Two groove headstay

Abstract

A double-groove headstay for sailboats, the grooves adapted to receive and retain jib boltropes so that a second jibsail can be hoisted while the first is still set. The second sail can be set and the first sail taken down, thus permitting continued drive while changing sails. The stays can be in lieu of conventional stays or provided with holes and clipped or threaded onto existing forestays.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 282,414 filed Aug. 21, 1972, shoud should preferably be at least 2000 inch-pounds.

I believe that other materials which have properties comparable to extruded aluminum may also be used, such as titanium and magnesium. Structural double-groove stays should have minimum breaking strength and torsional strength comparable to the forestays now used. In addition to physical properties, any material must resist marine corrosion and otherwise be satisfactory for marine use. Cost of the material and of fabrication is also a factor and is another reason why I prefer aluminum.

Boltrope diameters vary from about 3/16 inch to 5/16 inch in diameter. The slots or grooves in the stay are preferably round and are slightly larger in diameter than the boltropes to be received therein. The grooves, such as grooves 13 and 18, are inset from the rod surface a distance 20 which is approximately equal to the width of the slot 19 or slightly less than the groove radius R. When so inset, rounded flanges 21 are formed which define the entrance to the groove. The slot 19 leaves enough room for the sail but is too narrow for the boltrope so that flanges 21 prevent and restrain the boltrope from coming out of the grooves. The grooves and flanges are related so that the groove is almost a full circle, the slot 19 representing perhaps 40°-50° of arc or opening.

Instead of having two grooves in a fore-and-aft position as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, I can have the grooves staggered as in stay 22 in FIG. 5. Here, the first groove 23 is foreward and offset slightly to one side of the second groove 24. The cross-sectional shape is still roughly elliptical or foil-shaped with one groove on one side of the major axis and the other groove on the other side of the major axis. The foreward groove is slightly closer to the major axis. Rounded flanges 26 at the aft of the stay define groove 24. Groove 23 is defined by a flange 27 at one side of the stay, the base of one of the flanges 26 and the central body portion of the stay. The central hole 25 is intended to receive a conventional wire or rod forestay. I contemplate that sections or pieces of a unit can thus be made up, attached together and strung on a conventional wire forestay to achieve an effect similar to that of FIGS. 3 and 4.

Still another alternative cross-sectional shape is shown in stay 30 in FIG. 6. Here, the two boltrope-receiving grooves 31 and 32 are side-by-side, aft, and the shape of the unit is rounder and thicker, like half an oval, so that it is less attractive from an aerodynamic or windage viewpoint. A central flange 36 at the aft of the stay has two rounded groove-defining portions which, together with side flanges 34 define grooves 31 and 32.

Stays 22 and 30 can be mounted on swivels only and do not require means to rotate the stay. When so mounted, they naturally rotate and present the most advantageous angle to the wind. The pull of the jib luff and the tightness of the jib sheet combined with the forces of the wind orient the stays when so mounted.

FIG. 7 shows a stay 40 similar to that of FIGS. 3 and 4 except that it additionally has a central hole 43 to accommodate a jib wire stay. As in the stay of FIGS. 3 and 4, the boltrope-receiving and retaining grooves 41 and 42 are defined by flanges 44.

When any of the stays with a hole in them, as in FIGS. 5 and 7, are used, they need not bear the strain of the mast because the conventional jib wire or rod member does that. They can, consequently, be made in sections of about four or more feet in length and fastened together by pins or screws or otherwise so that they act as a single piece. Likewise, they are torsionally resistant and do not have to be as strong as the other units. They can be made of aluminum or plastic, such as glass reinforced polyester resin or high density polypropylene.

FIG. 8 shows another fore and after two groove stay 45 which is similar to that of FIG. 7 except that it is assembled from two pieces which are interfitted together. The forward member 46 and aft member 47 interfit over the forestay with male member 49 sliding into the retaining groove defined by the flanges 48. The pieces 46 and 47 can be made of aluminum or plastic such as polypropylene and hinged together along one side, as at 51. They can be interfitted by spreading flanges 48, if of resilient material, or by longitudinally sliding flanges 49 into the groove defined by flanges 48. The latter arrangement permits them to be clipped on without removing the existing wire or rod forestay. Grooves 37 and 38 are comparable to grooves 18 and 13 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 9 shows still another stay, in this instance with the grooves side-by-side. This unit has a relatively straight aft portion 55 and a rounded nose or front portion 56 with arcuate side portions as shown. The two boltrope-receiving grooves 53 and 54 are inset abreast in a side-by-side relationship in the aft portion 55. The cross-sectional shape is that of a triangle with rounded sides.

