Deepwater king crab pot line hauler
AssigneeMarine Construction & Design Co.
InventorRobert A. Svendsen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A crab pot line hauler in which an upright sheave support plate in the hauler head assembly is configured to serve as a continuing part of an outboard-extending cantilever swiveling support extending laterally from an upright post, and also to serve as a combined water splash guard and line loop whip guard for the hauler sheave, the multifunction support plate leaves the sheave open around its periphery for viewing of the line and ready accessibility to the line in order to clear it of incoming line knots and debris.
Claims9
A line hauler for deep water hauling of king crab pots and the like aboard a fishing vessel, comprising:
- an upright mounting base;
- means to position the mounting base adjacent the rail of a fishing vessel;
- a hauler head assembly comprising a support plate having a body plane, a line hauler sheave mounted on said support plate adjacent one side thereof to rotate on an axis transverse to said support plate in a sheave plane substantially parallel to said body plane, power drive means for the sheave mounted on said support plate, and incoming line guide means mounted on the support plate substantially in said sheave plane;
- and support means for said hauler head asembly, including said support plate cantilevering said assembly directly from said mounting base so as to project laterally therefrom in a generally outboard direction along an outwardly inclined swivel axis, said swivel axis intersecting said body plane at an acute angle so as to offset said sheave plane from said upright mounting base, said support means further including first and second interengaged cantilevering support members, one received within the other to rotate freely therein about said swivel axis with one such member fixed on the mounting base and the other such member fixedly projecting from the support plate as a cantilever arm continuation thereof, said support means member fixed to the support plate being positioned relative thereto so as to locate the center of mass of the hauler head assembly below the swivel axis sufficiently that the hauler head assembly tends to assume a position with the hauler sheave substantially vertical, but with said center of mass not so far below such swivel axis as to incur appreciable pendulous swinging of the hauler head assembly about the swivel axis in heavy seas, said incoming line guide means being offset below the swivel axis such that tension in the incoming stretch of pot line being hauled swivels the hauler head assembly ongoingly into subsantial alignment of the sheave plane with the incoming line.
A deep water line hauler comprising a hauler head assembly including a V-grooved line hauler sheave, power means for driving the sheave for rotation in a sheave plane, and line guide means for leading line to and from the sheave during operation of the hauler, a first cantilever support member carrying the hauler head assembly, a second cantilever support member rotatably mounting said first cantilever support member as a continuation thereof, an upright base member fixedly mounted on the vessel, and a third cantilever support member rotatably engaging the base member and providing support to the second cantilever support member, the first cantilever support member projecting from said second cantilever support member and being rotatable about an inclined swivel axis transverse to said base member, said swivel axis formed by said first and second cantilever support members intersecting said sheave plane formed by the roational plane of the sheave at an acute angle so as to offset said sheave plane from said upright base member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.