NO782155L - LINE AND MOUNTING DEVICE, ESPECIALLY FOR MOUNTING VESSELS AND ANCHORING FLOATING BRIDGES, BOEYER ETC. - Google Patents

Description

Line and mooring device, especially for

mooring of vessels and anchoring of

floating jetties, buoys etc.

It is known in many connections to use elastomer cords or lines as a substitute for ropes, e.g. for attaching goods to the flatbed of a lorry and for mooring vessels. For these and other purposes of application, the elastomers' large stretch has been utilized to achieve an elastic attachment, or tension. A problem in this connection, however, is that on the one hand you want as large a stretch of the elastomer cord or line as possible and on the other hand you must ensure that the tensile stress, which is caused by the elasticity of the elastomer cord or line, is sufficient for the purpose in question. Admittedly, it is the case that the extra tensile force required to produce e.g. a further 10% strain, increases progressively when the strain of the elastomer cord or line approaches the breaking strain, but, among other things, in connection with the above-mentioned areas of application for elastomer cords or lines, it would be desirable to have an elastomer cord or line where this progressivity is more pronounced and thus becomes progressively stiffer with increasing strain.

An example of an application area where such an elastomer cord or line would entail a great improvement is in mooring devices for vessels, e.g. leisure boats. In leisure harbours, a series of buoys have thus often been placed at a great distance from the wharf, and these buoys are connected by buoy stones or other permanent fixings on the bottom. Between the buoy and the buoy stone there is usually a chain, the length of which, however, must be adjusted so that it is significantly greater than the vertical distance between the buoy and the buoy stone so that water level variations can be taken into account. the surface of the water and the cable that is directly or indirectly connected to the buoy must be quite small so that exceptionally high water levels do not cause the boat to be dragged below the surface of the water. In order to counteract this disadvantage to a certain extent, a separate suspension buoy has often been placed close to the vessel, whereby on this suspension buoy the end of a rope has been suspended, which in turn is anchored to a mooring stone or similar at a greater distance from the pier than the suspension buoy . The disadvantage of this, however, is that this rope must have an unnecessarily long length and can therefore be embarrassing when it lies freely on the harbor basin bottom. If one could now replace this rope, which is attached to a bending stone, with an elastomer cord or line that has the above-mentioned progressiveness, so that the elastomer cord or line becomes progressively stiffer the more it is extended, one would be able to escape from long free rope lengths on the bottom of the harbor basin, while this elastomer cord or line can be stretched to the necessary extent until the tensile force required for the purpose is available. Another case where there is a problem is when it comes to light piers, i.e. floating piers, which usually have the disadvantage that they are unstable, i.e. that if a person walks on one side of the pier, this side will sink sharply, whereby the pier tends to drift away in the opposite direction. The only thing that inhibits this tendency of the floating dock to float away is the floating bodies that are placed on the same side as the person. The pier's anchorings in the bottom and possibly on land have no direct impact on the stability of the pier. In order to achieve piers with good stability, heavy, bulky and thus expensive piers, usually made of concrete, have therefore often been acquired, or it has also been necessary to stabilize the light piers by loading the piers' floating bodies with heavy material, so that these floating piers also become significantly heavier than they should be. Another disadvantage of the known floating piers is that they most often have heavy chains that run diagonally downwards and outwards from the piers and at the ends of which weights are attached in the form of e.g. concrete blocks, for anchoring the chains in the bottom. Such chains do indeed have a certain sway or sag, but despite this the chains can be a nuisance, especially when boats with a relatively large draft have to dock at the wharf.

Similar problems exist with known methods

for anchoring buoys where a chain is usually used between the buoy and the buoy stone. This chain is adjusted so that the length of the chain is significantly greater than the vertical distance between the buoy and the buoy. The disadvantages of this way of anchoring buoys are too

firstly, that heavy and unnecessarily long chains must be used, secondly, that the long chains enable the buoy to drift a significant distance before the buoy is braked up, and thirdly, that this possibility of drifting means that one must seize an unnecessarily large range of movement for each boat when buoy mooring is used.

