Abstract:
The guiding device of the invention introduces, close to the entrance of the groove in which the sail hoist rope is engaged, two guiding elements having on the side opposite the groove external guiding edges. In addition, the sail includes at least one protuberance situated at a distance from the hoist rope and is intended to take support and be guided by said external edges. The invention can be applied in particular to battened sails.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention concerns a device for guiding a sail of a sailing boat from the opening of the groove of a mast or part integral with the mast in which the bolt rope of the sail is engaged. It can also concern any spar including a groove for sending a battened sail.  
           [0003]    It also concerns a sail specially designed so as to be able to be used in this guiding device.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0005]    Generally speaking, it is known that in sailing boats whose spanker-boom is equipped with a sails reducer/winder, the mainsail is fixed to the mast by means of a bolt rope which slides into a groove of the mast, in fact into an interdependent part (for example articulated) extending fully along the mast.  
           [0006]    During rigging manoeuvres to hoist a sail, it has been shown that the hoist rope is not firmly secured in the axis of the groove, thus provoking significant rubbing at the entrance of the groove likely to brake and wear or even jam the rope between the lips of the groove at the level of said opening.  
           [0007]    So as to avoid this drawback, it has been firstly suggested to use a rope guide placed at the entrance of the groove so as to orientate the rope in the axis of the opening of the groove. However, this solution is unsatisfactory, especially for battened sails, because under the action of the wind, the sail inflates whereas the battens stop against the rope guide which provokes a premature wear of the sail and possibly its jamming, thus invariably rendering manoeuvering of the sail extremely awkward.  
         OBJECT OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    So as to eliminate this drawback, the invention starts with the notion that the sail can be fitted with a second bolt rope or even bolt rope portions which, by cooperating with suitable guiding means, ensures the passage of the battens without causing blocking at the level of the rope guide whilst keeping the orientation of the hoist rope inside the axis of the opening of the groove.  
           [0009]    Accordingly, the invention concerns a guiding device introducing two guiding elements situated close to the opening of the groove approximately on both sides of the latter, these two elements being separated from each other by a distance greater than the thickness of the sail so as to delimit a passage in the axis of said opening through which the sail is able to pass.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    According to the invention, this device is characterised in that the guiding elements have on the side opposite the groove external guiding edges, and in that said sail includes at least one protuberance situated at a distance from the hoist rope, also approximately equal to the distance separating said external edges and the entrance of the groove, so that this protuberance comes into support and is guided by said external edges, thus preventing the sail from being jammed between the guiding elements and unable to disturb passage of the rope into the groove.  
           [0011]    Advantageously, said protuberance could consist of a second rope extending parallel to the hoist rope over its entire length.  
           [0012]    However, in the case of batten sails, the sail could include at the right of each of the battens a protuberance or rope portion, bent inward or with the shape of a V with concavity orientated opposite the guiding roper. This solution has the advantage of limiting the thickness of the sail wound on the winder.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    There now follows embodiments of the invention given by way of non-restrictive examples with reference to the accompanying drawings on which:  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic cutaway views illustrating the principle of a main sail reducer/winder equipped with a guiding device according to the invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic horizontal cutaway view along AA′ of FIG. 1;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic horizontal cutaway view of a guiding device according to one variant of the invention;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 is a front view of a main sail with battens provided with V-shaped protuberances able to be used in the device shown on FIG. 3. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]    In the example shown on FIGS. 1 and 2, the main sail reducer/winder  10  is mounted inside a boom  1  made up of a tubular element  13  closed at each of its extremities  4  and  5  and including a longitudinal slit  3  allowing the passage of the main sail  10 . The tubular element  13  contains a winder tube  2  approximately coaxial to the tubular element  13  around which the main sail  10  is wound. The winder tube  2  is mounted rotating along its longitudinal axis and is integral with a coaxial drum  8  enabling it to be driven in rotation by means of a control rope  9 .  
