Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02691301 2011-07-14
MARINE PROPELLING SYSTEM
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a propelling system, and more
particularly, to a marine propelling system for a boat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG 1, a conventional propelling system 10 for a large boat 1 is
composed of an open-type propeller 12 and a rudder plate 14. Rotation of the
propeller
12 and yaw of the rudder plate 14 can drive the boat 1 to move forward and to
turn
respectively. However, the rudder plate 14 is located behind the propeller 12,
such that
the rudder plate 14 having a predetermined size inevitably counteracts the
thrust
generated by the propeller 12. Furthermore, the loss of vortex flow generated
by the
open-type propeller 12 can lessen the propulsive efficiency of such kind of
the boat 1.
Besides, the steering of the boat 1 needs a large yaw angle to allow the boat
1 to
effectively turn leftward or rightward due to the shape of the rudder plate
14, such that
such kind of the boat 1 is worse in steering maneuverability.
Referring to FIG. 2, a conventional propelling system 20 for a speedboat 2 is
also composed of a propeller 22 and a rudder plate 24 located behind the
propeller 22.
In addition to the aforesaid drawback, such propelling system 20 includes
another
recited hereinafter. To enhance the steering maneuverability of docking the
speedboat 2,
a sideward impeller 26 is mounted to a front section of the hull of the
speedboat 2.
However, such sideward impeller 26 not only increases the production cost of
the
speedboat 2 but decreases the utilization rate of the space inside the hull of
the
speedboat 2.
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In addition, each of the propellers 12 and 22 and the rudder plates 14 and 24
of
the aforesaid two propelling systems 10 and 20 is located at the bottom of the
large boat
1 or the speedboat 2, such that objects in the water, like plastic bag,
fishing net, or
waterweed, may be sucked into the vortex flow to damage the propeller 12 (22);
or the
propellers 12 and 22 and the rudder plates 14 and 24 may hurt divers or
swimmers or
marine creatures, like cowfish. Further, the aforesaid large boat and the
speedboat only
fit the shipping lane of relatively deep water. The last but not the least,
they both do not
have any means for dexterously controlling backward navigation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a marine
propelling system, which can greatly enhance the steering maneuverability and
the
safety of a boat.
The foregoing objective of the present invention is attained by the marine
propelling system composed of a guide shell, a propelling member, a vortex
guide
member, and a horizontally steering ring. The guide shell includes a guideway
for
guiding a water flow to pass therethrough. The propelling member includes a
main body
and a propeller. The main has a plurality of fixed wings located inside a
front section
thereof for swirling the water flow flowing therein from the guideway in a
direction.
The propeller is mounted to rear sides of the fixed wings and rotated in a
direction
converse to that of the water flow passing through the fixed wings. The vortex
guide
member is made of a flexible material and mounted to an outlet of the main
body,
extending backward. The horizontally steering ring is sleeved onto a
peripheral edge of
a front section of the vortex guide member and pivoted to the main body at a
top edge
thereof and a bottom edge thereof for linking-up with and forcing the vortex
guide
member to turn leftward or rightward relative to the propelling member. When
the
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vortex guide member is linking-up with the horizontally steering ring to turn
leftward or
rightward, a high-speed vortex flow ejected through the propeller can
dexterously drive
the boat to turn for better steering maneuverability.
Further, the propelling system of the present invention comprises a vertically
steering ring sleeved onto the vortex guide member and pivoted to the
horizontally
steering ring in such a way that the vortex guide member can be linking-up
with the
vertically steering ring to turn upward or downward so as to properly adjust
depress and
elevation angles of marine voyage, thus allowing the boat to navigate forward
under the
least resistance.
Further, the propelling system of the present invention comprises an inverted
guide hood pivoted to the main body of the propelling member. When the boat
navigates forward, the inverted guide hood is located above the main body.
When the
boat needs to stop forward navigation or to navigate backward, the inverted
guide hood
can be displaced to a rear side of the vortex guide member; meanwhile, the
vortex flow
flowing backward through the propeller is guided by the inverted guide hood to
be
ejected forward. When the boat navigates backward, the vortex guide member can
be
controlled to turn leftward or rightward to eject the vortex flow toward a
left front or
right front side. In this way, the boat can still be controlled to turn
leftward or rightward
while navigating backward.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG 1 is a schematic view of a conventional propelling system installed to a
large boat.
FIG 2 is a schematic view of a conventional propelling system installed to a
speedboat.
FIG 3 is a sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
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FIG 4 is a partially exploded view of the preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
FIG 5 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG 6 is a top view of a part of the preferred embodiment of the present
invention, showing that a vortex guide member is normally located.
FIG 7 is a top view of a part of the preferred embodiment of the present
invention, showing that the vortex guide member is linking-up with and forces
a
horizontally steering ring to turn rightward.
