Patent Document

RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/821,061 filed Aug. 1, 2006 entitled “Single Stack Manual Marine Winch.” 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to winches, more particularly, the present invention relates to manual marine winches designed to minimize binding, simplify unloading and limit the amount of available rope that can be stored on the winch drum. 
   2. Background Information 
   Winches have been used in many applications. Manual winches have been widely used in barges, tow boats and the like. Typically a manual winch is attached to a boat deck and spools a towing cable on a rotating drum. 
   Manual winches remain in common use where a powered winch would be impractical or inefficient. Even in a manual winch the operator, through various mechanical advantages, can generate a very large tension on the cable. Examples of manual winches are described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,450 which is incorporated herein by reference. Examples of manual winches are sold by W. W. Patterson Company and Nashville Bridge Company. 
   In a conventional marine winch a wire rope, the winch line, is spooled back and forth around the rotating drum and the winch line is subject to very large loads. The high loading can cause the outer layers of wire rope to become fouled, jammed or begin binding within the spaces between the lower level wire ropes. Further, rapid tension release in existing wire rope winch systems can result in what is known as “bird-nesting” of the spooled wire rope. This can make unwinding the winch very difficult in subsequent operation, and often requires a second deck hand to assist in the unwinding of the wire rope, or even the engine power of the tow boat. 
   Companies that utilize certain selected lashing arrangements repeatedly will often have a winch wire take up requirement (i.e. total adjustment length of the winch line) that is much less than the wire rope length attached to the winch. Further, controlling the total winch line adjustment in such situations can be used to assure that the deck hands are making the same lashing arrangements in the same proper manner. In other words a winch with a controlled total winch line adjustment or take up can assure the proper lashing configuration or rigging is followed. 
   It is an object of the present invention to minimize the drawbacks of the existing manual winches and to provide a simple easy loading and unloading marine winch that minimizes fouling, binding, jamming, bird-nesting, and essentially forces that a proper lashing configuration be followed. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless expressly and unequivocally limited to one referent. For the purposes of this specification, unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing any parameters used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” All numerical ranges herein include all numerical values and ranges of all numerical values within the recited numerical ranges. 
   The various embodiments and examples of the present invention as presented herein are understood to be illustrative of the present invention and not restrictive thereof and are non-limiting with respect to the scope of the invention. 
   At least some of the above stated objects are achieved with a manual marine winch that includes a winch line including a wire rope, a pair of spaced side plates, a rotating spool assembly supported between the side plates and including a drum, wherein the drum defines a wire rope stacking space on the drum for storing a single stack of wire rope, and a manually actuated control for spooling and un-spooling the wire rope in the wire rope stacking space on the drum. 
   The marine winch of the present invention may have the drum including a protecting flange on one side of the drum and a controlling drum gear on the other side of the drum. The marine winch of the invention may further include a stacking flange which is spaced from the drum gear a distance sufficient to receive only a single width of winch line, whereby the drum gear and the stacking flange define the wire rope stacking space. The marine winch of the invention wherein the clearance between the wire rope on the drum centered between the drum gear and the stacking flange is 1-30% of the wire rope diameter on each side of the wire rope. 
   The marine winch of the present invention may further include a dead wrap area between the stacking flange and the protecting flange. The dead wrap area may be designed to receive a single layer of wire rope with a plurality of wraps such as four wraps. The marine winch of the invention may further including a lead in clamp on the drum to receive the lead in end of the wire rope to begin the dead wraps. The marine winch of the invention may have the stacking flange include a slot that permits the wire rope to pass from the dead wrap area to the stacking area. The marine winch of invention may further include a removable hold down bar secured to the stacking flange extending across the slot which eliminates the possibility of inadvertently unwinding the dead wraps. 
   These and other advantages of the present invention will be clarified in the brief description of the preferred embodiment taken together with the drawings in which like reference numerals represent like elements throughout. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a right side perspective view of a single stack manual marine winch according to one aspect of the present invention with the wire rope winch line and winch cover or housing omitted for clarity; 
       FIG. 2  is top plan view of the marine winch of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 3  is a left side perspective view of the marine winch of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a right side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 5  is front elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 6  is a left side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 7  is a right side perspective view of a single stack manual marine winch according to one aspect of the present invention similar to  FIG. 1  with the wire rope winch line included and the winch cover or housing omitted; 
       FIG. 8  is top plan view of the marine winch of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 9  is a left side perspective view of the marine winch of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 10  is a right side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 11  is front elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 12  is a left side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 7   
       FIG. 13  is a left side elevation view partially in section of the marine winch of  FIG. 7 ; 
       FIG. 14  is a right side perspective view of a single stack manual marine winch according to one aspect of the present invention with the wire rope winch line and the winch cover or housing added; 
       FIG. 15  is top plan view of the marine winch of  FIG. 14 ; 
       FIG. 16  is a left side perspective view of the marine winch of  FIG. 14 ; 
       FIG. 17  is a right side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 14 ; 
       FIG. 18  is front elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 14 ; and 
       FIG. 19  is a left side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 14 . 
