Abstract:
A remote controlled lighted mooring beacon is adapted to be secured to a mooring ball. The beacon includes a central shaft of a mooring stick. A ballast at the base of the shaft contains at least one battery which supplies the ballast for the mooring stick. A float surrounds a middle portion of the mooring stick and is located along the shaft between the top of the shaft and the ballast. An electronics package is located on the shaft including a receiver that responds to a wireless code for generating an activation signal. A 360 degree viewable high intensity light source is on top of the shaft, is daylight visible and is activated by the actuation. A conductor is connected from the at least one battery in the ballast to the electronics package and the light source for the powering thereof for at least one boating season.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims rights under 35 USC §119(e) from U.S. Application Ser. No. 61/855,090 filed May 8, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     FIELD 
     This invention relates to moorings and more particularly to a method and apparatus for locating a mooring by illuminating a high power light source atop a buoyed mooring stick in which the light source is under the control of a remote control transmitter, with the power source for the buoy including batteries forming the ballast for the buoy. The battery weight and size determines the ballast and provides for season-long operation. 
     BACKGROUND 
     It will be appreciated that sailing vessels such as sailboats and motorboats require a mooring or boat slip to attach to when coming into port. Leaving a mooring is not an issue. Rather finding the mooring again or finding a guest mooring at the end of a boating event is oftentimes a problem. Moorings may be marked by color, number or other indicia. However, regardless of whether the mooring is identified, it may not be viewable from a distance or may be obscured by fog or other boats in the area. 
     In broad daylight, experienced sailors who have identified their mooring location before departure, find it difficult to find the mooring after a race. Either the indicia was rotated away from view, or other boats had since moved, or the line-up with a land marker had shifted. And this problem locating a mooring happens in a field as small as about 30 moorings. Add to this basic dilemma a heavy breeze, a few extra boats all searching for their mooring, particularly as they all come in after a race, a larger more crowded mooring field, and there could be collisions from boats tacking in close quarters, all trying to find their moorings. 
     For instance, in Marblehead Harbor alone there are 2600 moorings, with the boats moored side-by-side with very little maneuvering room. When coming into the harbor it is oftentimes not possible to even see the mooring for which one is headed and certainly not to be able to identify it at any distance. This is even further complicated by fog or in driving rain such that it is oftentimes impossible to locate the correct mooring buoy. In such a situation ordinarily a boat has to circle the mooring field a number of times in order to be able to identify the correct mooring. 
     Some prior systems for indicating buoy location by lights atop the buoy are designed for buoys that carry large heavy battery packs recharged with wave action and are totally unsuitable for use as mooring sticks common with recreational boating moorings. These buoys are difficult to remove from the water at the end of the season and difficult to waterproof. Other prior systems for indicating mooring location by lights atop the mooring are designed to be powered by solar cell arrays. It will be appreciated that solar cells used to power illuminated buoys are too unwieldy to be conveniently plucked from the water. Other recreational boating devices that require wave action energy are simply too cumbersome for use on seasonal mooring sticks. Further, prior art lighted mooring sticks lack an adequate counterweight for keeping the stick upright. 
     For instance the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,126 does not carry the power source at the base of the mooring stick but rather locates the apparatus for powering the light in the buoyant central package midway up the mooring stick and thus provides no ballasting. U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,243 requires a rechargeable battery which either requires solar cells or wave action to recharge the battery. This type of system precludes its use on a mooring stick. 
     It will be appreciated that long life for a lighted mooring beacon is important so that it can last an entire boating season without battery replacement. This is because access to the mooring is not convenient in many instances and battery replacement or recharging is a nuisance. This power problem is particularly severe when one attempts to utilize a high intensity strobe light to identify the position of a mooring stick. Without a significant power source that can operate for a whole boating season, strobe-based systems are not useful in mooring beacons. 
