Mast Structure

Abstract

Herein described is a sailboat mast which is elongated to carry a sail thereon. The mast in the cross-section view is shaped having a transverse section thinner than the longitudinal section. It is positionable in the sailboat with the thicker longitudinal section being positioned on the port and starboard side of the sailboat, and with the thinner transverse portion of the cross-section positioned fore and aft of the sailboat. The sail track is positionable on the mast in the section towards the aft part centered in the substantially center of the thinner portion of the mast.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to mast and more particularly to a novel and improved mast used in sailboats which provides for bending in the fore and aft directions and substantially rigid in the athwartship directions.

2. Discussion of the Prior Art

Recently it has become very popular to construct sailboat masts of aluminum or other lightweight material whereby the masts are extruded in the manufacturing thereof. It has been found that these lightweight materials used in the construction of masts are quite easy to handle and generally a single person can raise and lower the mast on the sailboats with ease. That aluminum or other lightweight materials as well-known are quite flexible and therefore it is found necessary that the amount of bend in the mast be controlled. Preferably the bend of the mast should be always in the fore and aft direction and rigid in the port and starboard direction. In order to limit the bend in the desired direction a pair of shrouds have one end coupled a portion of the way up the mast and the other ends of the shrouds are connected to the port and starboard side of the sailboat.

The reason it is desirable that the mast bend in the fore and aft direction is so that it will contour to the shape of the sail as the sail is filled with air.

Prior art sailboat masts have a track along the lengthwise direction so that the sail can be inserted in the groove and raised and lowered up and down.

These prior art devices have normally been heretofore constructed in many shapes and forms with some having a thickness when viewed in cross-section thereof being in the fore and aft direction. The track therein, has heretofore been at the very apex of the mast. Generally speaking the track is extruded into the mast during the manufacture thereof. In some cases the track provided includes circular shaped portion sometime constructed inside the mast with an opening or track along the tip edge of the apex of the mast so that the sail can extend through the opening. A rope is sewed into the sail, for example, and positioned into the entire track. Thus suitable means are provided for raising and lowering the sail by means of this track. This is generally done with a pulley positioned at the top of the mast and a line leading from the bottom of the boat to the top of the mast.

Other types of arrangements have been used whereby a sock is provided on the sail and it is fitted directly over the top of the mast. The reason for this is that the mast thus can be made into two sections with a thicker section at the bottom of the mast and a thinner section at the top of the mast to allow for the bending at the top thereof in a manner aforesaid.

Difficulties in all of the above-mentioned prior art masts is that there is a necessity for shrouds on the fore and aft sides of the sailboat which may hamper the the mobility of the person sailing the boat. The purpose of the shrouds is to restrict sideways bending of the mast. Another difficulty in the prior art device is that there is no way in which the bend of the mast can be controlled especially in the bending to the aft direction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the difficulties of the prior art device in that for example, it does not require shrouds. Further, the present invention because of its unique construction will not bend in the port and starboard directions but it will bend in the fore and aft directions, thus allowing the mast to bend in the aft direction and better fit to the contour of the sail.

The control of the bend of the mast is provided in this the described embodiment of this invention by a small forestay which is adjustable to be attached approximately a preselected way up the mast. By proper selection of the position of the attachment and adjustable fitting, the bend of the mast can be controlled.

Briefly describe the present invention provides a mast being substantially oblong in the cross-section thereof with the apexes of the oblong shape being positionable in the boat in the port and starboard sides thereof. Thus the thickness of the oblong will be athwartship with the cross-section thinner in the fore and aft directions to allow for easy bending in these directions. A track provided along the length of the mast for the raising and lowering of the sail. The track positioned in the thinner portion of the cross-section and being substantially centered therein so that the sail can be raised up and down the mast. A small forestay is then coupled to the fore portion of the sailboat and other end of which is coupled halfway up the mast.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art when taken into consideration with the following detailed description wherein like reference numerals indicate like and corresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are cross-section view of certain masts used in the prior art;

FIGS. 3a and 3b are cross-section views of masts in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 4 is a view of a sailboat employing the masts of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a section view of the invention of the sailboat taken along the lines 5--5 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 1 and FIGS. 2 there is shown prior art illustrations of cross-sections views illustrating shapes of extruded masts. These are only illustrative of the prior art and there are many other types of masts involved. It should be noted that they are either circular in shape as for example the one in FIG. 1 or oblong in shape as shown in FIG. 2. These prior art masts are constructed preferably of lightweight material such as aluminum so that they are light to handle. But in order to be flexible in a desired position some of the prior art mast shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 must be tapered in shape with the thicker portion of the taper is that portion that is connected to the hull of the boat, and the thinner portion of the taper being near the top of the mast so that they can bend and contour the sails.

