ANCHOR RETRIEVING DEVICES

Abstract: An anchor retrieving device adapted to be inter- osed between an anchor 50 and one end of a main anchoring line 32. The anchor 50 includes a shank 52 having a crown end and at least one fluke 54. The anchor retrieving device comprises: a lock assembly 10 having an upper end connected to said one end of said main anchoring line 32 and a lower end connected to said crown end of said anchor 50 through an anchor-retrieving line 58; a releaseable hook member 30 having one end 30 normally locked by said lock assembly and the other end 30a normally housed in said lock assembly 10 at a position adjacent to said lower end of said lock assembly, said other end 30b being connected through a connection line 56 to the end of said shank 52 opposite to said crown end; and a weight 34 slidably engaging said main anchoring line 32 and dropped downwardly along said main anchoring line 32 to strike said lock assembly 10; said lock assembly 10 including a housing 11 for accommodating said releaseable hook member 30 during the normal anchoring operation, a movable locking block 27 housed in said housing 11 for movement between a locking position and an unlocking position along the axial direction of said housing 11, and biasing means 26 normally biasing said movable locking block 27 into its locking position and releasing said releaseable hook member 30 when struck by said weight 34 to allow said releaseable hook member 30 to come out of said housing 11.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION : Field of the Invention ; The present invention relates generally to an improvement in or relating to anchors, and particularly to an anchor retrieving device adapted to be interposed between an anchor and one end of a main anchoring line to retrieve the anchor when it becomes snagged at the bottom of a body of water, for example, seized by roots or ledges of rocks or submerged timbers or like. Related Art Statement : It might often arise a case where an anchor becomes snagged by roots, rocks or like to make it impossible to raise the anchor to the boat. In order to release the anchor and to bring the same in the condition for easy raising, I have previously proposed an anchor arrangement. The anchor arrangement according to my previous proposal, comprises a flexible rope having a free end, retaining device for detachably retaining the free end of the rope and being attached to the rope and normally held at a position separated from the free end of the rope by a certain distance, an anchor attached to the rope and having a shank and at least one grasping means (fluke in one embodiment) extending backwardly from one end of the shank for grasping a rock at the bottom of a body of water. The shank of the anchor is attached to the rope so that the one end formed with the fluke is positioned remoter from the free end of the rope. The arrangement further comprises means for opening the retaining device so that the free end of the rope is released therefrom in readiness for the anchor raising operation, upon impingement or striking by a weight. The anchor arrangement of my prior proposal is disclosed in my co-pending united States Patent Application Serial No. 06/865,115 which was filed while claiming a Convention Priority based on Japanese Patent Appln. No. 115232/1985 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 275085/1986), and a corresponding European patent application was also filed and given with EPC No. 86303937.6 (= EP-A-0 206 530). This is also disclosed in my Japanese Patent Appln. No. 173924/1986. The specification of the aforementioned United States Patent Application will be incorporated herein as a reference. In my previous arrangement, the means for opening the retaining device is a hook which is opened as it is struck by the weight. One end of the hook is pivoted by a pin to the main body of the retaining device. The other movable end is engaged and retained by a lock pawl to the main body of the retaining device under the closed condition, and disengaged from the lock pawl under the opened condition. However, this arrangement has a disadvantage that sands, soils or muds on the bottom of a body of water tends to adhere to the portions around and vicinal to the pivot pin as the retaining device contacts with sands or other particles, leading to the result that the device is gotten clogged to reduce reliability in releasing action. There is also a problem that all of the loading applied to the anchor is transmitted to the pivot pin of the hook, so that smooth action of the hook has been fatally lost, should the pin be bent or otherwise deformed by such an extremely high loading. A further disadvantage of this arrangement is its inherent poor operationability. This poor operationability or difficulty in setting is caused by the necessity that the free end of a section of the rope, which is connected to the end of the shank opposite to the crown end, must be trapped by the hook and then the hook is latched by the lock pawl. OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION : The primary object of this invention is to provide an anchor retrieving device adapted to be interposed between an anchor and one end of a main anchoring line, which operates reliably to retrieve an anchor when the anchor becomes snagged by any obstacles which hinder smooth raising of the anchor. Another object of this invention is to provide such an anchor retrieving device which can be operated easily by a simple operation from an operator aboard the boat or ship. A further object of this invention is to provide such an anchor retrieving device wherein a releasable hook member is combined with a lock assembly and the releaseable hook is connected to and disconnected from the lock assembly without the use of any pivot pin or like means which is easily clogged by sands, muds or soils. A still further object of this invention is to provide an anchor retrieving device comprising a releaseable hook member and a lock assembly and wherein the former is directly connected to and disconnected from the latter to simplify the set operation. With the aforementioned objects in view, the present invention provides an anchor retrieving device used for retrieving an anchor including a shank having a crown end and at least one fluke, an achoring force being transmitted to an end of shank opposite to said crown end of said shank during normal anchoring operation and an anchor-retrieving force being transmitted to the crown end of said shank during anchor raising