     It is therefore important to provide a mooring beacon with a very high intensity 360° viewable light source on top of a mooring stick that can be viewed from far away and yet has enough power in reserve so that the mooring beacon can be installed and used for entire boating season. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The subject method and apparatus for identifying a mooring solves the above-mentioned problems by providing a remote controlled mooring beacon having a 360 degree viewable high intensity light source atop a buoyed mooring stick in which the mooring stick is ballasted by a battery pack at its lower end, with the batteries being of sufficient size to last an entire boating season. The batteries are also of sufficient weight to provide enough ballast so that the mooring stick stays upright even in heavy seas. Note the entire mooring beacon is waterproof. The subject mooring beacon allows the boat owner to plan his approach to the mooring field with sufficient time to prevent dangerous, quick and unexpected turns in tight places, with the mooring beacon seen easily. 
     More particularly, the batteries replace the traditional lead weight at the bottom of a mooring stick. With the heavy batteries at the base of the mooring stick and with a buoyant float in the middle portion, the large batteries permit not only season-long powering of a very high intensity light source for identifying the location of the mooring stick, but also provide ballasting of the mooring stick even in heavy seas. In one embodiment, the batteries weigh 4-5 pounds. The mooring stick itself may extend approximately 3 feet above the buoyant float and approximately 1 foot below the buoyant float. With this configuration the batteries create a sufficient righting moment. 
     The light atop the mooring stick is a powerful 360 degree-viewable light source which is turned on by remote control signals transmitted to a receiver carried by the mooring beacon from a transponder set to the individual frequency or code assigned to the mooring beacon, with the mooring beacon actuatable from up to three quarters of a mile away. 
     It will be appreciated that the high intensity light source in one embodiment can be a strobe light which is viewable for instance up to a mile from the mooring. Alternatively, the high intensity light source can be formed from an array of LED lamps arranged in so that they point in varying directions for 360 degree coverage. If the individual LEDs are insufficiently bright to provide for the requisite illumination, multiple LEDs can be packaged in a module. These modules are then arranged to provide the required 360 degree coverage. Each of these modules may contain for instance from 3 to 20 individual LED lamps to provide for the requisite intensity. Commonly available LED lights only point in one direction and do not provide 360 degree coverage. However with multiple LEDs arranged as described above, the subject mooring beacon is readily viewable in bright sunlight, at night and in fog. 
     Moreover, in one embodiment, the mooring beacon receiver can be turned off completely when stored and automatically turns off the high intensity light source after a predetermined period of time to minimize battery drainage. Further, a beeping sound system can be attached as desired and timed with the flashing light source. 
     The subject beacon system can also be used in harbors where the harbor master controls the use of guest moorings. Rather than pointing the customer in the vague direction of the intended mooring, a transponder could be taken from a rack containing one for each mooring. Then upon actuation by the harbormaster, the customer could sail or motor to the illuminated mooring with assurance that he or she is finding the right mooring. A rack of transponders can also be a handy reference to the harbormaster to see at a glance which moorings have been rented by noting the transponder that is out of the rack. 
     In addition the subject beacon system can be used to locate boat slips for the owner or guest so that they may safely navigate into the slip by themselves. Since many such slips look alike even to an owner, it is important to be able to identify the correct slip so that the boated can enter the correct slip. 
     When the mooring beacon light is placed at a slip, the beacon can be remotely activated from a boat or by a dockmaster to indicate which slip is available. When numbers of boats are coming in for dock space, only one mooring beacon is activated at a time by the dockmaster who can selectively address the mooring beacons and then extinguish them after a boat is successfully docked. Also the individual beacons can be either color-coded or flashed in a coded fashion to indicate to an incoming boater which slip he or she is to enter. 
     Additional advantages to the use of the subject device is to prevent boat collisions and in changing weather conditions and in crowded harbors. Also accidental misuse of another&#39;s mooring which requires a harbormaster to come out and a move boats off a mooring is avoided. The subject device also serves as an aid to the accurate location of moorings and boat slips. Thus the subject mooring beacon can be a valuable safety and navigational tool for the boating consumer. 
