| 摘要 |
The present invention improves on prior art apparatus and method primarily intended as lightning protection systems to be used on sailboats, particularly non-metallic hulled sailboats having one or more electrically conductive masts, by providing a temporary, easily installed electrically conductive clamping device which attaches to an electrically conductive mast in such a fashion as to not require any mechanical modification to the mast or any of its parts generally but not exclusively, in the form of machining, drilling, tapping, grinding or cutting. In the preferred embodiment, the temporary lightning protection device is comprised of at least one electrically conductive contact plate sufficiently large to offer an appropriate electrically conductive contact surface, held together on the mast generally but not exclusively by a flexible clamping device and holding straps. In the preferred embodiment, two contact plates generally run longitudinally but not exclusively to the mast, are electrically connected to submerged electrically conductive energy dissipation devices through electrically conductive cables and fittings. The purpose of this system is to provide a temporary, easily installed and removed lightning protection system requiring no temporary or permanent modification to any parts of themast or sailboat, no specialized labor to install and that when used will substantially reduce the risk of damages and bodily harm from a lightning strike by creating a direct pathway for the substantial energy from the lightning strike to the water or «to ground» thus bypassing the sailboat's living quarters and the inside of the sailboat.
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