Also when anchoring sea marks and mounting buoys, e.g. buoys for marking closed borehole valves, which protrude upwards from the bottom, particularly in fishing areas, have similar problems.

In the latter case, the marking buoys can be anchored with 80-100 m long chains. Chains of this length are heavy and therefore require very large buoys, and the chains are also exposed to very strong corrosion and wear, particularly as a result of the sea rise, which can be up to 10-15 m. The difficult conditions mean that the chains for sea marks and marking buoys must changed often.

Another area of application for elastic lines is cargo lashings, e.g. on vessels and trucks. Also in such a case, a line that becomes progressively stiffer with increasing tension would be a great advantage.

Both when mooring floating docks, buoys, beacons and the like and when lashing cargo, it should be possible to significantly reduce the current problems by using an elastomer line (or string) with an adapted progressiveness, i.e. a line that becomes progressively stiffer with increasing strain.

According to the present invention, a

line (or string) made of elastomeric material which fulfills the above purposes and which can be used to solve the problems

by e.g. mooring of boats, floating jetties, buoys and beacons. The elastomer line according to the present invention has a core consisting of elastomer material, a fiber reinforcement which is placed around this and an outer cover layer of elastomer material, the elastomer material in the core and the cover layer preferably consisting of synthetic rubber. The elastomer line according to the invention is characterized by the fact that the fiber reinforcement, which consists of a material with poorer tensile properties than the elastomer material of the core,

is wound in helical form around the core with a reinforcement angle of 50-65° between the longitudinal axis of the line and the perpendicular to this projected reinforcement. The fiber reinforcement preferably consists of cord threads or bands, preferably of polyester material. If the fiber reinforcement consists of two layers, the best result is achieved and the least tendency for the line to rotate when stretched, if they

two layers of reinforcement are wound in helical form in opposite directions with the same reinforcement angle.

The invention is based on the fact that the diameter change of a core consisting of elastomer material, e.g. rubber, is different from the diameter change of a reinforcement which is wound in a helical shape around the core, by axial stretching of the core and the helical reinforcement, and that the difference between the diameter changes of the core and the reinforcement can be used to achieve the above-mentioned, desired progressivity in the force or load necessary to produce a certain additional additional strain. The core's diameter reduction with increasing length-strain of the core is determined by the properties of the elastomer material, in particular its elasticity properties, while the diameter reduction of the helical reinforcement is mainly determined by the reinforcement angle, i.e. the angle between, on the one hand, the centerline of the core and, on the other hand, the reinforcement projected perpendicular to this centerline . By varying the reinforcement angle, the reinforcement can be made to reduce its diameter more or less rapidly in relation to the core's diameter reduction. When the diameter reduction of the reinforcement tends to be greater than that of the core, the effect will be that the reinforcement squeezes the core, which will not, however, be compressed to a greater extent. The effect of this is that the core in such a case will counteract the diameter reduction of the reinforcement's helix line, whereby the reinforcement has an increasingly greater impact on the necessary tensile force to achieve the calculated additional strain.

From French patent document 955,262, an endless loop or strap is known, which either consists of a completely braided construction which is formed by braiding one and the same group of fibers or threads round after round on the outside of each other to form a multi-layer construction, where the inner braiding layers form a core, or consists of a core of plastic, rubber or similar material and an interweaving of fibers or threads, the outer side of which may be covered with an outer sleeve of plastic or rubber material. The core of plastic, rubber or similar material can be solid or hollow. However, the French patent document does not state the above-mentioned basic principle in the present invention, i.e. the usefulness of and nor the use of the different diameter changes in the elastomer material core and the wrapped or braided reinforcement made of fiber material has not been realized. In the examples shown, reinforcement angles of 30, 38 and 42° have been used between the longitudinal axis of the core and the reinforcement projected perpendicular to this, which means that the reinforcement tries to reduce its diameter from the beginning by more than the diameter of the core at same strain. This matter is touched on in more detail in the subsequent description of the present invention.