     Note, when the mooring beacon is used as a mooring stick, it is tethered to a mooring ball by a chain. A user should be able to grab the mooring stick and move it onto the boat so that the chain is decleated. 
     In summary, a floatable remote-controllable mooring beacon is provided that incorporates either a 360 degree array of high intensity LEDS or a high-intensity flash lamp on the top of a mooring stick, with the mooring stick ballasted by the batteries used to power the mooring beacon for the entire boating season. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features of the disclosure will be better understood in connection with the Detailed Description in conjunction with the Drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic illustration of the entry of a boat into a harbor searching for a mooring with an individual on the boat signaling the mooring beacon to illuminate, thereby to indicate the direction and placement of the mooring. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagrammatic illustration of the mooring beacon of  FIG. 1 , indicating the extension of a shaft above a float carrying a receiver package and a high-intensity light source capable of being viewed 360 degrees. 
         FIG. 3  is a diagrammatic illustration of the top portion of the mooring beacon of  FIG. 2  illustrating the encapsulation of a receiver and the placement of a high intensity strobe light atop the shaft. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagrammatic illustration showing the utilization of a battery package to ballast the mooring beacon of  FIG. 1 , with the shaft being utilized as a mooring stick and having a float and the receiver/light assembly on the shaft, showing the relative length of the shaft extending below the float and the relative length of the shaft extending above the float, thus to raise up the high intensity light source to give maximal visibility for the beacon while at the same time providing an appropriate righting moment for the mooring beacon due to the battery package at the bottom of the shaft. 
         FIG. 5  is a diagrammatic illustration of a handheld transponder for use by a mariner on a boat seeking to activate the mooring beacon of  FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 . 
         FIG. 6  is a diagrammatic illustration of a dual battery pack assembly for use in the mooring beacon of  FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 , showing a low voltage source to power the receiver in the mooring beacon and a higher voltage source to power a high intensity light source. 
         FIG. 7  is a diagrammatic illustration of the utilization of a number of LED modules mounted in a circle and aimed in different directions to provide 360° high intensity coverage for the mooring beacon of  FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 . 
         FIG. 8A  is a top view of the location of batteries in a cylindrical housing for use in the battery package of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 8B  is a side view of the placement of batteries within the battery package of  FIG. 8A . 
         FIG. 9  is a diagrammatic illustration of the utilization of the subject remote controllable beacon to indicate which of a plurality of docks is indicated as being available for an incoming vessel under the control of a dockmaster. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a crowded harbor  10  is shown having a number of mooring balls  12  located throughout the harbor to which sailing vessels  14  are moored. It will be seen that due to the densely packed harbor it is very difficult for an incoming vessel  16  to be able to locate a particular mooring ball, here shown at  18 , due to the number of boats in the way and due to the similarity of all of the mooring balls  12 . 
     While the moorings themselves are numbered or provided with other indicia and while if the boater is familiar with the harbor and knows the location of boats adjacent his mooring, it is still nonetheless difficult at times for the boater to ascertain which mooring is his. The problem exacerbated when boats that usually sit around his mooring have left their moorings. Thus there is no visual cue as to which of the many moorings in the crowded mooring field is the boater&#39;s mooring. 
     In order for the mooring beacon  18  to be identified, a boater on a vessel  16  activates the transponder  17  to wirelessly activate the associated mooring beacon  18  through an transmission  20  which causes a high intensity light source  22  to illuminate. This illumination may be visible for at least 100 yards and permits the boater to maneuver his vessel as illustrated by the dotted line  24  towards his mooring beacon  18 . 