       FIG. 20  is a right side perspective view of a single stack manual marine winch according to another aspect of the present invention with the wire rope winch line and winch cover or housing omitted for clarity similar to  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 21  is top plan view of the marine winch of  FIG. 20 ; 
       FIG. 22  is a left side perspective view of the marine winch of  FIG. 20 ; 
       FIG. 23  is a right side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 20 ; 
       FIG. 24  is front elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 20 ; 
       FIG. 25  is a left side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 20 ; 
       FIG. 26  is a right side perspective view of a single stack manual marine winch of  FIG. 20  with the wire rope winch line and the winch cover or housing added; 
       FIG. 27  is top plan view of the marine winch of  FIG. 26 ; 
       FIG. 28  is a left side perspective view of the marine winch of  FIG. 26 ; 
       FIG. 29  is a right side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 26 ; 
       FIG. 30  is front elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 26 ; 
       FIG. 31  is a left side elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 26 ; 
       FIG. 32  is a left side elevation view partially in section of the marine winch of  FIG. 26 ; and 
       FIG. 33  is an enlarged front elevation view of the marine winch of  FIG. 26 . 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIGS. 1-19  illustrate a single stack manual swivel winch  50  according to the present invention. The winch  50  includes a pair of spaced side plates  54  defining an open bottom. A rotating spool assembly is supported between the side plates  54  and includes drum  56  with a protecting flange  58  on one side of the drum  56  and a controlling drum gear  60  on the other side of the drum  56 . 
   The construction of the spool assembly is the key feature of the present invention. Adjacent the drum gear  60  is a stacking flange  62  which is spaced from the drum gear  60  a distance sufficient to receive only a single width of winch line  40 . For example, the clearance between a wire rope  40  on the drum  56  centered between the drum gear  60  and the stacking flange  62  is 1-30%, or possibly 4-10% of the wire rope diameter on each side of the wire rope  40 . For example, in a 1″ rope a total clearance of about ⅛″ (or 1/16″ for each side) has been found to form a single stack wire rope stacking space that avoids fouling, binding jamming and the like. The stacking flange  62  and the drum gear  60  form the wire rope stacking space on the drum  56  for storing a single stack of wire rope  40 . The “single stack” within this application means that the each layer of wire rope  40  within the stacking space is only a single wire rope  40 . Through the formation of a single stack the winch  50  prevents unwanted binding during loading, preventing the jamming during the unwinding. It should be noted that  FIGS. 7-19  which illustrate the rope  40  omit the leading portion of the rope  40  that is significantly beyond the winch  50 . It is this leading end, of course, of the rope  40  that will be used in the desired lashing arrangements. 
   The drum  56  includes a “dead wrap” area between the stacking flange  62  and the protecting flange  58 . The dead wrap area is designed to receive a single layer of wire rope  40  with sufficient number of wraps to prevent pull out of the wire rope  40  under the desired tension (even with no stacking of the rope  40  in the stacking space). Four wraps of winch line or rope  40  is believed to be a sufficient number of wraps for the dead wrap on the winch  50 . For example, four wraps on the drum  56  with a 1″ diameter wire rope on a 10″ diameter drum  56  has been found to provide full holding capacity for the winch  50 , with full holding capacity essentially meaning that the wire rope will break before it is pulled off of the drum  56 . A lead in clamp  64  is on the drum to receive the lead in end of the wire rope to begin the dead wraps. 
   The stacking flange  62  includes a slot  66  that permits the wire rope to pass from the dead wrap area to the stacking area. A removable hold down bar  68  is secured to the stacking flange  62  extending across the slot  66  to ensure that the dead wraps are maintained on the winch at all times (e.g. prevents unwanted removal of the dead wraps). The slot  66  is preferably beveled as shown to allow for easy passage of the wire rope from the dead wrap area to the single stacking area and to prevent cutting or unwanted abrasion of the rope. The lead in clamp  64  is positioned such that the wire rope is aligned with and can easily pass through the slot  66  (with the bar  68  removed) after the desired number of dead wraps. After the wire rope is begun to be spooled within the stacking area (after it passes through the slot  66 ) the bar  68  can be reattached to the flange  62  as shown. 
   The winch  50  includes stacking area fender  70  as a protective fender that will help hold the wire rope and to keep in contained. The fender helps form a wrap limiting feature for the winch  50  that prevents over-winding of the winch line. The over-winding prevention mechanisms of the winch  50  serves to control the total winch line adjustment that can be accomplished with the winch  50 . This winch line adjustment control will actually force the proper repeated lashing or rigging configuration to be followed. For example, if a significant portion of the desired rigging pattern is omitted then the extra winch line may not be able to be stored on the winch  50  evidencing the undesired rigging arrangement. 