FIG 8 is similar to FIG 7, showing that the vortex guide member is linking-up
with and forces the horizontally steering ring to turn leftward.
FIG 9 is a side view of a part of the preferred embodiment of the present
invention, showing that the vortex guide member is linking-up with and forces
a
vertically steering ring to turn upward.
FIG 10 is similar to FIG 9, showing that the vortex guide member is
linking-up with and forces the vertically steering ring to turn downward.
FIG 11 is a side view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention
installed to a boat, showing that an inverted guide hood is located above a
propelling
member.
FIG 12 is a rear view of FIG 11.
FIG 13 is similar to FIG 11, showing that the inverted guide hood is located
behind the propelling member and the vortex guide member.
FIG 14 is a rear view of FIG. 13.
FIG 15 is a rear view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention,
showing that two propelling systems are installed to the stern of the boat.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to FIGS. 3-5, a marine propelling system for a boat 3 in accordance
with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is composed of a guide
shell 32,
an incoming-stream chassis 35, a propelling member 40, a vortex guide member
50, a
horizontally steering ring 60, a vertically steering ring 70, and an inverted
guide hood
80.
The guide shell 32 is mounted to a bottom side of a stem 31 of the boat 3 and
includes a streamline guideway 33 for guiding a water flow to pass
therethrough.
The incoming-stream chassis 35 includes an incoming-stream lower member
36, an incoming-stream grating 37, and an incoming-stream front member 38 for
preventing the boat from sucking the trash, floating wood, plastic bag,
fishing net or
waterweed to further prevent something like propeller from entwinement with
the
aforesaid things.
The propelling member 40 includes a main body 41 and a propeller 42. The
main body 41 has a housing 43, a support axial tube 44, four fixed wings 45, a
pair of
water-baffling wings 46, and a stabilizing wing 47. The housing 43 is fixed to
the stem
31 by screws (not shown). The support axial tube 44 is fixed to a center of
the housing
43, defining a passage 442 for a water flow to pass through. The fixed wings
45 are
fixed to an external surface of the support axial tube 44 and arranged like a
cross. The
water-baffling wings 46 are mounted to an external surface of the housing 43
and
located at two opposite sides (left and right) of the housing 43 for
preventing the water
flow from impacting an upper side of the propelling member 40. The stabilizing
wing
47 is also mounted to the external surface of the housing 43 and located at a
bottom side
of the housing 43 for keeping the boat 3 in stable navigation. The propeller
42 includes
a rotary shaft 422 and a plurality of blades 424. The rotary shaft 422 has a
front end
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inserted into the boat 3 and connected with a power source (not shown), such
as an
engine or electric motor, and passes through the support axial tube 44, and
has a rear
end fixedly connected with the blades 424.
The vortex guide member 50 is made of a flexible material, such as rubber or
the like, and can be forced to pivotably wag. The vortex guide member 50 is
combined
into the housing 43 of the main body 41 of the propelling member 40 by screws
(not
shown), extending backward from an outlet end of the housing 43.
Referring to FIGS. 6-8, the horizontally steering ring 60 is sleeved onto a
peripheral edge of a front section of the vortex guide member 50, having a top
edge and
a bottom edge, both of which are pivoted to the housing 43. In this way, the
horizontally
steering ring 60 can be driven by a first driving device 62 to turn leftward
or rightward
relative to the propelling member 40, and meanwhile, the vortex guide member
50 can
be forced to wag leftward or rightward relative to the propelling member 40 to
further
control the steering of the boat 3.
Referring to FIGS. 9-10, the vertically steering ring 70 is sleeved onto a
peripheral edge of a rear section of the vortex guide member 50, having two
sides (left
and right) pivoted to the horizontally steering ring 60, and can be driven by
a second
driving device 72 to turn upward or downward, such that the water flow passing
through
the vortex guide member 50 can be ejected upward or downward. In this way, the
depress and elevation angles of the marine voyage of the boat 3 can be
manipulated to
keep the boat 3 navigating under the least resistance.
Referring to FIGS. 11-14 in view of FIGS. 3-5 again, the inverted guide hood
80 is pivoted to the main body 41 by a strut 82 and can be driven by a third
driving
device 86 to shift between a first position P 1 and a second position P2.
While in the first
position P1, the inverted guide hood 80 is located behind the propelling
member 40, as
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shown in FIG. 13, and meanwhile, a vortex flow generated by the propeller 42
is guided
by the inverted guide hood 80 to flow forward instead of backward, such that
the boat 3
can stop forward navigation or navigate backward. While in the second position
P2, the
inverted guide hood 80 is located above the propelling member 40, as shown in
FIG 11,
and meanwhile, the vortex flow flowing backward drives the boat 3 to navigate
forward.
