This invention concerns a device for eliminating disturbing heeling at loading and unloading of a ship lying at a quay.

In order to reduce costs in connection with ship transports it is of the greatest importance to reduce the periods of the boats lying still in port. Harbour dues and charges of utilized harbour equipment are very high. Thus, the cranes of the ships have tended to be¬ come ever bigger and more efficient. Nowadays they must be able to handle big standard cargoes intended to be loaded and transported on special ships with maximum stowing capacity. In this connection it may be worth mentioning that the ships are sometimes so dimensioned that they can pass the locks- in certain canals only by a margin of a few centimeters along the sides and in stem and stern.

Now it has been found that the equipment of cargo handling has often got too high a lifting capacity, the result of which is that the ships sometimes may heel or tilt in a disturbing way at loading and unloading.

It is therefore the main object of the invention to provide a device which enables a safe stabilization of the ship at loading and unloading so that the risk of this heeling or tilting is quite eliminated. This is achieved according to the invention in that the device eliminating heeling comprises a motor-operated winch placed on the ship and having a drawing member in the form of at least one wire, belt or the like-, which is arranged to run out from the ship at a place below the surface of water for attachment to the quay.

Moreover, the device should be embodied so that it is capable of sensing the torsional force ^" to which the

ship is exposed at loadning and unloading. This is made possible in that the winch is ^' provided with a motor brake with a braking capacity adjustable via a hydraulic system. A pulley is preferably mounted on the inside of the ship, the drawing member running via the pulley through a tunnel between the winch and a hole in one side of the ship.

The invention will now be described in greater detail in the form of a preferred illustrative example with reference to the enclosed drawing.

The drawing Figure shows a cross section of a part of a ship 10 provided with the new device eliminating heeling and lying at a quay 12. Only the outer part of the hull is shown as well as part of the ship crane, the essential parts of which are the foundation 14 and the crane beam 16.

In the preferred illustrative example the device eliminating heeling is placed substantially in the middle of the ship 10 as seen in its longitudinal direction and in close connection with the crane foundation 14. The motor-operated winch 18 associated with the device is placed easily accessible on upper deck. It should be observed that the winch 16 is arranged on the same side as the crane foundation 14, i.e. on the side normally facing the quay 12.

The drawing member 20 is running from the winch 18 along the inside of the hull via a pulley 22 to a hole 24 in the side of the ship. The pulley 22 is running freely and arranged in a tunnel 26 extending between the winch 18 and said hole 24. The hole 24 is located below the surface of water 28 and preferably below the level of the rolling or torsional axis 30 of the ship. This means that there will always be water inside the tunnel 26 to substantially the same level as the surface of water 28 outside the ship. It is important that the

pulley 22 and the hole 24 are as far down as possible along the side of the ship. In this way the ability of the drawing member 20 of eliminating heeling is increased as the member is attached to a bollard head 32 or the like on a quay 12.

The winch 18 shown on the drawing can e.g. be a Mooring winch with automatic pulling at slackening in the drawing member 20. The braking capacity of the winch 18 is preferably adjusted by means of a hydraulic system not shown so that it corresponds to a value between e.g. 10 and 50 tons. The brake will then be released at the adjusted brake value which makes it possible ^' to sense the maximum tensile force in the drawing member 20. When the crane is overloaded relative to adjusted braking capacity only a quite inconsiderable rocking movement will be observed in the ship 10 before the drawing member 20 is immediately stretched again after slackening. According as the ship 10 is loaded or un¬ loaded its draught is altered but this is automatically corrected with the winch 18 according to known technique. The new device is preferably so embodied that the values of the load of the drawing member 20 are visually registrable continuously via a computer disposed on the captain's bridge 34. Of course modifications of the device eliminating heeling can be achieved within the scope of the in¬ vention. Thus the winch arrangement can have various forms. This also applies to the extension of the drawing member. It should also be possible to have the drawing member run along the outside of the ship from the winch to a breaking position below the water level. In connection with big ships it may possibly be necessary to arrange two or more devices eliminating heeling interspaced along one ship side.