TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of surf crafting, such as surfboards.

BACKGROUND ART

US20040248482A1 to Larkin is considered by the Applicant as the closest prior art. It discloses an "adjusting fin for a watercraft consisting of a fin removably attached to a spindle that is held within a fin housing. The spindle is rotatable within the fin housing such that the fin can pivot with action of water against the fin as the watercraft moves through the water. Adjustable stops act against cams on the spindle to limit the range of rotation available, thus allowing the adjusting fin to be set up to suit the prevailing conditions and the expertise of the user. An optional biasing means biases the fin towards a neutral position which is perpendicular to an underside of the watercraft."

Larkin also recites "[0034] The adjusting fin has a number of advantages over the prior art fins. Firstly, the fin is self-adjusting by the pressure of water acting on the fin as the craft passes through the water. Secondly, the adjustable stops allow the rider to easily limit the range of pivot and therefore trim the craft for prevailing conditions and individual skill. Thirdly, the fin can be actively biased towards the neutral position." Thus, the fin is free to pivot according to the water flow.

A surfboard is actually a board in which on one side thereof is mounted one or more perpendicular fins. As such, storing several surfboards in parallel to each other requires more space than the thickness sum of the surfboards. This problem is acute especially in a surfboard shop where the storage of surfboards in parallel is common. Also a professional surfer which carries several surfboards in the car, needs a larger car is required than for daily needs.

Indeed, the design of Larkin allows folding the fins as they can be pivoted; however, in order to allow storing a plurality of surfboards in parallel in a compact manner, each of the fins has to be able to pivot by 90 degrees.

Another obstacle with regard with fins is to allow repeating placing the fin in the same pivot, and in "good" accuracy.

All the methods described above have not yet provided satisfactory solutions to the problem of pivoting a fin in a desired angle, and repeating this process to the same angle.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution to the above-mentioned and other problems of the prior art. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a fin housing, comprising: a spindle (14) to which a fin (12) is connectable! a housing (13) in which the spindle is disposed! a fastener (15), for securing the spindle to the hosing in its current angle! wherein the spindle (14) is vertically shiftable in the housing, and securable in its current angle, for allowing tilting said fin to be parallel to a surface of a surf craft on which said hosing is installed.

Preferably, the fastener (15) is in a form of a snap connector (i.e., housing for attaching two parts to each other in a "fast" and "easy" manner).

According to one embodiment of the invention, the fastener comprises a first bolt assembly (15a), for connecting thereof to the fin housing! and a second bolt assembly (15b), for (a) connecting thereof to the first bolt assembly (15a) and (b) securing thereto the fin (12) in its current tilt.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the outer surface of the fin hosing comprises at least one longitudinal ditch (21), for being used as a projection fixing the spindle housing (13) to its vertical position.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the outer surface of the spindle hosing (13) comprises at least one vertical ledge (22), for being used as a projection fixing the spindle housing (13) to its horizontal position.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the inner surface of a bottom side of the spindle hosing (13) comprises at least one rib (20), for reinforcing a structure of the spindle housing (13).

Preferably, the fin housing further comprises a tilt scale (18), for allowing tilting the fin to a desired angle.

Preferably, each of the ribs (20) comprises teeth (17), and the spindle (14) comprises corresponding teeth (16), for preventing tilting said spindle (14) when the spindle is secured to the bottom.

Preferably, the fin housing is adapted to allow replacing the fin.

The reference numbers have been used to point out elements in the embodiments described and illustrated herein, in order to facilitate the understanding of the invention. They are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. Also, the foregoing embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods thereof, which are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings ■

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a surfboard, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of a surfboard, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Each of Figs. 3a and 3b is a perspective view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is an exploded and longitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a latitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention. Fig- 7 is an exploded and longitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to another embodiment of the invention.

Each of Figs. 8a to 8d shows a latitudinal section of a fin housing, according to a further embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a fin housing, according to a yet further embodiment of the invention.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

In some of the drawings it has been added a zoomed view circled by a circle.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will be understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments ("best mode"), which are meant to be descriptive and not limiting. For the sake of brevity, some well-known features, methods, systems, procedures, components, circuits, and so on, are not described in detail.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a surfboard, according to one embodiment of the invention. It comprises a board 11, to which are connected three fins 12. In fact, a surfboard according to the invention may comprise one or more fins.

Fig. 2 is a front view of a surfboard, according to one embodiment of the invention.

As illustrated, the fin 12 can be tilted, and therefore to be adjusted to the preferences of a user.

Each of Figs. 3a and 3b is a perspective view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention.

The fin housing comprises a spindle housing 13, in which is mounted a spindle 14. The fin 12 is connected to the spindle 14. Each of the figures 3a and 3b illustrates the fin at a different angle, from a vertical position with reference to a surf craft (not illustrated) as in Fig. 3a to a parallel position to the surf craft, as illustrated in Fig. 3b.

The spindle housing 13 is placed into a corresponding hole in the bottom side of a board of a surfboard (not illustrated in this figure). The non-smooth outer surface of the spindle housing 13 is intended to hold the fin housing secured in the hole of the board. In addition, the fin housing may be fixed to the board of a surfboard by a screw, and the like.

