Powered sailboat winch

A winch for bringing in line having a load on one end with gathering of said line at the other end at high speed and low tension or slow speed and high tension, said winch comprising in combination;

• a take-up drum;
• said take-up drum attached to the end of said line, said take-up drum defining a reel with sufficient space for the storage of line thereon, a level wind for feeding line to said take-up drum for the placement of even layers of line on said drum;
• a high torque drum having said line wound about said high torque drum between said level wind to said winding drum and a load on said line;
• a first motor for driving said take-up drum;
• a second motor for driving said high torque drum;
• a third motor for indirectly driving said high torque drum, said third motor including gears rendering a mechanical advantage to the driving of said high torque drum;
• ratchet means for permitting said high torque drum to spin free of said second and third motors and feed line directly to said take-up drum under tension from said take-up drum through said high torque drum;
• sequence means for sensing tension on said line and sequentially connecting said first motor to power said take-up drum at low line tension, said first and second motors to power said take-up drum to tail said high torque drum at intermediate line pressures and powering said third motor to permit said high torque drum to exert maximum tension on said line;
• clutch means keyed to said first and second drums for permitting the controlled release of said line.

A winch for bringing in a line having a load on one end with gathering of said line at the other end at high speed and low tension or slow speed and high tension, said winch comprising in combination;

• a take-up drum;
• said take-up drum threaded to the end of said line, said take-up drum defining a reel with sufficient space for the storage of line thereon;
• a level wind for the feeding of said line to said take-up drum;
• a high torque drum having said line wound about said high torque drum between said level wind to said winding drum and load on said line;
• a first hydraulic motor for driving said take-up drum;
• a second hydraulic motor for driving said high torque drum;
• a third hydraulic motor for driving said high torque drum under a mechanical advantage;
• gear reduction means interconnecting said high torque drum and said third motor for enabling said third motor to rotate said high torque drum under mechanical advantage;
• ratchet means for permitting said high torque drum to spin free of said second motor and feed line to said take-up drum;
• hydraulic control means for running said first motor at low line tension, said first and second motors at intermediate line tension;
• and said first, second and third motors at high line tension, said hydraulic control means including;
• means for outputting hydraulic fluid to said first motor;
• a sequence valve for sensing the pressure of hydraulic input to said first motor whereby increasing line tension on said take-up drum produces increasing hydraulic pressure to said first motor, said sequence valve for sensing the input pressure to said first hydraulic motor and placing said second hydraulic motor in parallel operation with said first hydraulic motor upon sensing of a pressure in excess of a predetermined pressure at the inlet of said first hydraulic motor;
• a second sequence valve, said second sequence valve operatively connected to sense the input pressure to said second hydraulic motor;
• said second sequence valve operable to open upon sensing said preselected pressure to output hydraulic pressure to said third motor whereby all said motors run in parallel;
• and,
• clutch means operatively connected between said hydraulic circuit and said take-up drum and said high torque drum for the release of said drum and corresponding release of said line.