APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATIC NAVIGATION OF A SAILING VESSEL
First Claim
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1. A method of automatically navigating a sailing vessel without the requirement of human intervention to a given destination, said vessel having a hull, a sail and a rudder, the structure of said vessel determining a close haul angle of plus or minus M with respect to the wind direction, which comprises:
- automatically determining the present location of said vessel from electrical navigation signals provided from a source remotely located with respect to said sailing vessel;
automatically determining the range and bearing from said present location to said destination;
automatically determining the wind direction and the angle, B, of the bearing from said present location to said destination with respect to said wind direction;
automatically positioning said sail and said rudder, in accordance with the predetermined positions for said sail and said rudder stored in a memory means, to sail said vessel directly to said destination from said present location when the absolute value of said angle B is greater than the absolute value of said angle M; and
automatically positioning said sail and said rudder, in accordance with other predetermined positions for said sail and said rudder stored in said memory means, to sail said vessel on two or more tacks to said destination from said present location when the absolute value of said angle B is less than the absolute value of said angle M.
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Abstract
A navigation system for a sailing vessel which automatically sails the vessel from its present location to a destination location. The system responds to the prevailing wind conditions and characteristics of the craft to either sail directly or tack to the desired destination. Upon arrival at the destination location the system navigates the vessel to cause the vessel to keep a station in the immediate vicinity of the destination location.
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1 Claim
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1. A method of automatically navigating a sailing vessel without the requirement of human intervention to a given destination, said vessel having a hull, a sail and a rudder, the structure of said vessel determining a close haul angle of plus or minus M with respect to the wind direction, which comprises:
- automatically determining the present location of said vessel from electrical navigation signals provided from a source remotely located with respect to said sailing vessel;
automatically determining the range and bearing from said present location to said destination;
automatically determining the wind direction and the angle, B, of the bearing from said present location to said destination with respect to said wind direction;
automatically positioning said sail and said rudder, in accordance with the predetermined positions for said sail and said rudder stored in a memory means, to sail said vessel directly to said destination from said present location when the absolute value of said angle B is greater than the absolute value of said angle M; and
automatically positioning said sail and said rudder, in accordance with other predetermined positions for said sail and said rudder stored in said memory means, to sail said vessel on two or more tacks to said destination from said present location when the absolute value of said angle B is less than the absolute value of said angle M.
- automatically determining the present location of said vessel from electrical navigation signals provided from a source remotely located with respect to said sailing vessel;
Specification
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Current AssigneeDonald Spencer Bond
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Original AssigneeDonald Spencer Bond
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InventorsBond, Donald Spencer
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Primary Examiner(s)Buchler, Milton
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Assistant Examiner(s)Kelmachter, Barry L.
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Application NumberUS05/193,755Time in Patent Office746 DaysField of Search114/39,144R 318/580,581,588 235/150.2,150.27 343/102,103,112R,112D,112PTUS Class Current114/39.11CPC Class CodesG05D 1/0206 specially adapted to water ...
