Sail structure
AssigneeTeam New Zealand Limited
InventorStephen James Collie
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a sail comprising a head, a tack, and a luff extending between the head and the tack; a luff region extending along the luff; wherein the luff region has a significantly higher degree of elasticity compared to the average elasticity of a remainder of the sail. Also disclosed is a method of making a sail comprising laying out material to form the sail; arranging material in a luff region of the sail and in the remainder of the sail such that in the direction of the luff, the luff region has a higher degree of elasticity compared to the remainder of the sail; curing or sewing the sail to form a cohesive structure.
Claims23
A sail comprising
- a head,
- a tack,
- a luff extending between the head and the tack;
- and a luff region extending along the luff;
- wherein the luff region has a higher degree of elasticity compared to a remainder of the sail,
- wherein the luff region of the sail includes a first material and a remainder of the sail includes at least a second material,
- wherein the first material and the second material are different, and
- wherein an average stiffness of the second material is in a range of 2-20 times higher than an average stiffness of the first material.
A sail comprising
- a head,
- a tack,
- a luff extending between the head and the tack;
- and a luff region extending along the luff;
- wherein the luff region has a higher degree of elasticity compared to a remainder of the sail, wherein in a luff direction, a ratio of a stiffness of regions outside the luff region and the stiffness of the luff region is in a range of 2-25 times greater.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.