Pickup hook for flying boats

Oct. 17, 1950 a. gouge 2,526,348

PICKUP HOOK FOR FLYING BOATS

Filed Nov. 5, 1946 ² Sheets-Sheet 1

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Oct. 17,1950 a. gouge 2,526,348

PICKUP HOOK FOR FLYING BOATS

Filed Nov. 5, 1946 ² Sheets-Sheet 2

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Patented Oct. 17, 1950

2,526,348

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,526,348

PICKUP HOOK FOR FLYING BOATS

Arthur Gouge, IsIe-of-Wight, England, assignor to Saunders-Roe Limited, isle-of-Wight, England

Application November 5, 1946, Serial No. 707,927 In Great Britain November 16, 1945

Claims.

In U, S. Patent No. 2,399,483 I have described a flying boat base comprising a dock on the shore of a landing stretch of water, a breakwater located offshore from the dock, a pick-up cable or the like extending between the breakwater and the dock, the cable having stops at suitable spaced intervals to cooperate with a hook or like pick-up device mounted at or near the bow of the flying boat and a winch or the equivalent for towing the engaged flying boat into the dock.

According to this scheme, it is anticipated that the flying boat, after alighting on the stretch of water, should taxi up to the cable and pick it up by means of a hook located at the bow of the boat, whereafter the tail is drawn into alignment with the cable by means of a subsidiary cable taken out to the flying boat by means of a dinghy and operated by a winch either on the breakwater or on the dock as may be most convenient having regard to the attitude of the flying boat.

According to the present invention a flying boat is provided with two pick-up hooks, one at the bow and the other near the tail. This enables the nose of the boat to be attached to the cable ²⁵as before, by means of the bow hook, whereupon the boat is manoeuvred by differential operation of its engines so as to bring the tail alongside the cable, and the tail hook then engaged to hold the boat in alignment with the cable and allow it to be 30 safely and effectively drawn into the dock, or alternatively moored in the fairway by a stationary mooring cable.

The hook at the bows may be of the construction described in U. S. Patent No. 2,447,945, but 35 should preferably have a swivelling attachment to the hull. It may, however, be a manually operated hook, instead of engaging the cable automatically as the flying boat moves up to the cable. The mouth of the tail hook should face laterally 40 to engage the cable as the tail swings round towards the cable. It may be of similar construction to that in U. S. Patent No. 2,447,945, or may be manually operable to engage the cable. It is preferably fitted near the rear step and rotatable ⁴⁵in relation to the hull, so as to enable the mouth of the hook to be directed either to port or to starboard as may be needed.

Both hooks are preferably so designed that they are retractable into the hull and arranged to cast ⁵⁰off the cable during the initial stage of retraction.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which— ⁵⁶ (CI. 114—230)

Figs. 1-3 are plan views showing successive stages in the engagement of the flying boat with the cable,

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the flying boat, ⁵ showing the same engaged with the cable, and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section through one form of mooring hook.

In Fig. 1 the flying boat 10 is shown taxying along the water and approaching a mooring cable 10 11 supported at or near the water level by floats

12. The flying boat has a bow hook 14 and a tail hook IS, the latter being disposed near the rear step (3. After engagement of the bow hook with the cable, the flying boat is manoeuvred, by dif15 ferential operation of its engines, to swing the tail towards the cable as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2. The tail hook is then engaged, as indicated in Fig. 3 to hold the moored boat in alignment with the cable.

In Fig. 5 is shown one form of mooring hook which may be used both for the bow and for the tail hook. The hook 14 is pivoted at 16 to a downward extension ΙΪ7 of a bell member 17, mounted to rotate on a ball bearing 18 in the upper end of a casing 19 fixed in the hull 20 of the boat. In the bell member 17 i.s fitted a ball 21, through which extends an operating rod 22. This is connected by a link 23 to a handle 24 pivoted at 25 to an upward extension 26 of the bell member 17. Pivotal movement of the handle 24 is therefore effective to produce axial movement of the rod 22 and therefore pivotal movement, about a pivot 27, of a lever 28 connected to the lower end of the rod 22. A pin 40 on the lever 28 couples said lever to a companion toggle lever 41 which is pivoted at 42 to the hook 14. The pin 40 engages a slot 43 in a link 29, pivoted at 44 to a catch 30, pivoted at 45 to the hook 14.

The hook retracting mechanism is described in detail in U. S. Patent No. 2,447,945, and it will be sufficient here to state that clockwise movement of lever 28 is first effective, by breaking the toggle, to cause a partial anti-clockwise rotation of the hook 14 about its pivot 16 and also to displace, through the action of the pin 46 on the link 29, the catch 39 from the position illustrated, in which it is held by a spring 31. This opens the mouth of the hook to permit the cable ! I to become disengaged therefrom. Continued clockwise movement of lever 28 causes the lever 41 to further rotate the hook 14 anti-clockwise about its pivot 16, thereby casting off the cable and retracting the hook into the hull. When the hook is fully retracted, a plate 32 closes the opening 33 in the hull. By using the handle 24 as a tiller,

2,526,348 the bell member 17 can be swivelled to alter the orientation of the hook in relation to the hull. The hook can moreover, when engaged by the cable, swivel freely in relation to the hull as may be required by the pull of the cable. Thus, when it is used as a bow hook, it can swivel as the boat moves from the position of Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 3.