Marine Antenna-mounting Base

Abstract

A two-part antenna support base for vertical "whip" antennas comprising a base member adapted to be secured to a horizontal support surface and a support post slidingly receivable through the bottom of an upwardly extending sleeve portion integrally formed with the base member. The support post is movable between a lower position within the sleeve whereat it is constrained thereby in vertical disposition, and an upper limit position whereat it is swingable downwardly to each side through side openings at the upper end of the sleeve portion to permit downward swinging of the support post together with an antenna attached thereto at the upper end.

Description

This invention relates to marine radio antennas and is directed particularly to improvements in mounting bases for vertically extending marine whip antennas.

Cruisers, sport fishermen and other pleasure craft are usually equipped with ship-to-shore or marine radio telephone as an aid to navigation and for emergency use. Antennas for such systems, particularly on smaller craft, are usually in the form of vertically extending whip antennas which, because of the moderately long wave radio frequency band allotted for such communication, are necessarily quite long. In order for such a vertically mounted whip antenna to be lowered for passage of the craft under a low bridge, for example, mounting bases of one kind or another permitting swivelling or swinging down of a whip antenna from vertical to horizontal or substantially horizontal position have been devised. Such adjustable antenna-mounting bases heretofore known, however, have been comparatively complicated and expensive to manufacture. It is, accordingly, the principal object of this invention to provide an adjustable mounting base for marine antennas which will readily permit lowering of a whip antenna from the vertical to a substantially horizontal position, and which will be comparatively simple in structure and inexpensive to manufacture.

It is another object of the invention to provide a mounting base for marine antennas of the character described which comprises only two readily assembled parts, and wherein lowering of the supported whip antenna will be effected simply by lifting or raising the antenna slightly to a position whereat a relatively movable support post part attached thereto at the lower end of the whip antenna can be tilted or swung downwardly in a horizontal plane for lowering the antenna.

It is another object to provide an adjustable whip antenna-mounting base of the above nature which can be manufactured inexpensively of cast metal or molded plastic parts, and which will be foolproof in operation, durable in use and attractive in appearance.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 illustrates, in side elevation and partly in vertical cross section, an antenna mounting base embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view, partly in cross section, illustrating assembly of the support post to the base member and actuation of the support post in the lowering of a whip antenna to one side or the other;

FIG. 4 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the base member, shown separately;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a wedge member for use in conjunction with the base member when attaching the mounting base to an inclined surface;

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line 7--7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of a mounting base embodying the invention shown in use with one or more wedge members to provide for horizontal mounting against an inclined surface.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the numeral 10 in FIGS. 1 through 5 designates a preferred form of adjustable mounting base embodying the invention, the same being comprised, generally, of a base support member 11 and an antenna post member 12. As is hereinbelow more fully described, the base support member 11 and the antenna post member 12 are each of such design as to be particularly well-suited to integral fabrication by die-casting if made of metal, or by injection-molding, if made of a synthetic plastic material.

The base support member 11 comprises a substantially rectangular base portion 13 integrally formed with a central, upstanding sleeve portion 14. The sleeve portion 14 defines a substantially square, end-to-end through opening 15, opposed interior sidewalls of which lie in planes substantially parallel with the opposed front edges and opposed side edges, respectively, of the rectangular base portion 13. As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the interior corners of the square through opening 15 are filleted or rounded, as indicated at 16. The side wall portions of the upstanding sleeve portion 14 that define the opposed side surfaces of the interior through opening 15 extend upwardly on each side to opposed, upwardly extending sidewall portions 17 and 18 defining therebetween substantially rectangular front and back recesses 19 and 20, respectively, for the purpose hereinafter appearing. The opposed sidewall portions of the square through opening 15, moreover, are centrally formed along their lengths with opposed, vertically extending recesses 21 and 22, substantially rectangular in cross-sectional shape and merging at their lower ends into arcuately enlarged lower end portions 23, 24, respectively. The upper ends of the vertically extending recesses 21, 22 terminate substantially centrally of their respective upstanding sidewall portions 17, 18 as indicated at 25 and 26.

The rectangular base portion 13 of the base support member 11 is provided with corner screw holes 27 for attachment purposes, as is hereinbelow more particularly described. The underside of the rectangular base portion 13 is formed, in spaced relation along one side, with a pair of circular locating recesses 28 for the purpose hereinafter appearing. The interior through opening of the upstanding sleeve portion 14 will preferably be slightly tapered for decreasing size from the base thereof to the outer end to provide a draft facilitating the removal from a die during fabrication in a die-casting or injection-molding process.

The post member 12, also integrally formed, is for the most part substantially square in cross section, with rounded corners along its length as indicated in 31 in FIGS. 3 and 4, and is of such size as to be slidingly receivable through the bottom opening of the base support member 11 (see FIG. 3). The upper end of the post member 12 is of cylindrical shape and externally threaded as indicated at 32 to receive, screw-fitted thereon, the internally threaded socket S, (partially illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3), at the lower end of an ordinary marine whip antenna, (not illustrated). The lower end of the antenna post member 12 is semicylindrically rounded, as best illustrated at 33 in FIG. 3, and is integrally formed with an opposed pair of cylindrical bosses 34 having a common axis of symmetry coincident with the semicylindrical rounded lower end surface 33. The cylindrical bosses 34 are of such size as to be slidingly received, respectively, within the vertically extending recesses 21, 22 of the square through opening 15 in the base support member 11.