A problem arises with the mast that is flexible is that it is flexible in all directions. For example, a mast that is tapered and of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 and 2 as examples the mast will not only bend in the fore and aft direction, the desired direction, but also in the port and starboard direction or athwartship direction. This port and starboard bending is undesirable and it is necessary to connect a pair of shrouds on either side of the mast a portion of the way up, and connected to the port and starboard side of the sailboat. Primarily this is done for the purpose of preventing bending in this direction. Unfortunately though the top portion of the mast will continue in all directions and sometimes in the undesirable directions.

Means are included in the mast to provide a track for the sail to be lowered and raised on the mast. FIG. 1 for example has a somewhat triangular shaped guide 10 which has an opening 12 thereof. A rope which is connected into the sail fits into the track 10 while the sail is allowed to extend through the opening 12. As the rope is drawn up the track 10 the sail also raises and lowers through the opening 12. FIG. 2 has similar track 10a and an opening 12a but in this particular invention embodiment is shown as being a circular track to better fit the rope which is normally sewn into the sail.

Primarily the mast is hollow in shape and provides for easily extrusion construction methods. FIG. 1 shows it circular while FIG. 2 shows it oblong with the apex 14a of FIG. 2 being positionable in the boat towards the forward direction thereof. The track 10 and the openings 12a being on the other apex of the oblong section and positionable towards the aft position of the sailboat.

The particular embodiments of FIG. 1 and 2 will provide that there will probably be a restriction to fore and aft bending because of the shape of the mast. While FIG. 1 will provide bending in fore and aft direction a little bit more easier than that in FIG. 2 but in other case there will also bend in the port and starboard direction which is undesirable.

The present invention overcomes the difficulties by providing the configuration in a novel arrangement as set forth in FIGS. 3a and 3b. Like the prior art devices in FIGS. 1 and 2, a track 10b and 10c is provided in the mast with the similar opening in 12b and 12c for the same purposes as provided in the prior art and that is to guide the sail up and down the length of the mast. But a distinction in the mast showed in FIGS. 3a and 3b is provided to overcome the aforesaid difficulties in bending. The mast cross-section FIG. 3 is shown with being oblong or semi-oblong in shape with the apexes 14b and 15b being on the port and starboard side of the sailboat. This is best shown in the section view of FIG. 5. With this particular shape, bending is restricted in the port and starboard directions because of the thickness of the mast in this direction. But because the mast is thinner in the fore and aft direction, bending is allowed in this direction.

It is to be noted by referring in particularly to FIGS. 3a and 3b that the curvature of the mast in the fore (or bow direction) is greater than the curvature of the mast in the aft (or stern direction). The greater the curvature, the more difficult to bend the structure in the direction of the curvature. As a result, the mast of this invention is more difficult to bend in the bow direction than to bend in the stern direction. As previously mentioned, it is not preferred to have the mast bend toward the bow, but it is desirable to have the mast bend a limited amount in the stern direction responding to gusts of wind.

It should be understood that it would be preferable to control the bending in the fore and aft direction so a small forestay 16 shown in FIG. 4 is connected half way up the mast 8 by suitable means and the other end of the forestay 16 is connected to the very bow of the sailing vessel.

FIG. 3b shows an alternate embodiment of this invention defining the track 3c on the outside of the mast itself and in the form of two L-shaped protrusions. The rope in the sail is on the inside of the track 10c and the opening 12c is defined between the two L-shaped protrusions.

Thus there has been described a new and novel improvement in mast sections which requires no shrouds as opposed to the old style mast which required such. Further there has been described a new mast section which bends fore and aft directions but not in the port and starboard direction, and thus allows the mast to bend aft at the top to better fit to sail contours. The prior art mast sections could not bend in this manner. Further there has been described a mast which only requires one small forestay as compared to the prior art required at least two shrouds, as well as the forestay. Thus the bend of the mast can be controlled and prevents the mast from bending too far aft due to the unusual shape of the mast.

Claims

Having thus described on preferred embodiment of this invention what is claimed is:

1. In combination with a sailboat, said sailboat having a bow and a stern, said sailboat having a mast, said mast being an elongated hollow, thin-walled rigid member, the improvement comprising:

said mast being completely encased to form a unitary structure, said mast having a basic oblong configuration, in cross-section the bow to stern length of said mast being less than the starboard to port length of said mast, and

the amount of curvature of the bow side of said mast being greater than the amount of curvature of the stern side of said mast, whereby said mast is more readily bendable in the stern direction than in the bow direction.

2. The mast as defined in claim 1 including:

a forestay coupled between the bow of said sailboat and said mast, said forestay coupled to said mast at approximately one-half the length of said mast, said forestay to control the amount of bending of said mast in the stern direction.

3. The combination as defined in claim 2 including:

a guide track connected to said mast substantially at the center of the stern side of said mast and extending the entire length of said mast and having an opening therein across the entire length of said guide track, whereby a rope is to be conducted through said guide track and the sail is to be connected to said rope and movable to an extended position by said rope with a portion of said sail passing through said opening.

4. The combination as defined in claim 3 wherein:

said guide track being substantially circular in cross-sectional configuration.

5. The combination as defined in claim 3 wherein:

said guide track being substantially rectangular in cross-sectional configuration.