   The front of the winch  50  includes protective plate  72  with rope access slot  74  further protecting the stacking space. As shown the winch  50  is preferably an under-winding winch meaning that the wire rope is spooled onto the underside of the drum  56 . Adjacent the slot  74  is a guide channel  75  that essentially encompasses the wire rope  40  as it is directed to the single stacking space as best shown in  FIG. 13 . The guide channel  75  and slot  74  guide the wire rope  40  and serve to control the wire rope  40  and to properly stack the rope  40  and maintain the stack. In the construction as shown the channel is supported near the stacking space by a spacer or support  90 . The channel  75 , particularly with spacer  90  as shown, forms another over-winding limiting feature as the channel will not bias out of the way to allow more than a set maximum number of wraps on the stacking space. 
   The fender  70  and the controlled total adjustment of the winch  50  combine to minimize the need for an extra braking mechanism. The fender  70  will provide some retarding force for payout of the outermost wrap. However, a brake can be easily incorporated into the winch  50  if desired by the operator. 
   Other than the spool assembly disclosed above, the remaining elements of the winch  50  are conventional and known to those in the art. For example the winch includes a hand wheel  76  and lever tension mechanism, also known as a ratchet handle  78  is used to rotate the drum gear  60  through gearing  80  in a conventional fashion. The tension is held on ratchet gears  82  that are engages with pawls  84  with engagement and knockout lever  86 , also known in the art. 
   Further conventional features of the winch  50  include a plurality of spacers  90  holding the side plates  54  apart, access opening  92  in the bottom of the side plates  54  to allow egress of debris, and pivot mounting  94  for pivot mounting of the winch  50 . Further a winch cover as shown in figure(s) can be provided to provide a substantially closed operating surface for the winch  50  (note that the open bottom design can still be used to allow for easy egress of debris that does enter the winch  50 ). 
   The improvements in the winch  50  essentially relate to the spool assembly that includes a dead wrap area and a single stack area as described above. In operation, the user clamps the lead end of the winch line wire rope  40  onto the drum  56  at clamp  64 . An opening  96  is in the side plates  54  to allow access to the clamp  64 . As the wire rope  40  is wrapped around the drum  56  it will wind toward the flange  62  and then will pass through the slot  66  into the single stack area where the working wraps of the winch line  40  can be spooled in a single stack onto and off of the drum  56 . 
   The single stack prevents the wire rope  40  from binding as noted above. These improvements provide a manual marine winch  50  that minimizes fouling, jamming, binding, bird-nesting or the like of the wire rope  40  and allows for single person operation throughout the winch use. The controlling of the total winch line adjustment in the present winch  50  will help assure that the deck hands are making the desired lashing arrangements in the same proper manner. The manual marine winch  50  when using a 1″ wire rope, and 10″ drum, provides for about 25 feet of rope adjustment in 6 wraps on the single stack resulting in a winch  50  height of about two feet. The amount of adjustment can be changed by the total number of wraps and changes in the drum diameter and wire gauge. Other sizes and adjustment lengths are possible and may be designed as desired and tailored to the users needs. 
   The concepts of the winch  50  can be included in non-swivel type winches as well. Further, the present invention also includes the modification of existing winches to accomplish some of the advantages of the winch  50  of the present invention. Specifically, the existing drums may be modified to include the dead wrap area and the single stack area of the present invention. 
   In a further modification of the present invention a visually indicating physical stop, such as a swaged fitting, also called a button, can be added to the wire rope  40  preventing excessive rope  40  from being wound onto the winch  50 . The swaged fitting would be sized larger than the rope access slot  74  so it will abut against the plate  72  acting as a physical stop for the winch  50 . The swaging of buttons onto wire ropes is known in the wire rope art as well as the mine roof bolt art (that utilizes wire rope segments). 
     FIGS. 20-33  illustrate a winch  50 ′ substantially the same as described above in connection with winch  50 . The winch  50 ′ is intended to show some of the minor variations possible that do not depart from the operation of the winch of the present invention. The features and operation of winch  50 ′ are substantially the same as with winch  50  described above and these common elements will not be described again.  FIGS. 32 and 33  illustrate and label additional features of the winch  50 ′ not described above. One feature includes a ramp  111  on the bottom of the winch  50 ′ that allows the winch  50 ′ to easily slide over welds and other barge deck irregularities. The ramped surfaces at the side edges are shown best in  FIG. 33 . The cover includes an access handle  113  to assist housing placement and removal. 
   Although the present invention has been described with particularity herein, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment disclosed. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. For example, a coupling could be added to the lead in end to the winch line  40  to have the lead in end constructed from chain, webbing or other desired line material. The location and design of the gearing can be changed for space considerations. The scope of the present invention is defined in the appended claims and equivalents thereto.

Technology Category: b