FIG. 10 shows still another stay 60. This is a two-piece unit made up of a foreward dome-shaped piece 61 with side flanges or legs 69 that fit over the jibstay 63 and the rear or aft piece 62. The flanges 69 have bottom ribs or beads 70 which embrace and interfit with the ribs on beads 71 at the top of the rear piece 62. The rear piece has in its aft portion two side-by-side, inset boltrope-receiving grooves 67 and 68 defined by central flange 65 and side flanges 66. Ridge 64 with beads 71 interfits with flanges 69 in the assembly as shown. These units are preferably made of extruded aluminum.

As can be seen from the drawings, the stays of the present invention are generally oval shaped or elliptical in cross section. The major axis is in the fore-and-aft direction and the minor axis runs from one side of the ship to the other, port to starboard. In the species of FIGS. 3 and 4, the length or major axis is approximately twice as large as the minor axis. The diameters of the grooves are preferably less than half the width of the minor axis. The grooves are preferably circular but can be other rounded shapes to accommodate the bead of the luff of the jib. The important consideration is that they have a relatively narrow neck and flange portions which grip the bead of the jib and retain it in the groove.

The stay cross sections are preferably rounded with arcuate outer surfaces which provide enough cross-sectional area to have suitable strength and torsional rigidity and accommodate the grooves or slots depending upon how they are located.

The rounded grooves may be thought of as longitudinal cylinders inset into the forestay or rod and substantially coextensive with it. The axes of such cylinders are parallel to each other and to the axis of the rod and the distance between the longitudinal axes of said cylinders is preferably at least 11/2 times the radius of the larger cylinder.

When the grooves are both aft and staggered as in FIG. 5, the stay is necessarily wider and the width is more than 50 percent of the length. When the grooves are both side-by-side and aft as in FIG. 6, the cross-sectional shape is rounded with the aft portion truncated or cut off at the two side-by-side grooves. This form of the invention results in the widest of all the stays.

It is to be understood that double-grooved stays can be make like FIGS. 5 and 6 without clip-on holes or holes can be provided in the stays of FIG. 9. In all the drawings, the top is the front or foreward portion and the bottom is the rear or aft portion.

One advantage of the stay of FIGS. 3, 4, 7 and 8 is that it can be used with a spinnaker turtle of the present invention as shown in FIG. 11. This is a view from the bow of a sailboat with a partially opened spinnaker S contained at its upper portion by a spinnaker turtle T. Here the stay 70 is one like that of FIGS. 3 and 4 with fore-and-aft grooves. The boltrope 71 of the Genoa jib is in the aft groove. The boltrope of the spinnaker turtle 72 is in the foreward groove.

The turtle comprises a substantially rectangular piece of cloth, long and narrow, with a boltrope 72 attached thereto running down the middle lengthwise. The turtle is wide enough to envelop a spinnaker and the sides are provided with connecting means such as a zipper 73 so that the spinnaker can be enveloped in the spinnaker and hoisted up the stay with the boltrope in the foreward groove. The connecting means is readily released by tearing the zipper open at the bottom and then permitting the opening spinnaker to free itself. Other connecting means to keep the spinnaker contained in the turtle such as a slippery rope in a series of eyelets or what is called rotten cord, which easily breaks, can be used as will be apparent to skilled sailors. The turtle can be made of synthetic fiber cloth and, for a standard spinnaker for a 38-foot sailboat, might be 25 feet long, 6 inches wide, and only 2 inches in diameter when containing a spinnaker.

Another advantage of my two-grooved stay is that in running downwind, a jib can be hoisted in each groove and held out on opposite sides of the boat with whisker poles or the like as desired. The modification of FIG. 9 is particularly adapted to this use.