It is to be noted that the inverted guide hood 80 includes two guide portions
84 facing
forward and inclined slightly downward, as shown in FIG 4, and the inverted
guide
hood 80 has a cross-shaped deflector 88 formed at an internal periphery
thereof. The
guide portions 84 and the cross-shaped deflector 88 can change backward water
flow of
the vortex flow ejected to the left, right, and lower sides of the inverted
guide hood 80
to forward water flow. Besides, the cross-shaped deflector 88 can distribute
the water
flow in proportion to allow the boat 3 to turn left or right for leftward or
rightward
navigation, while it navigates backward, to greatly enhance the dexterity of
the
backward navigation of the boat 3.
When a power source is switched on to drive rotation of the propeller 42, a
normal water flow under the bottom of the boat 3 is sucked into the guideway
33. Next,
the normal water flow passes through the passage 442 and the fixed wings to be
swirled
in a predetermined direction. In this way, the normal water flow flowing from
the
guideway 33 is pressurized by the propeller 42 to become the vortex flow
ejected
backward through the vortex guide member 50 in such a way that the boat 3 can
navigate forward. Because the loss of the vortex flow generated by the
propelling
member 40 is far less than that of the conventional propeller, the propelling
member 40
can generate higher propulsive performance.
When it is intended to control the backward or rightward navigation of the
boat
3, referring to FIGS. 6-8 again, the first driving device 62 can drive the
horizontally
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steering ring 60 to turn leftward or rightward; meanwhile, the flexible vortex
guide
member 50 can be linking-up to turn leftward or rightward to enable the vortex
flow
passing through the vortex guide member 50 to be ejected toward the left rear
or right
rear side of the boat 3, such that the boat 3 can be controlled to navigate
leftward or
rightward.
When the draft of the stern 31 becomes deep or shallow due to the weight and
position of the load, as shown in FIGS. 9-10, the second driving device 72 can
drive the
vertically steering ring 70 to turn upward or downward and then the vortex
guide
member 50 is linking-up with the vertically steering ring 70 to flexibly wag
upward or
rightward for adjusting the elevation angle of the navigation of the boat 3,
such that the
boat 3 can keep navigating forward under the least resistance.
Further, when it is intended to control backward navigation of the boat 3, as
shown in FIGS. 11-14, the third driving device 86 can drive the inverted guide
hood 80
to shift to the first position P1 from the second position P2 and meanwhile,
the inverted
guide hood 80 is located behind the vortex guide member 50. In this way, when
the
vortex flow ejected backward from the vortex guide member 50, the vortex flow
is
guided by the cross-shaped deflector 88 to be partially diverted to the two
guide
portions 84 and then to be ejected toward the bow of the boat 3 to provide the
boat with
the propulsive force of the backward navigation. Besides, during the forward
navigation
of the boat 3, the vortex guide member 50 can also be controlled for wag to
allow the
boat 3 to navigate toward the left rear or right rear side.
In conclusion, the propelling system 30 of the present invention includes the
following advantages.
1. Because the bottom edge of the propelling system 30 is as high as the
bottom of the boat 3, when the boat 3 can navigate under the least resistance
to be able
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to navigate the shallow-water shipping lane without running against any rock.
Besides,
referring to FIG 15, the propelling system 30 can be installed to each of the
left and
right sides of the stem 31 to enable the boat 3 to have dual propelling
systems 30 for
greater propulsive force.
2. The blades 424 of the propeller 42 is not exposed outside the propelling
system and the incoming-stream chassis 35 can prevent the rotary shaft 422 and
the
blades 424 of the propeller 42 from entwinement with the trash, floating wood,
plastic
bag, fishing net, or water weed sucked therein. Besides, when the boat 3
docks, the
inverted guide hood 80 can be moved to the first position to become a
protective shield
protecting the marine creatures or the people in the water from injury.
3. The delicate inverted guide hood 60 can allow the boat 3 to navigate
backward to effectively save the production cost, thus replacing the expensive
conventional sideward impeller and saving the space occupied by the
conventional
sideward impeller for better utilization.
4. The propelling system 30 can focalize the water flow entering and enable it
to become a vortex flow to be ejected outward through the vortex guide member
50,
thus enhancing the propulsive efficiency and the control dexterity of the
forward and
backward navigation of the boat 3. In other words, the vortex guide member 50
can be
linking-up with the horizontally steering ring 60 to wag for angles to drive
the boat 3 to
turn, definitely enhancing the maneuverability of the boat 3.
5. The propelling system can adjust the elevation and depress angles of the
stern 31 to the most proper ones by the upward and downward turning of the
vertically
steering ring 70 so as to prevent overgreat resistance from slowing down the
navigation.
In other words, the propelling system 30 can set the proper elevation and
depress angles
of the stern 31 for the boat 3 to navigate under the least resistance.
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Although the present invention has been described with respect to a specific
preferred embodiment thereof, it is no way limited to the details of the
illustrated
structures but changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the
appended
claims.
