Watercraft propulsion system
OwnerCalvin A. Gongwerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A propulsion system capable of more efficiently accomplishing all that the prior art propulsion systems can accomplish and additionally providing for manuevers that had hereto been unavailable with purely stern-driven craft through the use of a first and second devices for generating propulsion mounted at the rear of the craft to be driven. The two devices for propulsion are arranged one over the other so that the centerlines are substantially aligned vertically. A movable rudder is mounted substantially vertically at the rear of the craft parallel to the centerline of and in the effluent streams of said first and second propulsion devices. A fixed fin array is also mounted at the rear of the craft in the effluent streams of said first and second propulsion devices just forward of the rudder.
Claims22
A watercraft comprising a large semi-submersible center hull and a first and second sponson positioned essentially parallel to and on opposite sides of said center hull, said center hull, said first sponson and said second sponson being held together in rigid alignment by means of a deck house;
- wherein said deck house is of a torsion box construction;
- and, said center hull having a flat bottom, a first and second side with circular contours and a long bulbous bow.
A watercraft having a bow and a stern comprising a large semi-submersible center hull and a first and second sponson positioned essentially parallel to and on opposite sides of said center hull, said first and second sponsons being attached to said center hull by a rigid deck structure;
- said center hull having a flat bottom, a first and second side with circular contours and a long bulbous bow;
- said contour of said first and second sides having the same convex radius of curvature throughout the length of said long bulbous bow;
- said long bulbous bow being formed by incrementally decreasing the width of said flat bottom while maintaining a consistent radius of curvature for said side contours to obtain the bow closure.
A watercraft having a bow and a stern comprising a center hull and a first and second sponson positioned essentially parallel to and on opposite sides of said center hull, said first and second sponson being connected to said center hull by a rigid deck plate;
- said center hull comprising a flat bottom and first and second sides with circular arc cross sections;
- said center hull having a long bulbous bow and a bluff afterbody contoured stern;
- and, bow planes mounted to said first and second sides of said center hull near said bow;
- said bow planes being controlled by means for allowing said planes to flutter as the watercraft pitches such that said bow planes provide minimal propulsion.
A method of fabricating a watercraft comprising forming a hull such that the sides of the hull have cross sectional contours comprised solely of circle arcs;
- forming a bow closure by using a frame generated by the same circle arc contours used to form the sides of the hull wherein the frame has a top and a bottom attaching the circle arc contours;
- cutting out an incremental vertical slice from the top and bottom of the frame to form a second frame for use as the next frame closer to the bow;
- cutting out an incremental vertical slice from the top and bottom of the second frame to form a third frame for use as the next frame closer to the bow;
- and,
- repeating the above steps of cutting out a vertical slice until bow closure is achieved.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.