No end in sight
(Multiple) America’s Cup-winning sparmaker and composites pioneer Eric Hall has been at it again... with his perennial mantra: simplicity
Halyard Bullet
removed externally through their own hole with the mast unstepped or aloft in a chair. The halyard element is a locking ball.
Another application is in Mast Plate
bowsprits to lock tack lines of code zeros and similar light sails. They are also used in boom reef line locks.
Counter-Rotating Lock Flippers
Headstay locks mount externally, usually on the stainless headstay strop that attaches to the headstay. Whereas most headstay locks require detaching the headstay – requiring great care aloft – the Alphalock is removable for servicing without taking it off.
Alphalock internal mast lock
For most product designers simplicity is the ultimate goal. The obvious benefits include lighter weight, lower prices and simpler servicing. Alphalock Systems had just those goals in mind in the design of their new automatic halyard locks. ‘The best-engineered products are always the simplest products,’ says Alphalock president and designer Eric Hall.
Hall explains that, to date, locks requiring no tripline have necessarily had systems of multiple torsionally acting springs, latches and ball detents. ‘Although they work fine as intended,’ he explains, ‘their springs eventually wear, the ball detents, which must be tuned for proper locking flipper operation, tend to rust if left idle for a time and their relatively complex disassembly and assembly, especially when reinserting the custom springs, have made servicing them a bit of a chore.’
‘Alphalocks, on the other hand,’ says Hall, ‘have basically only two moving parts, the counter-rotating locking flippers. When servicing them all you need to do is unbolt the clamshell housings and take out the flippers. To reassemble insert the two self-aligning flippers
78 SEAHORSE
Square-top mainsail – headboard car
Halyard Lock Housing
Emergency Unlock Flipper Locking Track Car
Track Locking Flippers
Mast-Mounted Locking Ramps
Halyard Strop Assembly With Lock Bullet and Equiplite Shackle
Lock Plate
Block locks, which are popular on multihulls, are attached to the mast by a rope strop with the halyard passing through the lock and back down into the mast through an external entry. These also find application as external boom reef line locks.
Usually installed at the masthead with rope strop, hanging locks allow a light sail to be locked with the halyard passing from the lock into masthead sheaves.
and refasten the clamshells.’ ‘Their all-titanium construction ensures tough, long life and, because of titanium’s superior strength-to-weight properties, they are also the lightest products in their category. The counter-rotating lock flipper design is the secret to eliminating all the extra parts. It enables conventional locking slugs and bullets to lock automatically in a hoist-to-lock/hoist-to-unlock action without springs or any other parts.’ The Alphalock line serves several mast and deck applications. Internal locks, with the locking mechanism inside the mast, can be installed and
Well known to Seahorse readers, Eric Hall has been responsible for a long and extraordinary stream of
innovations – often starting with the top of the racing market before finding wider use with fans of equally ergonomic cruising solutions
Standard sizes are available with safe working loads ranging from 1 to 7.5 tonnes, with larger versions available on a custom basis. In addition, Alphalock Systems design custom track locking headboard cars, also with simple locking flippers requiring no springs. The gaff headboard car combines the simple track-locking feature with their unique counter-rotating locking flippers to create a headboard car that requires no going aloft to attach the head of the sail to a car toggle. The car itself has no toggle, minimising its weight and windage. It is not the first of its type but, as with the other Alphalock products, it’s significantly simpler, lighter and more compact. All such gaff car products to date have required a tripline-actuated flipper to hold the car as the halyard bullet is locked or unlocked into the car, but the Alphalock’s gaff car simplifies that part of the system with an automatic upstop.
It’s hard to imagine locks much
www.alphalocksystems.com
simpler. q
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106