When an elastomer line according to the present invention is used as a mooring device, the elastomer line can be attached to a fastener, and the opposite end of the line can optionally be attached to an extension made of ordinary ropework.

The invention also relates to a mooring device for anchoring floating piers, buoys, beacons and the like, comprising at least one floating body with a relatively large displacement and a member that connects the floating body to one or more anchoring devices that are placed on the bottom.

This mooring device is characterized by the fact that the body comprises a rigid, tubular arm which is rigidly connected to the floating body and projects downwards from it, whereby an elastic element or line, preferably an elastomer line of the nature specified above, is connected to the stationary anchoring device or devices and projects into and through the tubular arm and is attached to its upper end. The elastic element is thereby preferably constantly stretched, i.e. that the elastic element is stretched or stretched to such an extent that a certain elastic strain remains even at the lowest imaginable water level. With this mooring device, a significant improvement is achieved in the stability of floating jetties, buoys, sea marks and the like, and this stability is further improved if the length of the tubular arm under the water is significantly greater than the length of the elastic element from the anchoring device to the lower end of the arm. The tubular arm functions as a torque arm that counteracts tilting and overturning.

In order to prevent unnecessary wear and tear on the elastic element, it is preferred that the lower end of the tubular arm is cantilevered so that the arm does not rub against the elastic element with any sharp edge.

The elastic element may indeed be directly connected to the anchoring device or the bending stones, but in certain positions it may be advantageous to connect the elastic element to these anchoring devices via largely inextensible lines, wires, ropes, chains or the like.

When the mooring device is used for mooring piers, particularly good stability is achieved if two floating bodies on the pier are placed on either side of the tubular arm and rigidly connected to this via struts. One of these struts can thereby function as part of the pier's walking surface.

In order to make the adjustment of floating piers with a mooring device according to the invention easier, it is advantageous if the elastic element is directly or indirectly accessible from the upper end of the tubular arm, so that the elastic element can be stretched while standing on the pier or standing in a boat next to a buoy,

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows an example of a line according to the invention. Fig. 2 shows a diagram to illustrate the relative diameter changes of the line's core and reinforcement. Fig. 3 shows theoretically calculated curves of how different lines are stretched by increasing load, Fig. 4 shows a diagram of the dependence of the strain on the load for an example of a line according to fig. 1. Fig. 5 shows another example of a line according to the invention. Fig. 6 shows the dependence of the strain on the load for a line according to fig. 5, Fig. 7 shows an example of a mooring device where a line according to the invention is used. Fig. 8 shows an example of a buoy that is anchored using an anchoring device according to the invention. Fig. 9 shows an example of a mooring device according to the invention for use at a floating jetty. Fig, 10 shows another example of this anchoring device.

As can be seen from fig. 1, the line according to the present invention has a core 10 of suitable elastomer material, e.g. ethylene-propylene rubber. A polyester cord band 12 is wound around the core 10 in helical form, whereby the winding or reinforcement angle is denoted by a and is the angle between the center line of the core and the perpendicular to this projected reinforcement. With s, the pitch of the helical polyester reinforcement is denoted. On the outside of the polyester band which runs in helical form, an outer casing 14 of elastomer material is placed. This outer sleeve is suitably also formed from an elastomeric material which has weather resistance.

As can be seen from fig. 5, the line according to the invention can have two different reinforcement layers. The strap according to fig. 5 thus has a core 20, an inner reinforcement 22 in the form of a cord thread or a cord band which is wound in a helical shape. On the outside of this inner reinforcement 22 there is an intermediate rubber 24, and on the outside of the intermediate rubber there is an outer reinforcement 26. Finally, on the outside of the reinforcements there is an outer casing 28. In fig. 5, the inner armature is wound in helical form in one direction and the outer armature 26 is wound in helical form in the other direction. The reinforcement angle of the internal reinforcement is denoted by and its pitch by s-^. The outer reinforcement angle is denoted by a2 and its pitch by S2«