     The mooring beacon  18  is of sufficient intensity and omnidirectionality that regardless of the crowding of the harbor and orientation of the mooring beacon, the mooring beacon is easily visible not only at night but also in fog and during the day. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the mooring beacon  18  is comprised of a shaft  30  that extends through a float  32  in and carries a receiver unit  34  adapted to receive the wireless signals from the wireless transmitter on a vessel entering the harbor. This signal may be coded such that the only mooring beacon  18  that has its high power light source activated is the one that corresponds in code or frequency to the transponder actuated. On top of the receiver housing is a high intensity omnidirectional light source  36  which is visible at large distances due to the high intensity of the light source  36 , be it a strobe light in one embodiment or a plurality of LEDs aimed around the compass points to provide 360° coverage. The bottom portion  40  of the shaft  30  is provided with a battery package  42  which will be described hereinafter but whose function is not only to power the mooring beacon  18  but also to provide a ballast to make sure that the shaft  30  is in an upright position as it floats on the surface the ocean or lake. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the upper portion of the mooring beacon  18  of  FIG. 2  is shown in which at the top of the shaft  30  is a waterproof housing  34  which carries a receiver for receiving coded signals from a transponder. Housing  34  also includes switching circuits for connecting the power from the battery package  42  carried at the base of the shaft  30  to both the receiver within housing  34  and also to the high intensity light source  36  which is illustrated as a flash lamp strobe. The receiver may be a conventional receiver such as found in garage door openers along with conventional switches normally used in such applications. 
     It be appreciated that the housing and all components are made waterproof so that they will operate at least for a season and longer. The components may be hermetically sealed. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 2 , in one embodiment, the shaft  30  and attendant hardware performs the function of a mooring stick which is attached to a mooring ball by a chain. After the boater identifies his mooring and comes up to it, he may pluck the mooring stick out of the water and secure the mooring ball to a bow cleat. Is important to note that the weight of the entire mooring with shaft  30 , high intensity light source  36 , receiver  34  and battery package  42  is kept under 10 pounds, and preferably lighter so that it may be easily brought aboard the boat. 
     More particularly, and referring now to  FIG. 4 , the shaft  30  is shown to pass through the float  32  such that an upper portion  50  extends upwardly from the float  32  by a distance illustrated by arrow  54  of approximately 3 feet in one embodiment. Beneath the float is a portion of the shaft  56  having a battery package  42  secured to the distal end of shaft  30 , with shaft portion  56  extending as illustrated by arrow  58  1 to 2 feet below the float  32 . In one embodiment, the weight of the battery package is between 4 and 10 pounds to give sufficient righting moment to the mooring such that it remains upright in all sea conditions. 
     The mooring beacon  18  is provided with an on-off switch  60  such that the mooring beacon can be actuated when placed adjacent a mooring ball. Here it will be seen that the 360 degree high intensity light source  36  may be in the form of a strobe light which is visible for a mile or more. Alternatively, and as shown in  FIG. 7 , the high intensity light source may be made of a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted around the periphery of a circular support so that they face outwardly and provide 360 degree visibility. If the individual light emitting diodes are not sufficiently intense, they may be located in mini flashlight modules such that the light emitted in one direction is spread out by the number flash light modules. Note that each flashlight module may incorporate a number of LEDs. The LEDs may be programmed to blink in a strobe-like manner to be easily visible. The LEDs may be programmed to blink a finite number of times, such as not more than 5 blinks for a single activation. Controlling the blinking limits light pollution in the harbor. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 5  a typical transponder  62  is shown with an activation button  64  to cause the transponder  62  to transmit a coded signal which is picked up by the mooring beacon  18 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 6 , a dual battery pack  70  includes a pair of batteries  72  connected in series, the output of which is 3 V and a number of batteries  74  connected in series to produce a combined output of 9 V. The output from the low voltage source over is coupled to a switch module  80  which is activated by a receiver  34  (not shown in this figure) so that under normal operation the low-voltage 3 V is applied to a receiver  34  mounted atop the shaft  30 . 
     When the mooring is actuated by a remote RF signal, switch module  80  connects the high-voltage from batteries  74  to power the high intensity light source  36 . When this light source  36  is a strobe as illustrated, its power drain is significant and requires the higher voltage to sustain his high power output. 
