CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a marine vessel comprising at least one foil extending towards the larboard-starboard that is connected to the keel under the body of the vessel. The present invention is particularly related to a marine vessel comprising a fully submerged foil in the water and the angle of attack of which is quite low and the tilting angle of which can easily be changed with a moving force and which can bear the propeller or the propeller shafts of the vessel.

It is of high importance to provide the desired cruising speed with a minimum moving force for marine vessels such as boats and ships which can make cruising on the water. Thus, if the marine vessel is heavy and the resistance resulting from the contact between the body and the water is high, then the engine power that is required for thrusting should be high to that extent, which increases the fuel consumption.

It is known that hydrofoils are used in order to increase the speed without increasing the fuel consumption of a marine vessel having a certain weight and water-resistance (or in order to shorten the cruising time). Hydrofoils are arranged at the bottom part and generally to the stems and sterns of the marine vessel.

One drawback of the marine vessels with fixed hydrofoils is that the angle of attack of the hydrofoil can not be dynamically changed by the user. In such marine vessels, the hydrofoils are immovably fixed to the vessel body. Moreover, quite often, these hydrofoils carry the boat entirely and they can be seen externally from the body of the boat and may not operate on wavy water.

It is impossible to avoid the unpleasant external views of the hydrofoil mechanism in the marine vessels comprising retractable hydrofoils. Moreover, this mechanism is usually quite complicated. On the other hand, the shaft between the motor and the propeller in the motor vehicle having an inboard shaft is borne prior to the propeller by means of a strut extending downwards from the lower body of the boat. The presence of such a strut increases the loss that the marine vessel undergoes because of water-friction. Furthermore these struts do not have any function other than bearing the shaft.

Thus, the fact that shaft rotating the propeller located at the back of the marine vessel extends downwards from the lower body of the boat with a certain angle causes a power consumption (because of the angle), the cruise made when the stem part of the marine vessel is overhead causes the body to stay not parallel but angular to the sea, which leads the body not to push its way through the sea but to breast the sea (and therefore to increase the reaction force of the water).

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The marine vessel of the invention consumes less fuel under typical cruising conditions or moving more stable, faster and economical manner compared to those of the state of the art.

The present invention relates to a floating marine vessel, comprising a body having a front end and a rear end being distant from the front end, a motor for moving the vessel, a keel extending along the bottom of the body from the front end to the rear end thereof, at least one shaft extending downwardly from the body, the shaft being connected to the motor from one end and to at least one propeller from other end and at least one foil extending transversally to the longitudinal direction of the body and under the body of the vessel. The marine vessel according to the present invention comprises at least one hinging mechanism for at least partially pivoting the foil around an axis transversal to the body, and at least one bearing means for bearing the at least one shaft by the foil.

The marine vessel according to the present invention further comprises at least one actuator capable of actuating the foil in order for the foil to be pivoted by means of the hinging mechanism. This actuator can comprise a hydraulic or a mechanical handle extending downwards from the body in order to apply the force needed for the actuator to pivot the foil, the application point of the force that the handle applies to the foil is preferably closer to the stern part of the marine vessel with regard to the pivoting axis of the foil.

Since the propellers are borne by a foil that can rotate around a transversal axis of the vessel body, the marine vessel is provided to move on its cruising in a faster and smoother manner by optimizing the angle of attack of the foil during the cruising of the marine vessel, the lifting force of the foil, which may change upwards, lifts the stern part of the boat, wherein this stern part shows the tendency to submerge, and the shafts are provided to be borne by a part (that is foil) which undertakes a separate function, by eliminating the struts generation a friction energy which does not have any function other than bearing the propeller shafts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In order for the present invention to be organized and best appreciated with its additional parts, it should be evaluated together with the accompanying figures that are described below.

FIG. 1A illustrates the body of the marine vessel together with its foil;

FIG. 1B illustrates drive means of the foil in detailed view;

FIG. 2 illustrates the rear view of the marine vessel according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the foil of the marine vessel according to the present invention together with the propellers;

FIG. 4A illustrates the perspective view of the foil of the marine vessel according to the present invention together with the propellers;

FIG. 4B illustrates the detailed view of the part that is shown in a circle in FIG. 4A; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the cross section view of the foil.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

While this invention may be embodied in many different forms, there are described in detail herein a specific preferred embodiment of the invention. This description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated.

It should be noted that throughout the description, the expression â€œmarine vesselâ€ should be understood to consist of any kind of marine vessels floating on the water, such as motor boats with inboard shaft and ships etc. Moreover the marine vessel can be either mono-hull or multi-hull (catamaran, trimaran). In this case that it is multi-hull, the arrangement that is described below can be applied to all of the hulls together or at least only to the middle hull.

The marine vessel (1) according to a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a body (2), and this body (2) constitutes two symmetrical body halves uniting on the keel (3) extending from the stem (1.1) to the stern (1.2). The body (2) accommodates a motor (not shown in Figures) rotating the propellers (7) to move the marine vessel (1) on the water. There are shafts (6) that are connected to the said motor from one of their ends and extend symmetrically (on the right and on the left) downwards from the body (2). The shafts (6) transmit the rotation motion that they received from the motor and the gearbox connected thereto, to the propellers (7) that are connected to the shafts (6) located the other ends thereof The shafts (6) are located towards the stern part (1.2) by forming an acute angle to the horizontal axis. It is preferable to use the two propellers (7) symmetrical to the keel (3) of the marine vessel; however it is also possible to use one single propeller in a different configuration as known in the art.