Fig. 2 shows a diagram of how the diameters of the core and of a helical cord band change when stretched. The curves are theoretically calculated. The solid line 30 shows how the original diameter 15 mm changes when the core is stretched to 200%. The dashed line 32 indicates the diameter change of a helical reinforcement whose reinforcement angle is 65°. In a similar way, the dashed curves 34, 36 and 38 show the diameter changes in reinforcements with reinforcement angles of 60, 55 and 45° respectively. From the theoretically calculated diagram, it appears that the reinforcement angle a has a large impact on when the helical reinforcement should start to take over and thus begin to produce the sought-after progressiveness in the line. At the reinforcement angle a = 65°, the diameter of the reinforcement screw line becomes smaller than the diameter of the core only after a strain of

about. 75%. For a reinforcement with a reinforcement angle a = 60°, the stretching must first take place to approx. 30% before the reinforcement screw line begins to have a smaller diameter than the stretched core. When it comes to reinforcements with the reinforcement angles a = 4 5° and a = 55°, it applies that the diameter reduction of the reinforcing screw line is already greater than the diameter reduction of the elastomer core as such. After studying fig. 2, one should thus expect that a curve over the strain as a function of the load should run in a relatively straight line up to approx. 20-30% strain when the reinforcement angle is a = 60°, and to approx. 75% when the chord angle is a = 65.

Fig. 3 shows theoretically calculated curves of how different lines stretch with increasing load. The calculation is based on a construction with a core consisting of styrene butadiene rubber with a hardness of 7 5° IRH and a diameter of 15 mm. The reinforcement, which is wound in helical form, consists of 24 parallel running polyester cord wires (1100 x 2) and is wound with the specified reinforcement angles a, whereby the number of polyester cord wires per pitch loops in the reinforcement are thus 24. The different loops of polyester cord threads are wound close to each other. The curves 40, 42, 44 and 46 show the strain of the elastomer line at the reinforcement angles 45, 50, 55 and 60°. These curves confirm what has been stated above in connection with fig. 2, i.e. that the reinforcement provides a progressiveness in the line's resistance to increased strain. Fig. 4 shows an example of the relationship between load and strain in a line which is produced manually and which is given the structure shown in fig. 1. In this case, the rubber core 10 had a diameter of approx. 20 mm and a hardness of approx. 50° Shore. On the outside of the rubber core 10 was wound a polyester band which was four layers thick and which had a width of 8 mm, whereby the gap between two consecutive turns was 2 mm. The rise s for the reinforcement was thus 10 mm. From fig. 4, it can be seen that the strain curve runs in a relatively straight line right up to approx. 45% strain has been achieved. Then the progressiveness begins, which increases more and more the greater the strain. Fig. 6 shows a curve of the tension's dependence on the loading force when the line has the construction shown in fig. 4, The theoretically calculated curve 48 is shown with a solid line. The found curve 49 is shown with dashed lines. The line was made up of a massive core, which had a diameter of 15 mm and consisted of styrene butadiene rubber with a hardness of 50° Shore.

The internal reinforcement consisted of polyester cord tape which was applied

with the reinforcement angle = 56° and the pitch s1= 31.3 mm. The intermediate rubber consisted of a styrene butadiene rubber with a thickness of

of 0.38 mm. On the outside of the intermediate rubber, an outer reinforcement layer was placed with the reinforcement angle a ? = 57.2° and the pitch s2= 32.2 mm. The reason why the theoretically calculated curve deviates from the obtained curve is that the theoretical calculations did not take into account all the factors that affect the diameter change of the two reinforcement layers when these are stretched in the line's longitudinal direction. The outer sleeve 28 of this line consisted of ethylene-propylene rubber.