Another advantage of the fore-and-aft double-groove unit of the present invention, such as shown in FIGS. 3, 4, 7 and 8, is that the stays can also be used to furl or partially furl the jib as desired. Suitable furling gear is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,969. Since the stays have good torsional rigidity or are torsionally resistant, this can be done in any force breeze. The furling gear may be installed and removed easily as desired.

Still another additional feature of the present invention is the ability to hoist and sail with two jibs at the same time. A yacht can hoist a high clew jib topsail along with a low clew light No. 1 to sail to weather in light air. The additional area of this rig seems to be faster than the more conventional double head rig in certain conditions.

Modifications and alterations of the preferred embodiments will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of the specification and it is my intention to include all such modifications and alterations as part of my invention insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A jibstay assembly for a sailboat comprising a longitudinal member extending and supported between the bow portion of the boat and the upper portion of the boat mast, said member being torsionally resistant, generally rounded in cross-sectional shape and having two grooves inset therein, each of which is adapted to slidably receive and release and to hold a bead at the luff of a jib sail. and facilitate the changing of jib sails.

2. The combination of claim 1 above in which said member is attached between two swivels, the bottom swivel being provided with means to rotate it and said member through at least 180° in at least one direction.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said member is elliptically shaped in cross section with the major axis running in the fore-and-aft direction and has two opposed grooves therein at the opposite ends of the major axis of the ellipse, the grooves being round in cross section and inset in said member a distance slightly less than their radii so as to receive and retain the bead at the luff of jib sails, the stay member having sufficient moment of inertia, strength and rigidity to resist torsional twisting forces said unit member having a minimum twisting moment yield strength of 2000 inch-pounds.

4. The jibstay of claim 3 above of corrosion-resistant aluminum alloy which is an aluminum extrusion.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said member is shaped in cross section like half an oval and has two side-by-side grooves in the aft portion which are adapted to receive and retain the bead at the luff of a jib.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said member is oval shaped in cross section and has two grooves therein, the first groove being aft and to one side of the other groove, each groove being adapted to receive and retain the bead at the luff of a jib.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said member is a rounded triangular shape in cross section and has two side-by-side grooves which are abreast, each groove being adapted to receive and retain the bead at the luff of a jib.

8. A jib stay assembly for a sailboat comprising

a stay from the bow of the boat to the top portion of the mast,

a plurality of units mounted on and supported by said stay to comprise a longitudinal member, said units together providing two grooves in said member adapted to slidably receive and release and to retain the bead at the luff of a jib, and

means fastening together and aligning said units to form a continuous torsionally resistant member providing two substantially coextensive jib luff receiving grooves substantially throughout the length of said stay.

9. The assembly of claim 8 in which the plurality of units are elliptical in cross section and have two opposed grooves therein at the opposite ends of the major axis of the ellipse, the grooves being round in cross section and adapted to receive and retain the bead at the luff of jib sails.

10. The assembly of claim 8 provided with means adjacent to bow to rotate said plurality of units.

11. The assembly of claim 8 in which said units are comprised of two interfitting pieces which assemble and interfit over the stay.

12. The assembly of claim 8 in which said units are provided with holes passing longitudinally through them for receiving the stay on which to mount and support said units.

13. A torsion-resistant stay for receiving and retaining the beads on the luffs of two jibs simultaneously, comprising:

an elongated, extruded aluminum, generally oval-shaped member having a pair of oppositely disposed longitudinal slots through each of which the beads on the luffs of said sails can extend, a pair of generally arcuate outer surfaces connecting said slots, and first and second inner surfaces, each of said inner surfaces meeting each of said arcuate outer surfaces in a pair of slot-defining surfaces;

said first inner surface generally defining a portion of a cylinder and a first longitudinal axis of curvature;

said second inner surface generally defining a portion of a cylinder and a second longitudinal axis of curvature;

said generally arcuate outer surfaces having a maximum perpendicular separation of at least 11/2 times the diameter of the larger of said cylinders;

and said first and second axes of curvature being substantially parallel, and separated by a distance at least 11/2 times the diameter of the larger of said cylinders, such that when the first of said sails is in use, said stay can be rotated and the second of said sails hoisted and trimmed while said first sail is still in position, thereby preventing a loss of power during the changing of sails.