         [0019]    To ensure that the hoist rope  12  of the main sail  10  is kept parallel to the mast  11  and that the main sail  10  can be wound without folds around the winder tube  2  despite the top position of the boom of the drum  8 , the hoist rope  12  is threaded with the aid of the sail head  34  into the longitudinal groove  14  of a profiled element  15  which is fixed to the mast  11  by means of support parts  16  and  17 . Thus, the profiled element  15  is kept at a distance from the mast  11  so that the hoist ripe portion  12  of the portion of the sail deployed is always plumb with the hoist rope portion  12  wound around the winder tube  2 .  
         [0020]    Advantageously, the profiled element  15  is joined to the support parts  16 ,  17  by means of linking parts  19 , whilst being subjected to the movements of the boom  1  inside a plane perpendicular to the mast  11 . In this way, the opening slit  20  of the groove  14  of the profiled element  15  still remains orientated along the longitudinal axis of the boom  1 , irrespective of the angle formed between the boom  1  and the longitudinal axis of the boat. Thus, the friction forces being exerted between the groove  14  and the sail  10  are reduced when the latter is not exactly inside the axis of the slit  20  of the groove  14 .  
         [0021]    In this example, the main sail  10  is provided with a set of horizontal battens  21  regularly spaced from one another. In fact, the purpose of this solution is to stiffen the sail  10  and thus offer the possibility of using a sail  10  having a larger surface area.  
         [0022]    In accordance with the invention, the main sail  10  includes a second continuous bolt rope  22  extending parallel to the hoist rope  12  at a predetermined distance from the latter.  
         [0023]    This second bolt rope  22  is intended to cooperate with a guiding device  23  shown on FIG. 2 and is placed close to the entrance of the groove  14 . This device includes two oblong guiding elements  24 ,  25  situated opposite the opening of the groove  14  approximately on both sides of the latter. The distance of these two elements  24  and  25  can be adjusted with respect to each other. They are spaced from each other by a distance slightly larger than the thickness of the sail  10  so as to delimit a passage through which the sail portion between the two bolt ropes  12  and  22  passes.  
         [0024]    The two guiding elements  24  and  25  are borne by two respective cheeks  26 ,  27  secured to the profiled element  15 . They can be fixed and have a suitable oblong shape so as to ensure guiding without damaging the second bolt rope  22 . In a variant, these elements  24  and  25  could consist of rollers mounted rotating on the cheeks  26  and  27  around a common axis perpendicular to the plane of the sail  10  so as to guide the bolt rope  12  into the axis of the entrance of the groove  14 .  
         [0025]    The advantage of this solution consists in that it makes it possible to obtain firstly excellent guiding of the bolt rope without the ends of the battens  21  being able to disturb the passage of the bolt rope  12  in the opening of the groove  14 , and secondly of the sail  10  in the gap of the guiding elements  24  and  25 .  
         [0026]    Of course, the invention is not merely limited to the embodiment previously described.  
         [0027]    Thus, the groove  14  in which the bolt rope  12  slides could be directly embodied in the mast  11 , as in the example shown on FIG. 3.  
         [0028]    In this case, the two guiding elements  24  and  25  could be carried by two respective cheeks  28  and  29  secured to the mast  11  by rivets  30 ,  31 .  
         [0029]    Furthermore, instead of using a second bolt rope  22 , it is possible to only use bolt rope segments  31  respectively situated to the right of the battens  21 . The sail  10  then includes at least as many bolt rope segments or protuberances  31  as battens  21 , said protuberances  22  being situated close to the ends of the battens  21 .  
         [0030]    These bolt rope segments  31  could be rectilinear. Nevertheless, they could advantageously have bent inwards shapes, such as V-shapes, with a concavity orientated opposite the first bolt rope  12  so as to constitute two successive guiding ramps  32 ,  33  which extend obliquely with respect to vertical (FIG. 4).  
         [0031]    These ramps  32 ,  33  are intended to come into support on the guiding elements  24 ,  25  by moving the ends of the battens  11  away from the entrance of the groove  14 .  
         [0032]    As previously mentioned, this solution has the advantage of reducing excess thicknesses when the main sail  10  is wound around the winder tube  2 .