operation, said anchor retrieving device comprising: (1) retaining means adapted to be interposed between said anchor and one end of a main anchoring line and means for enabling the retaining means to be connected with an anchor-retrieving line for transmitting said anchor-retrieving force from said main anchoring line to said crown end of said shank, said retaining means being for detachably retaining an end of a connection line for transmitting said anchoring force to said end of said shank opposite to said crown end; and (2) a weight slidably engageable with said main anchoring line and droppable downwardly along said main anchoring line to strike said retaining means so that said retaining means opens and said end of said connection line is released from said retaining means in readiness for raising said anchor. characterized by the feature that said retaining means is adapted such that said connection line and said anchor-retrieving line are separable from each other, and said retaining means includes:- a lock assembly having an upper end connectable to said one end of said main anchoring line and a lower end connectable to said crown end of said anchor through said anchor-retrieving line; a releaseable hook member having one end normally locked by said lock assembly and the other end normally housed in said lock assembly at a position adjacent to said lower end of said lock assembly, said other end being connectable through said connection line to the end of said shank opposite to said crown end; said lock assembly including a housing for accommodating said releaseable hook member during the normal anchoring operation, a movable locking block housed in said housing for movement between a locking position and an unlocking position along the axial direction of said housing, and biasing means normally biasing said movable locking block into its locking position and releasing said releaseable hook member when struck by said weight to allow said releaseable hook member to come out of said housing. DESCRIPTION OF THE APPENDED DRAWINGS: The above and other objects and merits of this invention will be easily understood by those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof, by way of example, while referring to the appended drawings, in which : Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of this invention, with parts omitted for simplicity of illustration; Fig. 2 shows an elevation of the embodiment of Fig. 1, wherein the releaseable hook member is accommodated in the lock assembly to be locked by the latter; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, with the releaseable hook member being unlocked from the lock assembly; Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the parts of the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 3, with portions of some members being cut away for easy understanding; Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the embodiment of Fig. 1, which is combined with a usual anchor and set to be in condition for anchoring; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but showing the combination of the anchor and the anchor retrieving device in the condition for anchor raising operation; DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIEMNT : The present invention will now be described in detail by referring to a presently preferred embodiment thereof. Referring to the drawings showing a preferred embodiment of this invention, a lock assembly is denoted generally by reference numeral 10 and has an upper end connected to a main anchoring line 32. The lock assembly 10 has a housing 11 which is defined by a core plate 12, paired side wall plates 14, 16 securedly fitted to cover the sides of the core plate 12 by welding or using screws or other securing means, each of the side wall plates 14, 16 having a longitudinal slot 18 extending along the longitudinal direction of the housing 11. A pair of guide rods 20, 20 are housed in the longitudinal slots 18,18 of the side wall plates 14, 16 to be moved along the longitudinal direction. An upper crossing member 22 is pivotally carried at an upper portion of the guide rods 20, 20, and a lock pawl 24 is carried by the lower end of the guide rods 20, 20. A coil spring 26 surrounds the guide rods 20, 20 and has a lower end circumference seated on the bottom ledges of enlarged portions or windows 28 of the longitudinal slots 18. The top end circumference of the coil spring 26 abuts against the bottom of the upper crossing member 22 to urge the member 22 maintained at its upper position under normal condition when no striking force is applied on the member 22. Both ends of the upper crossing member 22 protrude beyond the side wall plates 14,16 to be struck by a weight 34 as will be described hereinafter. The guide rods 20, the upper crossing member 22 and the lock pawl 24 are thus connected together and movably housed in the housing 11 of the lock assembly 10 while being applied with a biasing force by the coil spring 26 to form a movable locking block 27. A releaseable hook member 30 is contained in the housing 11 of the lock assembly 10 securedly in the anchoring condition as it is contained in the housing 11 of the lock assembly 10 to be set for anchoring, and it is readily released from the lock assembly 10 in response to the operation by a person who is staying on the boat when it is desired to separate the anchor from any massive obstacle which hinders raising of the anchor. Now referring to the drawings, particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, the releaseable hook member 30 has a thickness slightly thinner than the wall thickness of the core plate 12 to be loosely set in the gap or space between the side wall plates 14 and 16, and has a generally crescent shape in the illustrated embodiement. The releaseable hook member 30 has at its one end, which would be referred to as the "lower end" in some portions of the following description for the convenience of description, a rounded lug or first hook end 30a which is snugly received by a cut-out 12a formed at the lower portion of the core plate 12 and covered by the side wall plates 14 and 16. The cut-out 12a has an opening which is slanting at a certain angle relative the longitudinal direction of the side wall plates 14, 16 so that the first hook end 30a is inserted from the upside of the cut-out 12a at the initial step for connecting the hook member 30 with the lock assembly 10. The other end, which would be referred to as the "upper end" in some portions of the following