Hoisting Apparatus for Pleasure Boats

The invention relates to an apparatus which serves to hoist small pleasure boats or, of course, any comparable craft so as to lower them into the water or lift them out of the water.

Hoisting apparatus are already known which are in use at numerous harbours, particularly pleasure harbours. The known apparatus have four wheels which, arranged in pairs, support a pair of booms held at a spacing from one another at one end by a cross member. Thus, viewed from above, the overall structure of such apparatus is U-shaped. In order to use the apparatus and remove a boat from the water, the apparatus is moved along on the opposite edges of a wet dock into which the boat can pass.

This means that the width of the wet dock has to be farily closely adapted to the wheel gauge of the hoisting apparatus.

It is an object of the invention to provide a boat hoisting apparatus suitable for use in a corresponding wet dock and which can be used simply from an angle of a wet dock or a quay where the boat can be berthed.

An apparatus according to the invention comprises two booms held at a spacing at one of their ends by a cross member, the entire structure being supported by only three wheels associated with one of the booms and with the cross member, whilst the other boom has no wheels; at the same time, a counterweight is arranged in the part of the structure supported by the wheels, preferably in or near the angle formed by the boom and the cross member with which the wheels are associated.

In order to show the advantages of the invention more clearly, an embodiment by way of example will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a hoisting apparatus according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the same apparatus,

FIG. 3 is a view from above of the same hoisting apparatus being used to place a pleasure boat in the water.

FIG. 4 is a general perspective view of a hoisting apparatus in accordance with a modification of the invention.

A hoisting apparatus according to the invention comprises two booms 1, 2 respectively, which are connected at one of their ends by a cross member 3. Each boom is provided with two uprights 4 and 5 which are spaced in the longitudinal direction; the uprights are arranged in corresponding pairs in the transverse direction from one boom to the other and are each provided with a pulley 6 at the top. A metal cable coming from a winch passes over each pulley 6 and makes it possible to raise and lower a pair of straps 7 which pass under the hull of the boat to be lifted. This part of the hoisting apparatus is conventional and well known and will not be described in detail.

According to the invention, the entire structure rests on the ground by means of only three wheels 8 which are associated with the cross member 3 and with only one of the two booms 1, 2. For example, in the embodiment illustrated, two wheels 8 are placed beneath the cross member 3 and one wheel 8 is placed beneath the boom 1 not far from its free end. The boom 2 is totally without wheels or any means for supporting it on the ground. A counterweight 9 is located in the part of the structure supported directly by the wheels 8. It is preferable to place the counterweight 9 in or near the angle 10 formed by the boom 1 and the cross member 3 which are associated with the wheels 8. It is particularly advantageous to make the booms and the cross member from tubes and to house the counterweight 9 inside these tubes in the branches of the angle 10. It is also advisable to position the propulsion and hoisting motor or motors and the hoisting winch diagrammatically shown by a rectangle 11 in the figures, in the angle 10. Preferably, the wheels 8 which support the cross member 3 are drive and guide wheels. However, the invention does not stipulate the precise arrangement or type of wheels 8 provided that one of the booms has no wheels at all.

The boom 2 which is not directly supported by wheels may be of any desired form. It may be exactly symmetrical to the boom 1 and have the same uprights 4 and 5. However, it is preferable to reduce the weight of the overhanging part, e.g. by using a boom 2 which is arranged slanting upwards, thus reducing the size and hence the weight of the uprights 4, 5. Any other equivalent arrangement may be used for this purpose.

FIG. 3 shows the hoisting apparatus of the invention in use and clearly illustrates the considerable advantages it brings. No special permanent construction is required. An existing angle 12 which can be found in any wet dock or formed by a quay and where the boats can be berthed enables boats to be lifted out of or lowered into the water using the apparatus according to the invention. The counterweight 9 should be designed so that, taking into account the position of the centre of gravity g of the boat and the weight of the boat, the perpendicular from the centre of gravity of the hoisting apparatus and boat combined passes within the support polygon defined by the three wheels 8.

It will be appreciated from FIG. 4 that the invention also covers the embodiment wherein the boom 2 which is not directly supported by the wheels first of all rises vertically, from the cross member 3, or at a steep incline, up to the level of the tops of the uprights 4, 5 and then extends horizontally. This boom 2 is thus directly provided with pulleys 6 for raising the boats, opposite the pulleys 6 on the uprights 4 and 5 of the boom 1.