US3568228A - Buoy - Google Patents

Abstract

A BUOY HAVING A BODY COMPRISING A SHELL OF PLASTIC MATERIAL WHICH IS SHATTER RESISTANT AND WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY UNAFFECTED BY LIGHT IN THE ULTRAVIOLET BAND OF THE RADIANT ENERGY SPECTRUM. A BALLAST MEMBER IS LOCATED ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SHELL UNDER A MASS OF PERMANENTLY BUOYANT PLASTIC FOAM.

Description

March 9, 1971 J. RUDELICK 3,568,228 BUOY John Rudelick, Rolyan Manufacturing Co., Inc,

4765 N. 32nd St., Milwaukee, Wis. 53209 Filed Jan. 13, 1969, Ser. No. 790,532 Int. Cl. B63] 21/52 U.S. Cl. 98 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A buoy having a body comprising a shell of plastic material which is shatter resistant and which is substantially unaffected by light in the ultraviolet band of the radiant energy spectrum. A ballast member is located on the bottom of the shell under a mass of permanently buoyant plastic foam.

This invention relates to buoys such as are used as marine markers and for mooring boats, and it has more particular reference to the provision of an improved mooring buoy which not only meets the requirements of the recently adopted uniform marking system, but which features a degree of dependability hitherto unheard of.

Accordingly, the purposes of this invention are to provide a buoy having a vertically elongated body comprised of a shell of plastic material which is virtually shatterproof and susbtantially unaffected by light in the ultraviolet band of the solar spectrum, and which also contains of mass of permanently buoyant material to preserve buoyancy despite leakage of water into its interior.

In a more specific sense, it is a purpose of this invention to provide a buoy having the characteristics set forth in the preceding paragraph, and which is particularly well suited for the mooring of boats.

With these observations and objects in mind, the manner in which the invention achieves its purpose will be appreciated from the following description and the accompanying drawing. This disclosure is intended merely to exemplify the invention. The invention is not limited to the particular structure disclosed, and changes can be made therein which lie within the scope of the appended claims without' departing from the invention.

The drawing illustrates one complete example of the physical embodiment of the invention constructed accor ing to the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

The single figure illustrates a mooring buoy embodying the principles of this invention, portions thereof being broken away and shown in section.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing the numeral 5 generally designates the body of the mooring buoy of this invention. It has an eye or loop 6 at its bottom to provide for attachment to the buoy of an anchor line or chain (not shown) and a similar eye or loop 7 is provided at its top to enable attachment to the buoy of a mooring line (not shown).

The body of the buoy is vertically elongated and comprises a pear shaped shell of a plastic material which is virtually shatterproof and substantially unaffected by ultraviolet light. One such plastic material having these desired properties is a polymer comprised of three monomers, namely acrylonitrile-butadiene and styrene, and generally known as an ABS plastic from the initials of its three monomers.

This material can be manufactured with an ultraviolet inhibiting laminated acrylic film on that surface thereof which is to be exposed to sunlight, to render the material immune to the otherwise deleterious effects of light in the ultraviolet band of the solar spectrum; and it is United States Patent 0 3,568,228 Patented Mar. 9, 1971 that type of UV. inhibited ABS plastic that is used in the body of the buoy of this invention.

The pear shaped shell has a head 8 that extends continuously around its exterior at its greatest diameter, and it is comprised of complementary top and bottom hollow body sections 9 and 10, respectively. Flatwise mating circumferential flanges 11 are welded together all around the buoy to produce a fluid tight joint between the sections. A bumper 12 of rubber-like soft plastic material encircles and confines the flanges and cooperates therewith to provide the bead 8. While the flanges 11 can be solvent welded to join the top and bottom body sections, dielectric welding of the flanges would be a faster and better way to secure them together.

The bottom section 10 is outwardly convex in shape, being in the form of a shallow bowl having one of the flanges 11 at its rim. Its center portion is indented upwardly, as at 13 for a plurality of reasons. First of all, the indentation provides a pocket in which the anchor line attaching eye 6 is nested. No portion of the eye 6 extends below a plane normal to the axis of the bowl shaped bottom section 10 and passing through the junction 14 between the convex bottom wall and the annular side Wall 15 of the indentation. Consequently, the junction 14 in effect defines a flat base for the buoy, upon which it can be supported at times when it is not in the water.

The indentation also provides a short upright post having a flat top 16, the side wall 15 of which is conically surfaced and coaxial with the bottom section 10. The pur pose of the post is to accurately locate a ballast member 17 within the bottom portion of the bottom body section 10.

The ballast member 17 is an annulus, preferably made of iron and as a casting, so that the ballast members for all the mooring buoys of one size made in accordance with this invention will be identical in weight and shape. Not only is the ballast member 17 cast with a central hole tapered to closely fit over the upwardly convergent side wall 15 of the indentation 13, but its bottom is also formed to have the same convex curvature as the bottom section 10. It will thus be seen that the ballast member is nicely nested in the hollow bottom portion of the body, and that it closely surrounds the indentation 13 to be accurately positioned thereby.