In use, after the antenna post member 12 has been assembled to the base support member 11 by insertion through the bottom thereof as illustrated in FIG. 3, said base support member will be secured to a horizontal or substantially horizontal surface, such as by the use of wood screws W. The socket S of the elongated whip antenna can then be attached in the usual manner by threading upon the upper end 32 of the antenna post member 12, said antenna post member being of such length as to project sufficiently beyond the upper end of the base support member 11 for this purpose when the lower end of said antenna post member abuts against the surface to which the adjustable mounting base 10 is attached. In such position, as illustrated by the full-line representation thereof in FIGS. 1 through 4, the substantially square lower end portion of the antenna post member 12 will be constrained to a vertical or upwardly extending position with respect to associated base support member 11 to maintain the connected whip antenna in a vertical disposition for normal use.

When it becomes necessary to lower the antenna for any reason, it is only required to raise the whip antenna manually by the amount required to bring the opposed bosses 34 to their upper limit positions in abutment with the rounded upper ends 25, 26 of the vertically extending recesses 21, 22 of the base support member 11, whereupon said antenna post member 12 and the connected whip antenna can be swung downwardly to one side or the other, as illustrated by the broken-line representation thereof in FIG. 3, the front and back openings 19 and 20 of the upstanding sleeve portion 14 providing for sideward passage of said antenna post member.

Wedge shim means is provided for adapting the adjustable mounting base for attachment to an inclined surface, such, for example, as an inclined surface portion of the gunwale of a pleasure craft. To this end, one or more wedge plates 35 (see FIGS. 6, 7 and 8) are provided for use either singly or in multiples, depending upon the degree of inclination to be corrected for. As illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, each wedge plate 35, which will be of the same peripheral size and shape as is the underside of the rectangular base portion 13 of the base support member 11, has a top face 38 inclined with respect to its bottom face 39. The top face 38 is integrally formed with cylindrical, upstanding locating pins 40, so located as to be received within the circular locating recesses 28 in the underside of the base portion 13 when the wedge plate is applied thereagainst in registering relation, as illustrated in FIG. 8. The bottom face 39 of each wedge plate 35 is also formed with a pair of spaced locating pins 40 of an underneath wedge plate 35 whenever two or more of the wedge plates 35 are stacked together to correct any given surface inclination when attaching the mounting base to an inclined surface. FIG. 8 illustrates, by way of example, the use of two stacked wedge plates 35, which serve to present a level or substantially level support surface for the base support member 11 when it is required to attach the device to an inclined surface. While we have illustrated and described herein only one form in which the invention can conveniently be embodied in practice, it is to be understood that this form is given by way of example only and not in a limiting sense. The invention, in brief, comprises all the embodiments and modifications coming within the scope and spirit of the following claims.

Claims

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas and the like, comprising, in combination, a support base member, having a central opening, means for securing said support base member against a mounting surface, said support base member having an integrally formed, upwardly extending sleeve portion defining, with said central opening, an end-to-end through opening in said support base member, an elongated antenna post member receivable through the bottom of said through opening and slidably arranged therein, means limiting the upward movement of said post in said sleeve portion, a sidewall opening in the upper end of said sleeve portion, said limit means comprising mechanism permitting downward-swinging motion of said post member into said sidewall opening when said post member is in its upward limit position, said post-member-limiting means comprising a pair of opposed, vertically extending recesses formed in opposite wall portions of said through opening, and a pair of cylindrical bosses extending outwardly of opposed side portions of said post member near the lower end thereof, said bosses being receivable one each within said vertically extending recesses for sliding movement therein and therealong, the upper ends of said recesses extending short of the upper end of said sleeve portion.

2. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas and the like, comprising, in combination, a support base member, having a central opening, means for securing said support base member against a mounting surface, said support base member having an integrally formed, upwardly extending sleeve portion defining, with said central opening, an end-to-end through opening in said support base member, an elongated antenna post member receivable through the bottom of said through opening and slidably arranged therein, means limiting the upward movement of said post in said sleeve portion, a sidewall opening in the upper end of said sleeve portion, said limit means comprising mechanism permitting downward-swinging motion of said post member into said sidewall opening when said post member is in its upward limit position, (as defined in claim 1, including) and means at the upper end of said antenna post member for removably securing thereto the base end of a whip antenna.

3. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas as defined in claim 2 wherein said end-to-end through opening is substantially rectangular in cross section, and wherein said post member is of substantially the same cross-sectional shape along the lower end portion thereof to constrain against mutual rotative motion between said base member and said post member when said post member is slidingly received within said through opening.

4. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas as defined in claim 3, wherein said post member limiting means comprises a pair of opposed, vertically extending recesses formed in opposite wall portions of said through opening, and a pair of cylindrical bosses extending outwardly of opposed side portions of said post member near the lower end thereof, said bosses being receivable one each within said vertically extending recesses for sliding movement therein and therealong, the upper ends of said recesses extending short of the upper end of said sleeve portion.

5. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas as defined in claim 4, wherein said sidewall opening lies in a plane other than that of said two opposite wall portions of said through opening.

6. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas as defined in claim 5, including a second sidewall opening in the upper end of said sleeve portion and opposite said first-mentioned sidewall opening to permit downward swinging motion of said post member, selectively, in either of two opposite directions.

7. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas as defined in claim 6, wherein the lower end of said post member is semicylindrically rounded about an axis of generation coincident with the common axis of said cylindrical bosses.

8. An adjustable mounting base for whip antennas as defined in claim 7, wherein said base member securing means comprises a plurality of screw holes in said base member for receiving attachment screws.