USA PATENT

ABSTRACT

The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship utilizes the entire vessel as a giant, slow-spinning gyroscope to achieve unparalleled stabilization. Furthermore, the preferred embodiment is a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship that completely eliminates bows, sterns, starboard sides, port sides, external decks, superstructures, and keels. It also completely eliminates orientation along a horizontal central longitudinal axis between bows and sterns. In addition, it almost completely eliminates all motions such as yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge caused by waves as they increase in magnitude throughout the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17. As a result, it prevents catastrophic capsizing, sinking, hull fracture, hull separation, broaching, pitchpoling, swamping, and similar failures.

BACKGROUND

Most marine vessels that are surface ships—whether monohulls, multihulls, displacement hulls, planing hulls, or semi-displacement hulls—have bows, sterns, starboard sides, port sides, external decks, superstructures, and keels. These features are oriented along a horizontal central longitudinal axis between the bows and sterns. Most surface ships are sensitive to their orientation relative to waves occurring in Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17, and this sensitivity increases dangerously as the Beaufort number and wave size increase. These vessels experience motions such as yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge caused by waves throughout the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17. As the Beaufort numbers increase in magnitude, these motions also increase and can lead to catastrophic capsizing, sinking, hull fracture, hull separation, broaching, pitchpoling, swamping, and similar failures. A spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship is not sensitive to its orientation relative to waves occurring in Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17. Due to its infinite continuous rotational symmetry, a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship completely eliminates bows, sterns, starboard sides, port sides, external decks, superstructures, and keels. It also completely eliminates orientation along a horizontal central longitudinal axis between bows and sterns and almost completely eliminates all motions such as yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge caused by waves throughout the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17. The two unique stabilization features of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship are: (1) the entire ship is a sphere with infinite continuous rotational symmetry, and (2) the entire ship spins to create gyroscopic stabilization. These features act simultaneously, at will. When Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17 increase in magnitude, the motions of yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge are almost completely eliminated, thereby preventing catastrophic capsizing, sinking, hull fracture, hull separation, broaching, pitchpoling, swamping, and similar failures. Another unique stabilization feature is that while the entire ship is spinning for stabilization, it can simultaneously navigate and maneuver on any course in all sea conditions throughout the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17.

SUMMARY

A spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship is a spinning marine vessel consisting of a spherical monohull surface ship that is not oriented along a horizontal central longitudinal axis. The preferred embodiment of this invention, named the Spinning Stabilized Ship, is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship that features the spinning of the entire spherical monohull for gyroscopic stabilization. A spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship must be able to navigate as a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship whether the spinning of its entirety is activated or deactivated, at will. Its loaded displacement tonnage must be evenly distributed and well balanced around its central vertical axis. A spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship serves in its entirety as a single monohull buoyant structure. The ship is insensitive to its orientation relative to waves occurring in Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17 because of its spherical geometric shape. With its infinite continuous rotational symmetry, a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship completely eliminates bows, sterns, starboard sides, port sides, external decks, superstructures, and keels. It also completely eliminates orientation along a horizontal central longitudinal axis between bows and sterns and almost completely eliminates all motions such as yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge caused by waves throughout the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17. When all of the unique stabilization features of the spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship act synchronously together and the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers increase in magnitude, these motions are almost completely eliminated, preventing catastrophic capsizing, sinking, hull fracture, hull separation, broaching, pitchpoling, swamping, and similar failures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING (FIGURE #1)

Figure #1 is a two-dimensional cross-section of a preferred embodiment of a Spinning Stabilized Ship. It is depicted as a circle representing the cross-section of a spherical monohull with a diameter of 100 feet and nine horizontal lines within the circle depicting ten interior decks. Five flush-mounted azimuthing omnidirectional water-jet thrusters, which do not extend outside the circle, are shown as five squares located on the first (bottom) deck. The full detailed description references Figure #1 in the text.  