     However, as illustrated in  FIG. 7 , if the high intensity light source  36  may be comprised of LED modules  86  each pointed in a different direction around a periphery, then the drain on battery  74  may be significantly reduced while at the same time providing for the required high intensity omnidirectional output. As mentioned above, if individual light emitting diodes mounted around the periphery of a support, for instance support  90 , are insufficiently bright to provide visibility over long ranges, aggregates of LEDs may be mounted in modules to provide high intensity light in one direction. In this case a number of these modules may be arrayed around in a circle on support  90  such that while the beam width is relatively narrow for each of these modules, the use of multiple modules pointing in different directions permits omnidirectional high intensity light to be propagated out across the harbor. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 8A , in one embodiment, a housing  100  houses a number of cylindrical batteries  102  in a triangular configuration. The batteries are kept in place by spacers  104  so as to make sure they do not become dislodged. Referring to  FIG. 8B , housing  100  is shown with batteries  102  mounted vertically within the housing and connected by contacts  106  and  108  to keep the batteries in place. The batteries may be replaced through a lower portion  110  of housing  100  which is anchored in place through a pin or screw  112 . In another embodiment, a single battery may be utilized to power the mooring beacon  18 , if sized properly. The battery or batteries forming the ballast of the mooring beacon  18  may be rechargeable and may be recharged from a connection port (not shown) mounted at an upper portion  50  of the shaft  30 . 
     It will be appreciated that what is provided is a mooring beacon which floats next to a mooring ball and is tethered thereto such that the mooring beacon is actuated remotely by transponder and is provided with a high intensity omnidirectional light source visible over large distances, thus to be able to identify the particular mooring for the boater seeking to moor his boat. In one embodiment, the receiver utilized to activate the high intensity light source turns off the high intensity light source after predetermined time so as to minimize battery drain. 
     With the batteries located at the distal end of the shaft of the mooring beacon and since these batteries must of necessity weigh enough to keep the mooring shaft vertically oriented, these batteries are designed not only to ballast the mooring beacon but also to permit season-long usage of the mooring beacon without replacement. It is noted that for marine use, all of the above components are waterproof and sealed such that corrosion is avoided as well as internal shorting for the components of the mooring beacon. 
     While the above operation has been described in connection with mooring balls, it will be appreciated that this floating device may be anchored to a pier or dock slip to indicate to an incoming boater where he or she is to dock his vessel. The actuation of the mooring beacon is the same as discussed hereinbefore. Moreover, these mooring beacons can be actuated for instance by a dockmaster or harbormaster to indicate which of the slips is available for use. In this case, the remote control unit is utilized to actuate a particular mooring beacon, which actuation is under the control of the harbormaster or dockmaster instead of the operator of the vessel. 
     More particularly, and referring now to  FIG. 9 , it will be seen that a dock house  120  is provided with a number of transponders  122 . These transponders correspond to docks 1-5, with the transponders forming a head end control system and actuated to actuate a corresponding high intensity light source at the end of the appropriate dock. Here a number of docks  124  are illustrated as being Docks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. At the end of each of these docks is an illuminable remote-controllable light source on a pole such as indicated at  126 ,  128 ,  130 ,  132  and  134 . When the dockmaster wishes to indicate that the that Dock Number 2 is available, he activates the transponder  122  corresponding to Dock Number 2, at which point the high intensity light source at  128  is illuminated to indicate the dock to which a boater is to tie up. Thus, the vessel travels along dotted line  140  to the near side of Dock Number 2 as illustrated. 
     In this manner the dockmaster or harbormaster can indicate which dock is available for an incoming vessel. In this case either the mooring beacon can be floated at the end of the dock or the shaft portion merely physically attached to the end of the dock, with the operation of the beacon being as mentioned hereinbefore. 
     While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications or additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the recitation of the appended claims.