 3 with the funnel 4 in a preferred embodiment is manufactured from a shock resistant, UV-resistant, temperature resistant polyetene, which material also gives a minimum of friction.

The funnel 4 has gently flared edges, folded up so that they form about 180 degrees of a toroid shaped ring. Through this form the funnel even by rapid pull-down gives a gently rounded edge for the sail to slide against.

As is evident from Fig. 2A and 2B in closer detail a disc 6 of a rigid, curved plastic is mounted at the inside of the ring 3 so that the disc 6 extends as a tongue axially out from the ring 3 and forms an extension of the extended cylinder surface of the sleeve. The control line 2 has a lower attachment 7 in the proximity of the tongue tip and an upper attachment 8 at the ring 3. On the disc 6 two line guides 9 are also arranged spaced from each other. Through the plastic disc 6 the ring is given an extension in axial direction, that has to be 200-300 mm depending on the size of the sleeve and the ring 3. The line guide 9 and/or

attachments

7, 8 of the control line must be on top and at the very bottom of the disc. When the control line is held stretched up, line guides and attachments thereby will control the ring 3 with the funnel 4 so that they at control of the sleeve cannot be put on edge but all the time are maintained essentially perpendicular against the control line and project the greatest possible opening against the spinnaker.

From Fig. 3A-C is evident in closer detail how a conventional mounting with a crowfoot 10 in the ring 3 may give poor possibilities to control a spinnaker sleeve. Fig. 3A shows how the ring 3 with the funnel or the collar 4 easily may tilt about the axis of suspension of the crowfoot, Fig. 3B shows how the sail can gush out above and under the crowfoot respectively and hook up and Fig. 3C shows how the crowfoot limits the area 21 available for the sail. The obvious risk of hooking up through all these drawbacks is eliminated through the embodiment according to the invention with the disc 6 as attachment and guide for the control line 2.

With deleting the crowfoot a possible and unfortunately frequently occuring mismounting of the sail in the sleeve has also been able to be eliminated. If the sail was threaded into the sleeve on the wrong side of the crowfoot the function stopped completely due to too large friction.

According to the invention both strands of the control line 2 are also collected at one edge of the ring 3 and the sleeve 1, which also results in that the spinnaker disposes the whole aperture area and that the risk of hooking up diminishes.

Two fasteners 12 for sheet clews are mounted at the outside of the ring 3. These consist of woven bands, about 200 mm long, which are fixed diametrically on opposite sides of the ring 3 with the funnel 4. At the outer free rear end there is a push-button and about 100 mm on the band there is a corresponding push-button. These may be pressed together so that the band forms a loop. In this loop respective sheet clew is fixed. This entails that one quickly and simply finds the sheet clews at the next setting of the spinnaker/sleeve and eliminates the risk of twisting of the spinnaker with resulting hourglass. It should be possible to replace the fasteners 12 with some type of hook, but this is less appropriate since a hook can hook on to something unsuitable, for instance the masthead and make hauling in impossible.

The fabric sleeve 1 or the tube is preferably manufactured from a knitted, tear resistant, sparse material which has been silicone impregnated so as to give the smallest possible friction at contact with the sail and control line. At the ends the material has been reinforced with sewed-on PVC-tape in order not to be torn by the tubular rivets that fix the fabric sleeve to the rings at its ends. In order to achieve a maximum width even highest up in the sleeve, where the ring from considerations of space may not have a too large diameter the reduction of diameter has been provided through narrowing of the sleeve with the sewed-on band so that the material has been folded threefold at the fixing points of the upper ring. The tube is open at the top at the ring 15 in order to let in and out air when the sleeve is controlled.

If the sail is twisted inside the sleeve when it is hoisted with the control line in order to begin sailing, the sail when it fills will look like an hourglass. A lower part that fills, the wound together "wasp waist", and the upper part that fills. Since the lower part is attached to two sheet lines and therefore cannot be twisted to solve the problem, the turning back thus has to take place at the top. Since the control line and wire stop runs completely next to each other they will be twisted together whereby the control line no longer runs free. This entails a substantially increased friction at the hauling. If the spinnaker is twisted more than two turns and thus the whole top terminal at the unloosening rotates two turns, the friction may be so large that the system is completely locked.

Fig. 4 shows in closer detail the construction of the upper terminal 5. As described above the sleeve 1 reduced in diameter through folds and attached to the upper plastic ring 15, which has a diameter of about 110 mm. A bolt 22 is mounted diametrically to the ring 15, which bolt supports a shackle 13, in which the whole device with the sail 11 is hoisted, a wire strap 16 with a swivel 17 in which the sail 11 is fixed and the upper block 14 for the control line 2. Thanks to the swivel 17 the sail 11 may rotate without rotation of the whole upper terminal 5 and thereby twists together the wire strap and the control line. The length of the wire strap 16 is approximately equal to the length of the sleeve 1, when this is compressed.

The invention has now been described with reference to one embodiment. Other detail designs and variants are possible within the scope of the subsequent patent claims.

Claims

Device to facilitate furling and setting of sails, in particular spinnakers, including a tube shaped sleeve (1), one end of which is intended to be attached to the upper end of the sail, a ring (3) attached to the sleeve about its other end and a control line (2) with which the ring and the sleeve can be drawn over the sail, characterized therein that at least one part of the inside of the ring (3) is provided to extend essentially axially outwards and that the control line (2) in at least two locations (7,8,9,9), separated by a substantial axial distance is attached to and/or runs through support points at one side of the ring so that the opening of the ring (3), when the control line (2) is stretched, is held essentially perpendicular against the control line (2).
Device according to claim 1, characterized therein that the control line (2) is maintained stretched by running in an upper block (14) at the upper end of the sleeve and in a lower block (18) which by a rope's end (20) is fastenable to the deck.
Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized therein that the part of the inside of the ring (3) which is provided to extend axially outwards is constituted by a disc (6) mounted on the inside of the ring such that it forms a tongue shaped extension of the cylinder surface of the extended sleeve (1).
Device according to claim 3, characterized therein that the ends (7,8) of the control line (2) are attached to the end of the tongue shaped extension (6) and to the ring (3) respectively.
Device according to any of the claims 1 - 4, characterized therein that the control line (2) is arranged to run through at least one line guide (9) at the ring or its outwards directed portion.
Device according to claim 3 and 5, characterized therein that a line guide (9) is arranged at the end of a tongue shaped extension and a line guide (9) is provided at the ring.
Device according to any of preceeding claims, characterized therein that the control line (2) is arranged to run inside the sleeve (1) and the ring (3).
Device according to any of preceeding claims, characterized therein that the upper end of the sleeve (1) is mounted about a second, open ring (15) and that the upper end of the sail is attached to a bolt (22) through the second ring (15) via a swivel (17) and a wire strap (16).
Device according to any of preceeding claims, characterized therein that the ring (3) at the opening of the sleeve (1) has gently flared edges (4) folded up about 180 degrees.
Device according to any of preceeding claims, characterized therein that the bands (12) which are provided with a push-button so that they can form a loop that can be opened are arranged at opposite sides of the ring (3).