Synchronized Roller Furl System for Hoisting, Reefing and Storing of Sails

Abstract

The invention describes a combined manually and motorized driven roller-furl sail system that enables synchronized hoisting, reefing and stowing of sails, including automatic tightening and fixing sails at a secure position by turning a halyard sheave manually or setting a motor switch for Push-Button operation. Except for the halyard sheave and manual override, the compact unit is placed inside its mandrel and can be adapted to existing furl systems.

1 . A furling device for a sail of a sailboat having at least one drive and a mechanic that synchronizes different rotational movements of a halyard sheave and a mandrel, coupled by a looped halyard, the furling device comprising: 
 (a) a non rotatable shaft that at one end is worked out to hold to a non rotatable joint and that is axially contoured and extends into a sleeve like tube to provide housing for a drive or a frictional bearing;    (b) a frictional bearing worked out of 2 cylindric elements one with a centric bore, that fit together, forming an inner space to accommodate disc springs and a flange of a lead screw shaft, the device mountable into the hollow housing section of the non rotatable shaft;    (c) a flange fitting into the housing of the frictional bearing, being part of it, with attached clutch linings at front and backside, mounted to a lead screw with plain shaft parts;    (d) a synchronizing element, named lead-nut-spline consisting of a front section with inner bore worked out as lead nut profile and its outer surface as a spline profile, a middle section with a flange with an attached clutch lining on its back side and an outer section with a cylindric formed shaft that continues into a flattened shaft with a screw profile at its end;    (e) a disc that has radial sectional openings and a centric hole that encloses the flattened shaft of the said lead-nut-spline and is able to move axially along the shafts flattened section;    (f) a spline hub of low frictional material, with a bore partly worked out as a spline profile with a smaller forward portion of the bore that is worked out as bearing against the said non rotatable shaft and with an outside end worked out as outer bearing against the inner-mandrel-flange;    (g) a hollow shaft with a flange on its forward side to mount the combined worm wheel/halyrd sheave and that is backwards mounted around the said spline hub;    (h) a worm drive with facility to engage a winch handle into its worm screw shaft with a housing consisting of a front and a back part, mounted between mast and mandrel on and enclosing the said non rotatable shaft and its worm wheel bored by the non rotatable shaft;    (i) a worm wheel where the middle section of its teeth are cut and contoured for a V-shaped line passageway with radial bores at the base, to form a combined worm wheel/halyard sheave and that is bored onto the non rotatable shaft and centrical mounted to the flange of the said hollow shaft;    (j) a cylindric element of low friction material, named inner-mandrel-flange, mounted inside the mandrel, with bores of two different diameters with the wider one at front bearing the outer surface of the said spline hub and the smaller one bearing on the plain cylindrical part of the said lead-nut-spline, the element with its front area suitable to match the said flange with clutch lining and a backside that is formed by serrations that fit into the radial sectional openings of the said disc;    (k) a mandrel where the foot or tacks of the sail are fixed onto and with an inner diameter wider than the said hollow shaft and an attached plain bearing at its inner front side; and    (l) a sheave inside the worm gear housing, partly encased in a housing with a nut bore above the sheaves diameter for a screw with a flange enclosed by the two housing parts of the worm gear and by that the sheave can be moved horizontally to deviate or jam the halyard.    
   
   
       2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the said frictional bearing (b) is replaced by an electric or hydraulic drive with gear and has a lead screw formed output shaft to fit into the lead-nut-spline.  
   
   
       3 . The device of  claim 2 , where the said non rotatable shaft incorporates a funnel to provide hydraulic liquid for an hydraulic drive or space for an electric cable for a electric motor.