Patent ID: 8066261

Claim:
A sail managing winch for handling running rigging lines of a sailing yacht, primarily by power but with selective manual operation, which comprises (a) a rotatable winding drum having a cylindrical core and spaced apart flanges at opposite ends of said core, for winding and storing a line, attached at one end to the drum, in successive layers of side-by-side coils, (b) a primary drive member extending through said winding drum and drivingly engageable therewith, (c) a gear box mechanism positioned below said winding drum and housing a plurality of interconnected drive gears, (d) an upper portion of said primary drive member having a manual drive socket for engagement with a winch handle and a lower portion of said primary drive member extending downward into said gear box mechanism and mounting a main drive gear within said gear box mechanism, (e) a powered drive motor mounted in fixed relation to said gear box mechanism and selectively engageable with said primary drive member, (f) a primary clutch mechanism having a first condition disconnecting said drive motor from said primary drive member and connecting said primary drive member with said main drive gear for rotation with and by said main drive gear, and having a second condition disconnecting said primary drive member from said main drive gear and connecting said drive motor to said primary drive member, and (g) a secondary clutch mechanism associated with said winding drum, (h) said secondary clutch mechanism being controllably adjustable over a range between a substantially locked condition and a condition to enable substantially free release of line from said winding drum under any condition of manual or powered operation.