description for the convenience of description, forms a latch end 30b for engaging with the lock pawl 24. In order to connect the hook member 30 with the lock assembly 10 to set the same to normal anchoring condition, the first hook end 30a of the hook member 30 is inserted in the cut-out 12a at the lower portion of the lock assembly 10, and then the upper portion of the hook member 30 is pushed in the space between the both side wall plates 14, 16, whereupon the latch end 30b of the hook member 30 pushes the lock pawl 24 downwards against the biasing force of the coil spring 26. As the inner face of the latch end 30b engages with the latch seat formed on the backside of the lock pawl 24 and the movable locking block 27 is moved again to the upper position under the action of the coil spring 26, the releaseable hook member 30 is securedly and firmly locked to the lock assembly 10. The top ends of both side wall plates 14, 16 are connected through an untwisting arrangement (not shown) to the main anchoring line 32 drawn out from the boat, and have side edges or shoulders slanting to converge upwardly. A generally cylindrical weight 34 is shown in Figs. 3 and 6, and the weight 34 in this embodiment is composed of two half-cylinders connected with each other by hinges 34a (see Fig. 6) to be opened and closed as desired, the weight 34 being fixed to its closed condition by means of locking means (not shown). Referring now to Figs. 5 and 6, a Danforth type anchor 50 has a shank 52, and flukes 54 are attached to the crown end of the shank 52 to be swingable within a certain angular range. The end opposite to the crown end of the shank 52 is connected to one end of a connection line 56. The other end of the connection line 56 is connected to the lower end, i.e. the end close to the first hook end 30a, of the releaseable hook member 30. The crown end of the shank 52 vicinal to the root portions of the flukes 54 is connected through an anchor-retreiving line 58 to the lower end of the lock assembly 10. The length of the connection line 56 is determined so that the tension in the main anchoring line 32 is transmitted through the connection line 56 to the end opposite to the crown end of the shank 52 when the releaseable hook member 30 is securedly retained by the lock assembly 10, and the anchor-retrieving line 58 is kept slack to prevent the relatively weak anchor-retrieving line 58 from transmitting an extensive force needed to anchor the boat or ship. In the condition as shown in Fig. 5, wherein the releaseable hook member 30 is assembled or set to the lock assembly 10, the entire arrangement is used as a usual anchoring system. In an event when the anchor 50 is caught by roots of seaweeds, rocks or other massive obstacles and the anchor 50 cannot be raised by a simple operation, the releaseable hook member 30 may be released from the lock assembly 10 by moving the movable locking block 27 downwardly as shown in Fig. 6. In order to release the hook member 30 from the lock assembly 10, the weight 34 is mounted around the main anchoring line 32 so that the line 32 is loosely surrounded by the inner periphery of the cylinderical weight 34, and then the weight 34 is dropped along the main anchoring line 32. The weight 34 strike the protruding ends of the upper crossing member 22, as best shown by the dots-and-dash line in Fig. 3, so that the upper crossing member 22, guide rods 20, 20 and the lock pawl 24 are moved downwards against the biasing force of the coil spring 26. Whereupon, the lock pawl 24 is disengaged from the latch end 30b of the releaseable hook member 30, and then the hook member 30 is swung about the lowest end thereof in the clockwise direction as seen in Fig. 3 until the lower rounded lug or first hook end 30a of the hook member 30 comes out of the cut-out 12a of the core plate 12. Thus, the hook member 30 is released from the lock assembly 10. As best seen from Fig. 2, the releaseable hook member 30 is formed with an engagement hole 30c to which one end of the connection line 56 is bound in a way so that the point to which the connection line 56 is bound or secured is somewhat deviated outwards (toward the right-hand direction in Fig. 2) from the linear line extending from the center axis of the main anchoring line 32 to the point at which said lower end of the hook member 30 engages with the cut-out 12a formed at the lower end of the core plate 12. This deviation contributes the effect that the tension from the connection line 56 acts on the hook member 30 to force the second hook end or latch end 30b to swing in the direction to be unlocked from the lock pawl 24 when the weight 34 strikes to lower the movable locking block 27to disengage the latch end 30b from the latch seat on the backside of the lock pawl 24 (in Fig. 2, the latch end 30b is swung in the right-hand direction). Release or separation of the releaseable hook member 30 from the lock assembly 10 can be ensured by such a deviation. According to another advantageous aspect of the illustrated embodiment, the hook member 30 has an inner periperal edge having an inclined portion 30d engaging with the lower end of the movable locking block 27, more specifically the bottom edge of the lock pawl 24, so that the hook member 30 is pushed outwardly (toward the right-hand direction in Figs. 2 and 3) from the housing 11 of the lock assembly 10 when the movable locking block 27 is pushed downwards upon striking by the weight 34. As a result, release or separation of the releaseable hook member 30 from the lock assembly 10 is surely and positively achieved. After the releaseable hook member 30 is released together with the connection line 56, the connection between the main anchoring line 32 and the end of the shank 52 opposite to the crown end, through the lock assembly 10 and the connection line 56, is disconnected, so that the anchor 50 is connected solely through the anchor-retrieving line 58 with the crown end of the line 58 being applied with a tension force as an anchor-raising force is transmitted. Thus, by hoisting or otherwise hauling the main line 32, the anchor 50 is raised with its crown side held upside to result in success for retrieval thereof from the snagged condition. By the term "crown end" there is intended to be also included any part of an anchor, normally remote from the normal rope/chain attachment region, which when pulled on by a retrieving line will enable the anchor to be more readily retrieved or disengaged from the bottom ground than by pulling on the normal attachment region.

