Traction winch

Abstract

A power driven traction winch for drawing up rope having two spaced, parallel, power-driven drums journaled on a bearing support structure; a pulley mounted coaxially on one of the drums and free to turn with respect thereto for receiving a final turn of the rope; a pressure roller mounted on the support structure, positioned with its axis parallel to the axis of the pulley and pivoted for movement towards and away from the pulley in alignment therewith; means for urging the roller towards the pulley to press a turn of rope against the pulley; means for applying torque to the pulley in the wind-up direction, the torque being independent of rotation of and torque applied to the one drum, whereby rope is drawn into the winch under tension and released from said winch free of tension; v-shaped circumferential grooves on the drums and on the pulley for receiving turns of rope; a support structure affixed to a boat, holding the axis of the drums vertical, and wholly between said drums to provide access to said winch for rope from any direction; drive means applying equal torque in the take-up direction to each of the drums while driving the drums at speeds differing one from another, whereby stretchable rope may be hauled in with reduced slippage; hydraulic motors, one coupled to drive each of the drums, connected to a hydraulic supply providing hydraulic fluid of uniform pressure to all the motors; supporting each of the motors solely through connection of its rotor to an associated drum, with its stator restrained from rotation by a load cell connected to measure the torque applied to restrain the stator; and a brake connected between the rotor and the stator of each of said motors.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.