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US 11,111,116 B2Granted
Winch with handheld battery powered tensioning and payout unit and method and apparatus for retrofitting manual winches
AssigneeDow Solutions, LLC.
InventorsJustin Dow, Erik Arlet
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A winch with handheld battery powered tensioning and payout unit provides uniform loading of all winches and allows for safe easy loading and payout. A method and apparatus is provided for retrofitting manual winches, in particular manual marine winches, to be operable with a handheld battery powered tensioning and payout unit.
Claims15
A winch including:
- a housing with side plates;
- a rotatable spool assembly supported between the side plates on a drum shaft and including a drum upon on the drum shaft on which a winch line is spooled and unspooled and a controlling gear on the drum shaft cooperating with the drum;
- a control assembly supported by the side plates on a control shaft and engaging with the controlling gear to rotate the drum for spooling of the winch line on and off and holding the tension on the winch, wherein the control assembly extends through one side plate and includes a hand wheel on the control shaft used for manually operating the winch;
- a torque plate coupled to the control shaft and having at least one drive socket, wherein rotation of the torque plate causes rotation of the control shaft and of the controlling gear and the drum,
- a handheld battery operated powered tensioning and payout unit having at least one socket drive member matching the at least one drive socket of the torque plate, wherein operation of the unit when the at least one socket drive member is received within the at least one drive socket of the torque plate causes rotation of the torque plate and consequent spooling or unspooling of the winch line on the drum.
2 more elements
An apparatus for retrofitting manual winches comprising:
- a torque plate configured to be coupled to a control shaft of a manual winch and having an annular array of drive sockets, wherein rotation of the torque plate once coupled to the control shaft would be configured to cause rotation of the control shaft and of a controlling gear and a drum of the winch, and
- a handheld battery operated powered tensioning and payout unit having an annular array of socket drive members matching the annular array of drive sockets of the torque plate, wherein operation of the unit when the annular array of socket drive members are received within the annular array of drive sockets of the torque plate and the torque plate has been coupled to the control shaft of a manual winch, causes rotation of the torque plate and consequent spooling or unspooling of the winch line on the drum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.