Claims: An anchor retrieving device used for retrieving an anchor (50) including a shank (52) having a crown end and at least one fluke (54), an anchoring force being transmitted to an end of shank (52) opposite to said crown end of said shank (52) during normal anchoring operation and an anchor-retrieving force being transmitted to the crown end of said shank (52) during anchor raising operation, said anchor retrieving device comprising : (1) retaining means (10, 30) adapted to be interposed between said anchor (50) and one end of a main anchoring line (32) and means (122) for enabling the retaining means to be connected with an anchor-retrieving line (58) for transmitting said anchor-retrieving force from said main anchoring line (32) to said crown end of said shank (52), said retaining means being for detachably retaining an end of a connection line (56) for transmitting said anchoring force to said end of said shank (52) opposite to said crown end; and (2) a weight (34) slidably engageable with said main anchoring line (32) and droppable downwardly along said main anchoring line (32) to strike said retaining means so that said retaining means opens and said end of said connection line (56) is released from said retaining means in readiness for raising said anchor (50), characterized by the feature that said retaining means (10,30) is adapted such that said connection line (56) and said anchorretrieving line (58) are separable from each other, and said retaining means includes :- a lock assembly (10) having an upper end connectable to said one end of said main anchoring line (32) and a lower end connectable to said crown end of said anchor (50) through said anchor-retrieving line (58); a releaseable hook member (30) having one end (30b) normally locked by said lock assembly (30) and the other end (30a) normally housed in said lock assembly (30) at a position adjacent to said lower end of said lock assembly (10), said other end (30a) being connectable through said connection line (56) to the end of said shank (52) opposite to said crown end; said lock assembly (10) including a housing (11) for accommodating said releaseable hook member (30) during the normal anchoring operation, a movable locking block (27) housed in said housing (11) for movement between a locking position and an unlocking position along the axial direction of said housing (11), and biasing means (26) normally biasing said movable locking block (27) into its locking position and releasing said releaseable hook member (30) when struck by said weight (34) to allow said releaseable hook member (30) to come out of said housing (11). An anchor retrieving device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housing (11) comprises paired side wall plates (14,16) each having a longitudinal slot (18) extending along the axial direction of said housing, and a core plate (12) fixedly sandwiched between said paired side wall plates (14, 16) and having a lower portion formed with a cut-out (12a) for receiving said other end of said releaseable hook member (30); and wherein said movable locking block (27) comprises guide rod means (20) having lugs inserted into the longitudinal slots (18) of said paired side wall plates (14, 16), an upper cross or crossing member (22) having both ends extruding from said housing (11) such as to be capable of being struck by said weight (34), and a lower lock pawl (24) for engaging with said one end (30b) of said releaseable hook member (30). An anchor retrieving device as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said paired side wall plates (14, 16) has a top shoulder portion converging toward the upper end of said housing. An anchor retrieving device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said releaseable hook member (30) has a general shape of cresent with its inner peripheral edge having an inclined portion (30d) engaging with the lower end of said movable locking block (27) so that said releaseable hook member (30) is pushed outwardly from said housing when said movable locking block (27) is moved downwards upon striking by said weight (34). An anchor retrieving device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said connection line (56) is secured to said other end of said releaseable hook member (30) at a position substantially deviated outwards from the linear line extending from the center axis of said main anchoring line (32) to the point at which said other end (30b) of said releaseable hook member (30) engages with said cut-out (12a) formed at the lower end of said core plate (12).

Inventors: KOBAYASHI, SATORU
Applicants: KOBAYASHI, SATORU
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B63B21
IPC codes: B63B21