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The preferred embodiment of the spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship that possesses infinite continuous rotational symmetry. It houses completely within the spherical monohull all of the following: multiple interior decks that generally include spaces for propulsion, navigation, sheltered wet decks for work, sheltered wet decks for recreation, a machine shop, a hatch-covered or uncovered helipad, a helm, fuel tanks, passenger and crew quarters, a galley, heads, pools, hot tubs, saunas, gyms, libraries, theaters, a desalination freshwater system, a sewage treatment system, an auxiliary craft launch-and-haul-out wet deck, and similar facilities.Customized versions of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship could be built as an explorer superyacht, research vessel, naval vessel, cruise ship, coast-guard vessel, commercial fishing vessel, or other types of commercial vessels. All such vessels would act as a giant spinning gyroscope for stabilization—a unique approach to marine vessel and surface-ship design compared with conventional vessels. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship has multiple flush-mounted azimuthing omnidirectional water-jet thrusters. Flush-mounted azimuthing omnidirectional water-jet thrusters on the Spinning Stabilized Ship provide full 360-degree horizontal thrust. These units sit flat  on the bottom hull. They let the spherical vessel move and turn in any direction without changing the ship's main heading. How the Thrusters Work? Full 360-Degree Control: No fixed bow or stern means the jets point anywhere to push the ship sideways, forward, or backward instantly. Flush-Mount Design: The water-jets do not stick out past the bottom surface. This prevents drag and protects the nozzles from hitting underwater objects. Azimuthing Action: Each nozzle rotates completely around on a vertical axis. This shifts the water flow direction on demand. Benefits for the Spinning Ship: Precise station-keeping and superior stabilization at all times: The ship holds its exact GPS position against wind and waves. Independent Spinning: The hull can spin on its central axis while the thrusters keep the vessel stable along a desired course. Low Profile: Flat mounting keeps the spherical shape smooth and clean for better water flow under the hull. These marine propulsion units are housed in interior flush-mounted steerable pods that can rotate a full 360 degrees. By directing thrust in any horizontal direction, they eliminate the need for traditional rudders and provide unprecedented pinpoint maneuverability. Multiple flush-mounted azimuthing omnidirectional water-jet thrusters are capable of generating and directing horizontal thrust through a full 360-degree range of direction and are flush-mounted on the bottom of the spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship.These thrusters are programmed to synchronously generate horizontal thrust, at will, to spin the entire spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship around its central vertical axis, thereby generating gyroscopic stabilization. They also generate directional horizontal propulsion with a 360-degree range of propulsive thrust to propel the ship, at will, in any direction. A spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship can generate a 360-degree range of directional horizontal propulsive thrust when it is not spinning, at will. It can also generate horizontal propulsion to spin its entirety for stabilization when the ship is not making way, at will—while holding a fixed position or simply drifting.The spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship’s loaded total displacement tonnage must have balanced weight distribution around its central vertical axis. The weight must also be distributed so that the entire ship is counterbalanced, with more weight concentrated toward the bottom and less weight toward the top, thereby creating a sufficiently strong self-righting moment that makes the entire ship auto-self-righting.The preferred embodiment of the spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship should be large enough to spin its entire mass at a gyroscopic spinning rate that is tolerable and safe for humans on board without generating dangerous excessive centrifugal force inside the vessel. The preferred embodiment can be built with many different diameters, numbers of interior decks, hull speeds, and spinning rates, but it will always be constructed as a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship—a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship. Figure #1 shows an example of the preferred embodiment with a specific diameter of 100 feet. According to Froude’s law, the hull speed would be approximately 12.83 knots (14.77 mph). It would spin for stabilization at one full rotation per minute, corresponding to approximately 3.6 mph along the circumference at the equator of the interior. All of the following interior space measurements are approximate. All interior space for passengers and crew would comprise six decks totaling 37,364 square feet of deck space. These six decks are individually:

