Patent Publication Number: US-6907837-B2

Title: Mooring assembly

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The invention relates to a device for mooring a water craft. Particularly, the invention relates to a mooring assembly for water craft configured to provide a single point contact engagement between a hook portion and a buoy. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   In the operation of small boats, it is frequently necessary to moor the boat away from the dock usually by attaching a mooring line to a buoy having a mooring ring. Since the ring or hoop carried by the buoy may be several feet beyond the reach of the boat operator, considerable difficulty is often encountered in securing the clip on the end of a mooring line to the mooring buoy and in inclement weather a certain degree of danger may be involved. Similar difficulties are encountered in disengaging the mooring line and in rough weather the difficulties may be sufficient to require the cutting of the mooring line rather than the disengagement of the line from the buoy. 
   Despite these difficulties and attendant occasional hazards, it is the general practice to attach a clip on the end of a mooring line to the ring of a mooring buoy by manually bringing the parts together. Alternately, the mooring line may be threaded through the loop on the mooring buoy and secured with a knot. In either case the actions required are awkward, difficult and occasionally dangerous. 
   Reaching the buoy to tie the mooring line can be difficult. In the case of the dock rail, at least two persons are usually necessary; one person jumps onto the dock to tie the mooring line while another remains aboard to pilot the boat. One person pilots the boat while the second reaches down for the buoy and pulls it up to tie the line. If the buoy cannot be pulled up, due to factors such as its weight or tension in its anchor line, the second person must reach down to the buoy while tying the line. 
   These procedures can present real difficulties and even hazards to a boater. An unassisted boater may even find it impossible to moor his boat. Reaching over the side of the boat to a buoy may be dangerous, especially in rough waters (a time when the buoy anchor line is likely to be in tension such that the buoy cannot be lifted). 
   Attempts have been made at procedures for mooring a boat to a buoy utilizing the additional reach provided by a standard boat hook. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,536,701 to Buckingham, discloses a mooring device which is provided with a swivel ring and a hook coupled to a boat and configured to engage the ring so that the free end of the hook extends into the ring. This device may be difficult to use in many instances. For example, a swivel ring that is not situated in a rigid upright position or rough waters can make engagement of the hook with the ring difficult. Engagement of the hook, thus, necessarily involves a person to properly position the ring relative to the hook. 
   The limitations of the above-described mooring device, and particularly, necessity of bringing the hook over the ring in a manual manner is typical of the current designs. The present invention was developed to effectively address the problem of easy, safe moorage of a boat to a buoy, by one unassisted person. 
   OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
   It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a mooring assembly having a simple structure allowing the boater to moor a boat to a buoy while still operating the boat. 
   Still another object of the invention is to provide a mooring assembly facilitating moorage of a boat under adverse meteorological conditions. 
   Yet a further object is to provide a mooring assembly adjustable to provide a reliable moorage of differently dimensioned and shaped watercrafts. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Consistent with the above-formulated objects, a mooring assembly includes a floating buoy assembly provided with a first engaging element, such as a hoop, and a second engaging element, such as hook, which is configured and dimensioned so that it is carried through the hoop as the boat advances along one direction and engages the hoop from inside as the boater reverses the direction of the boat&#39;s advancement. 
   One of the advantages of the inventive assembly is that a boat can be moored by an unassisted boater who can concentrate on piloting the boat while maneuvering it so that the hook moves through the hoop. As a consequence, the boater moors the boat by properly maneuvering the latter and, thus, avoids a manual mooring operation, which often leads to a hazardous situation both for the boater and the boat. 
   In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the hoop and the hook are dimensioned to provide a sufficient clearance therebetween as the hook is being carried through the hoop. 
   Advantageously, the outer dimension of the hook is so smaller than the inner dimension of the hoop that a slight change of the boat course, when the boat reverses the direction of travel relative to the hoop, can bring the hook into engagement with the hoop. 
   In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the hook can have a variety of shapes including a U-shape and polygonal shapes. Advantageously, the hook is shaped so that voluntary disengagement between the hook and the hoop is minimized. 
   A further object of the invention involves the mooring assembly and particularly the hoop and the hook both made from fluorescent material making these assembly components visible in the darkness or under adverse meteorological conditions providing decreased visibility of the assembly. The more visible the structure, the easier and safer the moorage. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and other objects, advantages and features will become more readily apparent from a specific description accompanied by the flowing drawings, in which: 
       FIG. 1  is perspective view of the inventive assembly, showing its use in mooring a boat to a buoy; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a buoying rod in accordance with the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of one embodiment of the hook in accordance with the present invention. 
       FIG. 4  is a view of another embodiment of the inventive mooring assembly. 
   

   SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1-3 , a mooring assembly  10  includes a buoy  12  provided with a hoop  18 , which preferably has an annular cross-section, but can have any other cross-sections including polygonal or irregular, for example. To facilitate the moorage of the boat  24  approaching the buoy  12  at an initial angle and at a low speed, a hook  22  mounted on the bow of the boat is dimensioned to be carried through the hoop  18  along a travel direction indicated by arrow A. Having passed through the hoop  18 , the boater reverses the direction of boat advancement so that the boat backs up at an angle slightly different from the initial angle to provide engagement of the hook  22  with the hoop  18 . As a result, the unassisted boater can moor the boat alone without experiencing any particular difficulty. 
   The mooring assembly  10  further includes an anchor  14  lying under water and coupled to the buoy  12  by a flexible component  16  to allow tensioning of the hoop  18  upon engagement with the hook  22 . The anchor is preferably of a mushroom type, but can be any other type preventing voluntary displacement of the buoy beyond the length of the flexible component which can be any elongated element including, but not limited to, a chain, a cable, a rope, a cord and the like. 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , the buoy  12  is provided with a rod  26  extending transversely to the water surface at a distance that allows the boater to clearly see the hoop  18  attached to the top end of the rod  26 . Still another requirement imposed on the rod  26  is that the distance should approximate a distance at which the hook  22  is spaced from the water surface, or in other words, should correspond to the height of the bow. To attain it, the rod  26  is vertically adjustable. As better seen in  FIG. 2 , the rod can have a telescopic structure including an upper rod portion  28  sliding within a lower rod portion  28  and a fastener  32  fixing these portions relative to one another at the desired position. Alternatively, the upper  28  and lower  30  portions of the rod  26  can be provided with mating threaded surfaces allowing these portions to displace relative to one another. The fastener  32  can be a pin fixing the lower and upper portions of the rod  26  in the desired position by extending through a single hole provided in the lower portion  30  of the rod and through a respective one of a row of openings  34  formed in the upper portion  28  of the rod  26 . Optionally, each of the lower and upper portions of the rod  26  can be provided with a respective row of openings. Alternatively, the fastener can be a screw advancing toward the upper portion  28  and pressing against it when the rod extends at the desired height. 
   Still another modification of the adjustment mechanism can include the rod  26  made as a one-piece body fixed at one end to the hoop  18  and extending therefrom through the buoy to have the opposite end fixed to the flexible component  16 . To adjust the overall height of the assembly  10 , the rod  26  can be displaceable relative to the buoy  12  to vary a distance between the buoy and the hoop. A further modification involves a structure in which the hoop  18  is displaceable relative the rod  26 . 
   The hook  22  is provided on a free end of an elongated shaft  20  removably mounted on the bow of the boat. The hook can be formed unitarily with the shaft or can be a separate part. The largest outer dimension of the loop of the hook “d” is preferably 30-60% smaller than the diameter “D” of the hoop  18  to allow them to interengage by slightly changing the course of the boat as the latter backs up. The hook can have a variety of shapes. For example, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the hook is provided with a polygonal shape forming a step  36  relative to the shaft  20 . Such a shape improves reliability of the engagement between the hook  22  and the hoop  18 . 
   To prevent uncontrollable advancement of the boat toward the hoop  18 , the free end of the shaft  20  can be provided, in addition to the hook  22 , with another hook  38  opening in a direction opposite to the one of the hook  22 . To ensure the engagement between the hoop and the extra hook  38 , the latter can be dimensioned to have a respective largest dimension “d” equal approximately half (50%) the inner diameter D of the hoop. The shaft  20 , in turn, can be mounted pivotally on the bow of the boat  24  to facilitate penetration of the hook through the hoop  18 . The shaft  20 , like the rod  26 , can have a structure allowing the boater to adjust the overall length of the shaft if the circumstances call for it. Additionally, the shaft  20  can be provided with a mechanism for locking the shaft in a desirable angular position with respect to the horizontal. 
   Alternatively, the rod  26  can be provided with a hook, whereas the shaft  20  can have a hoop. As shown in  FIG. 4 , in using this embodiment of the inventive mooring assembly, the rod  26  has a bent upper portion formed with at least one hook  42  dimensioned to be engaged by a hoop  44 , which, in turn, is provided either below or above and fixed to the free end of the shaft  20 . The principle of operation is similar to the previously discussed embodiment. In particular, the boater navigates the boat so that the hook  42  extends through the hoop  44  and, as the latter comes into contact with the rod  26 , the travel direction of the boat is reversed to provide engagement between the hook and the hoop. Similarly to the above-discussed embodiment, the bent portion of the rod  26  can be modified to have an additional hook  40  extending at an angle from the hook  42  to improve and facilitate the moorage of the boat. Preferably, to prevent unbalance of the buoy  12 , the bent portion of the rod  26  is shaped to have its center of gravity located along the longitudinal axis of the rod. As the boat is moored, it is possible to use various means for locking the hook on the hoop. 
   Often darkness or inclement weather can dramatically worsen the moorage of the boat and render the hoop  44  or  18  practically invisible. A layer of fluorescent material, or a light-reflective layer, for example a sheet of vinyl provided with glass beads, can be laminated with a metallic body of the hoop to increase visibility of the mooring assembly. Alternatively, the hoop and/or the hook can be entirely made from polymeric fluorescent and/or light-reflective material which greatly helps the boater locate the mooring assembly when the visibility is limited. 
   While the invention has been disclosed with respect to preferred embodiments, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appending claims.