Fig. 7 shows an example of a mooring device where the elastomer line described above is used. As can be seen from the figure, a pleasure boat 50 is anchored in the usual way to a bollard 52 on a quay 54 by means of a line 56. At the bottom of the harbor basin, at a great distance from the quay 54, there is a fore-anchoring stone 58. This stone 58 lies on the usual place where mooring buoys are currently placed in harbor basins. An elastomer line 60 is attached to the anchoring stone. This elastomer line can be of the one in fig. 1 or 5 shown construction. The elastomer line is connected at its other end to a regular line, e.g. a polyester line 62. With the help of the line 62 and a hand winch on the boat 50, the elastomer line 60 is stretched to such an extent that there is the necessary tensile force in the anchor cable, which consists of elastomer line and polyester line. Despite the fact that the elastomer line is thus kept stretched, the rope still has the opportunity to stretch further in the event of changes in the water level or the like.

Near the stern of the boat there is a suspension buoy 64. The buoy 64 is anchored to the

a buoy stone 68, and the buoy has a cleat 70 at its upper end. The preferred construction of the buoy is shown in fig. 8.

Buoy 64 is thus placed significantly closer to quay 54

than is normal for buoys in leisure harbours. The normal location of the buoys is above the anchoring stones 58. The suspension buoy 64 serves to retain the polyester line which is attached to the elastomer line, when the anchoring device is not in use. As can be seen from the figure, the elastomer line 60 in this position has assumed its relaxed length, which is significantly shorter than the length of the elastomer line 60 when it is stretched to moor the boat 50. As the elastomer line 60 has the ability to shorten its length greatly, the bottom of the harbor basin will don't be covered with long, winding lengths of rope.

From fig. 7 should show the great advantages of a mooring or anchoring device according to the invention where an elastomer line 60 is used. A significantly larger free area is thus achieved outside the suspension buoys so that maneuverability in the harbor basin is significantly increased. Another advantage is that the elastomer line 60, due to its elasticity, will on the one hand be able to hold the boat 50 in the correct position straight out from the quay 54 and on the other hand to a certain extent give in to water level changes.

Fig. 8 shows the suspension buoy 64 in more detail. As can be seen from this figure, the buoy has a tube 7 2 which at its lower end has a cantilever 74. The tube 7 2 projects a considerable distance downwards from the buoy's floating body 7 6 and also protrudes above the floating body up to the suspension cleat 70. The suspension cleat 70 is sprained down the end of the tube 7 2 and is equipped with a fastening ear 78 where the elastomer line 66 is tied firmly. The elastomer line 66 is pre-tensioned so that half of the floating body 7 6 is above the water surface at the normal water level. By the fact that the elastomer line 66 runs just down from the bending stone 68 to the upper end of the pipe 7 2 , an extra long length of the elastomer line is achieved, whereby the percentage extension or shortening of the elastomer line when the water level changes is not so great. The elastomer line 66 can pass

of a normal ethylene-propylene cord, but it is advantageous if the elastomer line is designed as an elastomer line of the nature described in connection with fig. 1 or 5, Thereby the propensity of the buoy to drift in the lateral direction will be significantly reduced by the fact that this elastomer line has a progressive effect and thus requires progressively greater force for the stretching.

The one in fig. The buoy shown in 7 and 8 can be used as a marking buoy or seamark, whereby the flare 70 is replaced with a suitable top sign.

Fig. 9 shows an example of how the mooring device according to the invention can be used to moor a floating dock 80. This floating dock has two rows of floating bodies 82

and have such a large displacement that usually only half of them are submerged in the water, as shown by the waterline 84. Between the two rows of floating bodies 82 there is a downward-extending, tube-shaped arm 86, which in principle is of the same design as the tube 72 in fig. 8. The pipe 86 is connected to the underside of the floating pier 80 by means of struts 88. A bending stone 92 is placed on the bottom 90. An elastic element 94 is attached to this bending test. The elastic element 94 runs up through the tube 86 and is attached at the upper end thereof (not shown, but is in principle as shown in Fig. 8). The pipe 86 preferably projects so far down below the pier 80 that the distance between the bottom 90 and the lower end of the pipe is approximately one third of the distance between the bottom 90 and the underside of the pier 80,

The anchoring of the pier takes place by placing the anchoring device or the buoy 92 centrally below the position where the center line of the pier is calculated to lie. The elastic element 94 is fixed in a suitable way in the anchoring device 92, the floating jetty is placed directly opposite the anchoring device, and the elastic element 94 is guided up through the tubular arm 86 all the way to the upper side of the jetty 80. The element 94 is then stretched to such a high degree that the pier 80 is biased in the direction of the water surface, even if the lowest imaginable water level were to exist,

and the element 94 is then fixed in the pier. Thereby, the floating bodies 82, which are made light, but have a large displacement, will sink slightly downwards and thus increase their carrying capacity and consequently also increase the lateral stability of the pier 80.