  • Deck five: 7,536 square feet

  • Deck six: 7,850 square feet

  • Deck seven: 7,536 square feet

  • Deck eight: 6,592 square feet

  • Deck nine: 5,024 square feet

  • Deck ten: 2,826 square feet

The seven upper decks are above the waterline. The interior lower four decks house the fuel tanks and the entire propulsion system. The three lowest of these four decks are below the waterline. The number of azimuthing omnidirectional thrusters flush-mounted on the bottom of the spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship depends on the size and weight of the fully loaded vessel and the amount of thrust required. A spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship in its entirety is a single buoyant structure. The preferred embodiment has infinite continuous rotational symmetry around an infinite number of axes. No matter how the ship is tilted or spun, it presents the same profile from every angle. A three-dimensional spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship has infinite rotational symmetry because every point on its surface is exactly the same distance from its center. Because it lacks edges, corners, or flat faces, the ship can be spun around any axis by any angle and will look completely identical to its starting position. A spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship is defined as the set of all points in three-dimensional space that are a fixed distance (the radius) from a single central point. Because there is no preferred direction or side, changing its orientation does not change its shape. An infinite number of imaginary axis lines can be drawn straight through the center of the ship. No matter which of these axes is chosen for spinning, the appearance remains unchanged. Therefore, since the spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship spins only on one chosen, engineered, specific central vertical axis, its appearance always remains unchanged. Three-dimensional infinite continuous rotational symmetry refers to full spherical symmetry in which an object is invariant under rotation about any arbitrary axis. Consequently, the preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship, with its infinite continuous rotational symmetry, eliminates bows, sterns, starboard sides, port sides, external decks, superstructures, and keels. It also eliminates orientation along a horizontal central longitudinal axis between bows and sterns and nearly eliminates all motions such as yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge caused by waves throughout the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17. The stabilization features of the preferred embodiment act together so that, when Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17 increase in magnitude, the motions of yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge are almost completely eliminated, preventing catastrophic capsizing, sinking, hull fracture, hull separation, broaching, pitchpoling, swamping, and similar failures.In conclusion, the preferred embodiment of the Spinning Stabilized Ship can only be spherical. Any other geometric shape would be sensitive to its orientation relative to waves, and spinning any other shape would not achieve the same superior stabilization attainable only with a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship. Therefore, the only variations of the preferred embodiment can be created by changing the diameter, horsepower, propulsion equipment, interior design, and choice of materials. 

CLAIMS

CLAIM 1. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship is a spinning marine vessel, a spherical monohull, and a surface ship that has infinite continuous rotational symmetry; and its entirety is invariant under rotation about any arbitrary axis and can spin, at will, around a specific single central vertical axis to create unparalleled stabilization.

CLAIM 2. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship that has infinite continuous rotational symmetry and can generate directional horizontal propulsive thrust using multiple flush-mounted azimuthing omnidirectional water-jet thrusters flush-mounted on its bottom to propel, at will, its entirety in a full 360-degree range of direction.

CLAIM 3. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship, which is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship, has infinite continuous rotational symmetry and can generate horizontal thrust to spin, at will, its entirety around its central vertical axis to generate gyroscopic stabilization by using multiple flush-mounted azimuthing omnidirectional water-jet thrusters that are flush-mounted on its bottom and are individually capable of directing thrust in a full 360-degree range of direction.

CLAIM 4. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship, which is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship, has infinite continuous rotational symmetry and can generate horizontal thrust to synchronously spin, at will, its entirety around its central vertical axis and propel, at will, its entirety by generating directional horizontal propulsive thrust in a 360-degree range around its central vertical axis using multiple flush-mounted azimuthing omnidirectional water-jet thrusters that are flush-mounted on its bottom.

CLAIM 5. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship, which is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship, can operate, at will, in the following operational states of motion in water: underway without spinning, underway while spinning, holding station without spinning, holding station while spinning, drifting without spinning, and drifting while spinning.

CLAIM 6. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship, which is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship, has the feature that the speed of the spinning rate of its entirety can be adjusted, at will, to a faster or slower rate at any time to adjust the degree of stabilization for all changing sea conditions.

CLAIM 7. The preferred embodiment of a spherical Spinning Stabilized Ship, which is a spinning marine vessel, spherical monohull, and surface ship; with its infinite continuous rotational symmetry, completely eliminates bows, sterns, starboard sides, port sides, external decks, superstructures, and keels; and it also completely eliminates orientation along a horizontal central longitudinal axis between bows and sterns and almost completely eliminates all motions such as yaw, pitch, roll, heave, sway, and surge caused by waves throughout the Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17; and when Beaufort Extended Scale numbers 0–17 increase in magnitude, these motions are almost completely eliminated, preventing catastrophic capsizing, sinking, hull fracture, hull separation, broaching, pitchpoling, swamping, and similar failures.