The ballast member 17 provides a stabilizing weight which is heavy enough to hold the bottom section 10 of the buoy submerged up to the bead 8. The head can thus be used as a reference means which, when at or slightly above water level, gives visual assurance that the required height of buoy above the head is afloat and exposed to view. I

The top section 9* of the body has an axial dimension roughly three times that of the bottom section 10. It also has an upwardly convergent side wall 18 that terminates in a flat top wall 19 having a diameter only about one-third that of the buoy at the periphery of its bead 8.

Immovably confined within the body to form a part thereof is a permanently buoyant mass 20 of closed cell urethane foam. The foam mass 20 extends completely across the buoy at its widest part, namely at the head 8 defined by the flanged joint between the top and bottom body sections; and it extends for a distance both above and below said joint. Consequently an upper peripheral portion of the foam mass 20'18 engaged by the upwardly convergent wall 18 of the upper body section 9 adjacent to the bead 8, and a lower peripheral portion of the foam mass is engaged by the downwardly convex side wall of the bowl shaped bottom section 10. Because the foam mass is thus engaged by body wall portions of the buoy that converge in opposite axial directions away from the head 8, it is securely anchored in place in the buoy, against displacement transversely as well as vertically of the body of the buoy.

As seen, the foam mass 20 can extend down onto the ballast member 17 to help hold the latter in place and against movement relative to the body of the buoy. The foam mass can also be relied upon to hold a'tie rod 24 assembled with the buoy. The tie rod 24 extends vertically through the center of the buoy and it is embedded in the mass 20 of foam therein. It is preferably fabricated from a long piece of round section bar stock bent double to provide parallel opposite stretches 25 joined by loops at each end thereof, with the loops providing the anchor and mooring line attaching eyes 6 and 7 mentioned earlier. The upper and lower end portions of the stretches 25 project through narrow slits 26 in the top and bottom portions of the body. A cross bar 27 welded to the tie rod and embedded in the mass 20 of cellular material helps hold the tie rod in place, and it also preferably joins the ends of the rod in one stretch 25 thereof.

The mass of cellular buoyant material can be premolded to fit the interior of the body, with the tie rod and its cross bar in place in the premolded mass. This, of course, requires assembly of the top and bottom body sections to the foam mass. Alternatively, the buoyant mass 20 can be formed by mixing urethane with a foaming agent and pouring the mixture into the interior of the assembled top and bottom body sections, onto the ballast member and around the tie rod, through the top slit 26, to a depth at least a short distance above the bead 8 at the junction between the body sections.

In either event, the mass of closed cell buoyant material 20 could, if desired, be made to fill the entire interior of the body to thus assure against ingress of water thereinto through any holes that it may acquire as the result of vandalism or by persons with rifles or pistols using the buoy as a target.

If the urethane and a foaming agent is to be poured into the interior of the body, the bottom slit 26- must be closed by a piece of gummed tape 28 applied to the horizontal wall 16 from the interior of the body, before the top and bottom body sections are secured together. A gummed closure disc 29 can also be applied to the exterior of the top wall 19 to close the slit 26 therein. If the foam mass is produced by pouring urethane into the body, the disc 29 is applied after the pouring operation is completed.

When the buoyant mass 20 only partially fills the bottom of the buoy, as shown, a number of drain holes 30 are formed in the side wall 18 of the upper body section, at the level of the surface 31 of the buoyant mass 20. Thus, if for any reason Water may leak into the space in the body above the buoyant mass, as at times when the buoy is temporarily submerged, such water will be able to leave the body as soon as it is again afloat with substantially only its bottom section submerged.

The confinement of the cellular or foam mass 20 within the buoy, as described, -is-one ofthe more important features of the buoy of this invention. Because of its permanently buoyant nature, the buoy of this invention is rendered substantially unsinkable.

From the foregoing description, together with the accompanying drawing, it Will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention provides a virtually unsinkable buoy which features dependability to a degree hitherto impossible to attain.

What is claimed as my invention is:

1. A buoy, characterized by:

(A) a vertically elongated body having a generally convex bottom portion, and comprising a permanently buoyant mass of cellular material;

(B) means embedded in said mass of cellular material providing for anchoring the buoy as well as for mooring a boat thereto, comprising an elongated rigid member which extends vertically through the buoy;

(C) means on the exterior of said rigid member disposed in laterally offset relation to the exterior thereof to have interlocking engagement with surrounding portions of said mass of buoyant material and thereby maintain the rigid member against lengthwise displacement relative to the body;

(D) and a ballast member on the bottom of the body, fixed with respect to said rigid member, and shaped in correspondence with said convex bottom portion of the body. 1

2. The buoy of claim 1, further characterized by:

(A) said laterally ofiset means on the rigid member comprising a metal cross bar embedded in the mass vof cellular material;

(B) and said rigid member comprising a metal tie rod having spaced parallel stretches extending vertically through the body and terminating in attaching eyes at the opposite ends of the body, both stretches of the rod being secured to the cross bar by welds, and one of said welds joining the extremities of th bar from which the tie rod is made. I

References Cited MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner S. W. WEINRIEB, Assistant Examiner

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