In addition to the latter property, which means that the floating pier does not need to be loaded with weights to increase lateral stability, a rigid moment arm is achieved due to the tubular arm 8 6, the lower end of which in case of lateral loading of the pier 80

tends to move largely in a horizontal direction. However, this inclination is counteracted in that case by the elastic element 94, and this element consequently contributes to

increase the pier's lateral stability further, whereby this lateral stability can be further improved if the elastic element 94, as is preferred, is formed by an elastomer line of it in connection with fig. 1-6 specified nature and with progressive properties.

Each pier can consist of a number of interconnected sections, where only the first and last sections need to be equipped with such centrally placed anchoring devices according to the invention.

If the number of sections is greater, however, it is appropriate to use several different anchoring devices.

Fig. 10 shows another embodiment of the device according to fig. 9, where the only difference is that the elastic element 94 is not anchored directly to a bending stone, but is anchored to two bending stones by means of lines 96, 98. This embodiment is particularly advantageous when anchoring floating docks at great depths.

Claims (10)

<!> • Elastomer line with a core (10,20) consisting of elastomer material, a fiber reinforcement (12,22,26) which is placed around this and an outer cover layer (14,28) of elastomer material, the elastomer material in the core and the cover layer preferably consists of synthetic rubber, characterized in that the fiber reinforcement (12,22,26), which consists of a material with poorer tensile properties than the elastomer material of the core (10,20), is wound in helical form around the core with a reinforcement angle (a) of 50 65° between the line's longitudinal axis and the perpendicular to this projected reinforcement. 2. Elastomer line in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the fiber reinforcement (12,22,26) consists of cord threads or bands, preferably of polyester material. 3. Elastomer line in accordance with claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the two reinforcement layers (22,26) are wound in helical form in opposite directions with the same reinforcement angle (a). 4. Mooring device which consists of an elastomer line (10-12,20-28,60,94) attached to an attachment according to claim 1, 2 or 3, where the other end of the line is optionally attached to an extension (62) which consists of ordinary ropework. 5. Mooring device for anchoring floating piers, buoys, beacons and the like, comprising at least one floating body (76,82) with a relatively large displacement and a body (66,72,94-98) which connects the floating body with one or more anchoring devices (68,92) which is placed on the bottom, characterized in that the body (66,7 2,94-98) comprises a rigid, tubular arm (72,86) which is rigidly connected to the floating body (7 6,82) and projects downwards from this, whereby an elastic element (66,94), preferably an elastomer line according to claim 1, 2 or 3, is connected to the stationary anchoring device(s) (68,92) and projects into and through the tubular arm (7 2 ) and is attached to its upper end and is preferably stretched and under tension. 6. Mooring device in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that the length of the arm (72,86) under the water is significantly greater than the distance between the anchoring device (68,92) and the lower end of the arm. 7. Mooring device in accordance with claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the lower end of the arm (72,86) is designed with an edge (74) bent outwards from its centre, 8. Mooring device in accordance with claim 5, 6 or 7, characterized in that the elastic element (94) is connected to the anchoring device (92) via largely unusable lines, wires, ropes, chains (96, 98) or the like. 9. Mooring device in accordance with one of claims 5-8, characterized in that two floating bodies (8 2) are placed on opposite sides of the arm (86) and are rigidly connected to this via struts (88), one of the struts preferably also functions as part of the wharf's walking surface. 10. Mooring device in accordance with one of claims 5-9, characterized by devices to enable stretching of the elastic element (66,94) from the upper side of the floating body (76) or the floating body (82).