It should be noted that the horizontal ditches 21 of the surface of the spindle housing 13 operate as horizontal projections, which fix the fin housing to its vertical position. Additionally, the vertical ledges 22 fix the spindle housing 13 to its horizontal position.

Fig. 4 is an exploded and longitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention.

Reference numeral 15 points on a fastener that secures spindle 14 in its current position.

Reference numeral 20 points on a rounded bottom rib.

Each of the dotted lines illustrates the way the piece is mounted in the fin housing.

Reference numeral 19 points on a bolt which fixes I locks the fin 12 to the spindle 14.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention.

It shows the way the spindle 14 is locked by fastener 15 to the spindle housing 13. Furthermore, when the fastener does not fasten the spindle to the fin housing, the fin can be fetched out and replaced with another fin. Actually, in this particular example, the same fastener also fastens the fin to the spindle. However, this is merely an example, and a dedicated fastener can be used to fasten the fin to the spindle. Fig. 6 is a latitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to one embodiment of the invention.

The figure details the mechanism that locks the spindle in its current angle to the spindle housing.

As illustrated, spindle 14 is disposed on ribs 20. The bottom side of spindle 14 comprises teeth 16. In addition, each of ribs 20 comprises teeth 17, correspondingly to teeth 16 of the spindle. As such, all is needed is to secure spindle 14 to the fin housing, by, e.g., a fastener, and so on.

Fig. 7 is an exploded and longitudinal sectioned view of a fin housing, according to another embodiment of the invention.

The difference between the embodiment of Fig. 4 to this embodiment is in the structure of the fastener. According to this embodiment of the invention, the fastener comprises two parts, bolt assembly 15a which connects to the spindle housing 13, and bolt assembly 15b which (a) connects to bolt assembly 15a, and (b) secures thereto the fin in its current tilt. Each of bolt assemblies 15b comprises a hole 23, correspondingly with pin 24 of spindle 14.

Bolt assembly 15a is secured to the spindle housing 13 "permanently", while bolt assembly 15b is secured to bolt assembly 15a "temporarily", in order to allow detaching the spindle 14 from the spindle housing 13. For this purpose, the screw of bolt assembly 15b is in a form of a handle, which allows its rotation without a screwdriver.

The object of this arrangement is to allow lifting the spindle 14, thereby allowing tilting the fin by 90 degrees. This subject matter is further detailed in the next figure, and the explanation thereof.

Each of Figs. 8a to 8d shows a latitudinal section of a fin assembly, according to a further embodiment of the invention.

In Fig. 8a, the vertical tilt (in the figure's orientation) of the fin 12 with is zero. A tilt of 90 degrees (i.e., bringing the fin to be parallel to the surface if the surf craft on which the fin housing is installed) is required in order to allow compact storing a plurality of surfboards in parallel to each other. However, as shown in Fig. 8b, the fin 12 tilts about 30 degrees since the upper (in the figure's orientation) rim of the spindle housing 13 blocks the tilting the fin 12.

The solution to this obstacle is shown in Fig. 8c and 8d. In Fig. 8c the spindle 14 is slightly lifted and therefore the fin can be tilted by a higher degree, which in the figure is about 45 degrees. In Fig. 8d the spindle 14 is lifted even higher than in Fig. 8c, and therefore the fin 12 can be tilted even more. In the Fig. 8d the fin is tilted by 90 degrees. The fastener 15 is the object that fixes the spindle in its current position. By removing the fastener 15, the spindle 14 can be lifted up, and thereby the fin 12 can be tilted up to 90 degrees, and even more.

In order to allow easy removal of the fastener 15, it is preferable to design the fastener as a snap connector.

Returning back to Fig. 7, since bolt assembly 15a and 15b are detachable from each other, the detaching allows to detach the spindle 14 from the spindle housing 13, and therefore the fin can be tilted by 90 degrees.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a fin assembly, according to a yet further embodiment of the invention.

According to this embodiment, the spindle 14 further comprises a tilt scale 18. The scale allows a user to tilt the spindle to a desired angle. He can repeat the same tilt in the next time he surfs.

In the figures and/or description herein, the following reference numerals (Reference Signs List) have been mentioned:

- numeral 10 denotes a surfboard, as an example to a surf ski, and actually any surf craft!

- numeral 11 denotes a board of a surf board; - numeral 12 denotes a fin!

- numeral 13 denotes a spindle housing!

- numeral 14 denotes a spindle to which fin 12 is connectable!

- numeral 15 denotes a fastener!

- numeral 16 denotes teeth on the spindle 14!

- numeral 17 denotes teeth on the spindle housing 13!

- numeral 18 denotes a tilt scale!

- numeral 19 denotes a bolt which fixes I locks a fin 12 to a spindle 14!

- numeral 20 denotes bottom ribs!

- numeral 21 denotes a horizontal ditch on the surface of spindle housing 13!

- numeral 22 denotes vertical ledge on the surface of spindle housing 13! and

- numeral 23 denotes a hole in bolt assembly 15b, which corresponds to the axle 24 of spindle 14.

In the description herein, the following references have been mentioned: US20040248482A1 to Larkin.

The foregoing description and illustrations of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the above description in any form.

Any term that has been defined above and used in the claims, should to be interpreted according to this definition.