14. A jibstay assembly for a sailboat comprising:

a first swivel member at the bow of the boat,

a second swivel member attached to the top portion of the mast,

a torsionally resistant longitudinal member attached between said first and second swivel members, said member having two rounded grooves therein which are inset from the surface of the rod a distance slightly less than their radius and are provided with entrance slots defined by rounded flanges which retain the boltropes of jib sails, the diameters of the grooves being slightly larger than the boltropes of the jib sails, and

means to feed the beads at the luff of jib sails into said grooves.

15. The method of changing from a first sail to a second sail while sailing, so that there will at all times be a sail properly set, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a stay having at least first and second longitudinal slots and mounted for rotation generally about its longitudinal axis, said first sail having been hoisted and set in the first longitudinal slot;

rotating said stay such that said second longitudinal slot is facing the direction in which said second sail will extend;

hoisting and setting said second sail while said first sail is still in operative position;

rotating said stay such that said first longitudinal slot again is facing the direction in which said first sail extends;

lowering said first sail; and,

rotating said stay such that said second longitudinal slot again faces the direction in which said second sail extends, thereby changing to a more appropriate sail without a loss of power during the change.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said longitudinal slots are oppositely disposed.

17. A torsion-resistant forestay for a jibsail, especially suited to receive and retain the beads on the luffs of two jibsails simultaneously, comprising:

an elongated, generally oval-shaped member having a pair of oppositely disposed fore-and-aft longitudinal slots through each of which the beads of one of said sails can extend, a pair of generally arcuate outer surfaces connecting said slots, and first and second inner surfaces defining said slots;

said first inner surface generally defining most of a cylinder substantially coextensive with the forestay;

said second inner surface generally defining most of a cylinder substantially coextensive with the forestay;

said cylinders being substantially parallel with their longitudinal axes separated by a distance greater than the diameter of the larger of said cylinders, each of said inner surfaces further defining the above-said fore-and-aft, jibsail bead receiving longitudinal slots.

18. A torsion-resistant stay for receiving and retaining the beads on the luffs of two jibs simultaneously, comprising:

an elongated, extruded aluminum, generally oval-shaped member having a pair of oppositely disposed longitudinal grooves through each of which the beads of one of said sails can extend, a pair of generally arcuate outer surfaces connecting said grooves, and first and second inner surfaces, each of said inner surfaces meeting each of said arcuate outer surfaces in a pair of entrance slot-defining surfaces;

said first inner surface further generally defining a portion of a longitudinal cylinder substantially coextensive with the forestay;

said second inner surface further generally defining a portion of a longitudinal cylinder substantially coextensive with the forestay, the longitudinal axes of said cylinders being parallel to each other and to the longitudinal axis of the forestay, said inner surfaces thereby defining the said longitudinal grooves.

19. A jibstay assembly for a sailboat comprising

a stay from the bow of the boat to the top portion of the mast,

a plurality of units mounted on and supported by said stay, each individual unit having one groove therein adapted to slidably receive and release and to retain the bead at the luff of a jib, and

means fastening together and aligning said unit units to form a continuous torsionally resistant member providing two substantially coextensive jib luff receiving grooves substantially throughout the length of said stay.

20. A jib stay assembly for a sailboat comprising a conventional wire or rod stay from the bow of the boat to the top portion of the mast,

a plurality of units mounted on and supported by said stay to comprise a longitudinal member, said units together providing two grooves in said member, and

means fastening together and aligning said units to form a continuous torsionally resistant member on said stay, said two grooves being substantially coextensive throughout the length of said stay and being adapted to slidably receive and release and to retain the bead at the luff of a jib.

21. The assembly of claim 20 in which said units are comprised of two longitudinally interfitting pieces which assemble and interfit over the stay. 22. The assembly of claim 20 in which said units are provided with holes passing longitudinally through them for receiving the stay whereby said units are mounted and supported. 23. The assembly of claim 20 in which the plurality of units provide two side-by-side aft grooves.