End portions of the shaft away from the motor are borne by means of a foil (4) located downward the marine vessel (1). The foil (4) comprises bearing mechanism (12) having a bearing housing (12.1) formed on the foil (4), a sleeve (12.3) disposed in the housing (12.1) and a bearing element (12.2) like a ball bearing disposed in the said sleeve (12.3). The sleeve (12.3) extends inside the bearing housing (12.1) and the outer ring of the ball bearing is borne in a way that it will not rotate on the internal wall part of the sleeve (12.3). The inner ring, on the other hand, is free to rotate. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, two propellers (7) are borne symmetrically to the symmetry axis (4.3) of the foil (4) by means of the bearing mechanism (12).

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the shafts (6) are connected to the propeller shafts (7.1) by means of the universal hinge (8) by its end portions that are away from the motor. The propeller shafts (7.1) are made to pass through the cavities available at the center of the bearing element (12.2) and then borne. These propeller shafts (7.1) are connected to the middle parts of the propellers (7) from their end portions that are away from the universal hinges (8). Therefore, the rotation drive provided by the shaft (6) is transferred to the propeller shaft (7.1) through the universal hinge (8) and then to the propeller (7). The rotation movement (making an acute angle with the horizontal one) generated all through the axis of the shaft (6) by means of the universal hinge (8) is taken to the horizontal direction, since the propeller shaft (7.1) is borne to the foil (4) in parallel manner to the horizontal direction (to the sea surface). In other words, the propeller shafts (7.1) are borne to the foil (4) in a parallel manner that is lengthwise to the marine vessel (1). Here, the term â€œuniversal hingeâ€ is used in generic sense, and such kind of a hinge covers the equivalent hinge types such as Rzeppa hinge, Kardan hinge, Duble Kardan hinge and Thompson coupling etc.

According to an alternative embodiment of the present invention, it is also possible for the shafts (6) going out of the engine with a certain angle to be directly borne to the foil (4) in a way that the rotation axis of the propellers (7) is not parallel to the sea surface without using any propeller shaft (7.1) or universal hinge (8).

The profile of the foil (4) is in the form of a typical hydrofoil known from the art as is seen in FIG. 5 and it comprises a front edge (4.1) where the fluid goes into the foil (4), and a trailing edge (4.2) from which the said fluid leaves the foil (4). The front edge (4.1) of the foil (4) faces the stem (1.1) part of the marine vessel (1). The cross sectional part of the foil (4) is preferably uniform all through the horizontal angle of the marine vessel (1). Moreover, the foil (4) is comprised of two symmetrical parts as right and left parts according to the keel when looked from the top and the symmetry axis (4.3) in the middle of the foil (4) is located over the keel (3) axis of the marine vessel.

The foil (4) of the marine vessel according to the present invention can be pivoted around a horizontal rotation axis (9) of the marine vessel (1). For this purpose it comprises a hinging mechanism (10) connected to the foil (4). Hinging mechanism (10) comprises a foil shaft cavity (10.1) formed in a transversal direction of the foil (4) and a foil shaft (10.2) disposed in the cavity (10.1). Therefore, when force is applied on the foil (4) from the top, the foil shaft (10.2) pivots at least partly around its axis. When the foil (4) is pivoted, the angle of attack of the foil (4) changes accordingly; and in turn the buoyancy force affecting the marine vessel accordingly changes. By way of an example, if the front edge (4.1) of the foil (4) is pivoted up while the marine vessel (1) is cruising forward, the marine vessel (1) rises up as well and this provides a lesser contact between the body surface and the water, resulting decrease in drag between the marine vessel (1) and the water. Thus it becomes possible for the marine vessel to go faster and to consume less fuel while cruising. The foil rotation axis (9) is preferably on a direction which is close to the buoyancy center (4.4) of the foil (4).

Likewise, when the front edge (4.1) of the foil (4) is pivoted down while the marine vessel (1) is cruising forward, the marine vessel (1) runs into the water as well, and therefore the comfort loss that would occur when the marine vessel (1) speeds up in the forward direction when the stem part (1.1) rises up and the stern part (1.2) runs into the water can be eliminated. The upper surfaces of the foil (4) prevent the lurching movement to right and left, that is they have a lurch-prevention function.

The drive force needed for the foil (4) to be pivoted around the hinging mechanism (10) is provided by a drive mechanism (11) which is coupled to the marine vessel (1) from one of its ends and to the upper part of the foil (4) from its other end. This drive mechanism (11) comprises a drive handle (11.1) connected to the foil (4) at a point distant from the hinging mechanism (10), the handle extends downwards from the body (2). One end of the drive handle (11.1) distant from the drive mechanism (11) is fixed to the foil (4) by means of a connection mechanism (13). Therefore it becomes possible to bring down the drive mechanism handle (11.1) in order to pivot up the front edge (4.1) of the foil (4) and to bring up the drive mechanism handle (11.1) in order to pivot down the front edge (4.1) (to decrease the angle of attack).

The drive mechanism (11) according to the present invention may be a mechanism having a screwed handle that can be manually driven, or it may be a hydraulic cylinder-piston mechanism well known from the art.

This completes the description of the preferred and alternate embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiment described herein which equivalents are intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto.