Abstract: A ship-mounted auxiliary sail system featuring a plurality of sail units mountable and movable about the ship on a rail system. The sail units can have automatic reefing safety features and/or automatic mast release safety features.

Abstract: A ship-mounted auxiliary sail system featuring a plurality of sail units mountable and movable about the ship on a rail system. The sail units can have automatic reefing safety features and/or automatic mast release safety features.

Abstract: A sail system comprised of square-rigged sails each set in self-contained units attached to the sides of existing, ocean-going commercial freight ships, which sail system will be deployed in arrays along the sides of the hull of the ship and controlled by proprietary software. The Tig Rig sail system is a roller-blind design of sales, which can reef from full up to full down in increments of one-tenth of the length of the sail drop. The sail system unit has a mast that can rotate and be fixed in position through 360 degrees, which reefing and mast angle can be controlled through control cables, cogs and worm screws in three different ways, in addition to automated reefing and mast release functionality. The Tig Rig sail system is designed to utilize and maximize wind efficiency thereby reducing the reliance on fuel of such ships, with a particular focus on retro-fitting existing ocean-going commercial freight ships.

Abstract: A support for machinery, and for isolating vibration from the machinery, includes a plurality of mounts, each mount including an elastomeric block for completely supporting the static load of the machinery, and an active isolation element including inertial shakers arranged to effect a zero stiffness of the mount to excited structural resonances over a desired frequency band above the mount resonant frequency, and to modify the transmission of out of balance forces to the hull. A control system coupled to the inertial shakers includes a controller configured to apply damping force signals, such as to dampen structural resonances, to inhibit the onset of resonant vibration.

Abstract: An optical intensity adjustment device for adjusting the intensity of optical radiation incident thereon includes a first transparent conducting electrode, a second transparent conducting electrode, a layer of a twisted nematic liquid crystal material contained between the first electrode and the second electrode, an optical polarisation polariser located adjacent to the first electrode for linearly polarising optical radiation incident on the said layer, via the first electrode, an optical polarisation analyser located adjacent to the second electrode for analysing the plane of polarisation of optical radiation emergent from the said layer, means for applying a voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode and, electrically connected to said means for applying a voltage, photoelectric means for sampling the intensity of optical radiation incident on the device and for allowing the voltage applied between the first electrode and the second electrode to be adjusted in response to a change in the