Boat Insect Screen with Spring-Loaded Hook Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current insect screens for boats are impractical to assemble and disassemble, offer poor adherence to frames, and fail to prevent the intrusion of larger insects and animals like rats, cats, and birds, often requiring tools and skilled labor for installation.
Innovation Solution
A rigid metal frame insect screen with a stainless steel mesh and a sliding, rotating bar mechanism that uses a helical spring to secure the screen to the frame, allowing for easy installation and removal without damaging the frame or requiring tools, and providing resistance against larger animals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If elastic rings are used to retain the screen between two grooves, then the screen can be fixed in intermediate position, but the installation becomes time-consuming and complicated due to multiple operating steps
Solution Approach 1:
The retaining mechanism is divided into two separate elastic rings that can be independently positioned on the screen. This segmentation allows each ring to be installed separately and independently, simplifying the overall installation process while maintaining reliable screen retention through the distributed anchoring points.
2Reliability
If the screen is fixed by interference fit with an annular bead contacting the interior surface of the porthole frame, then the screen is securely fixed, but insertion and removal become difficult requiring sufficient force to overcome friction resistance
Solution Approach 1:
The friction-based interference fit is replaced by a mechanical interlocking system using elastic rings with hooks that engage with external grooves on the porthole frame. This extracts the retention mechanism from the interior surface contact to an exterior groove engagement system, eliminating the high friction resistance that made insertion and removal difficult while maintaining secure fixation.
3Reliability
If pins are inserted into holes in the frame to secure the screen, then the screen can be firmly attached, but the installation requires obtaining holes in the frame which complicates the process
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of inserting pins into holes drilled in the frame (interior-to-exterior approach), the solution uses elastic rings with hooks that engage with grooves formed on the exterior surface of the frame (exterior-to-interior approach). This inversion eliminates the need to drill holes through the frame structure, simplifying both manufacturing and installation while maintaining firm attachment through the hook-groove engagement.
4Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible sheet is used for the insect screen, then it can cover the opening, but it offers poor resistance against larger insects and animals with scratching or sharp claws
Solution Approach 1:
The insect screen employs a composite structure combining a flexible support frame made of rigid material with a mesh made of rigid material. This composite construction provides both the flexibility needed to cover various opening shapes and the structural strength to resist penetration by insects and animals with sharp claws, eliminating the vulnerability of purely flexible sheets.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution ensures a reliable, secure, and easy-to-install insect screen that effectively prevents insect and animal intrusion while maintaining the structural integrity of the boat's frame, facilitating single-operator operation.
Implementation Method 1
A helical spring (7) is inserted in said bar (4) and is interposed between said knob (5) and said lobes (3), with the task of contrasting the travels of said bar (4) in the direction that corresponds to an approaching movement of the knob (5) relative to the mesh (10) and, consequently, exerting a recall force on the bar when the bar is forcedly pushed along a travel in the aforementioned direction.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4
AI summary
Insect screen for boats, particularly for portholes and manholes, comprising a rigid frame (2) that supports a rigid mesh (10) and embeds an opposite pair of plate-like lobes (3) that jut out from its internal edge (2a) and are provided with through holes (3a) crossed by respective bars (4) that slide and revolve relative to said holes (3a); each bar (4) being provided at one end with a hooked end section (4a), folded at right angle, whereas the other end is associated with a knob (5) that is subject to the thrust of a helical spring (7) externally inserted on each bar (4) in intermediate position between said knob (5) and said lobes (3).