Flex wing apparatus with resilient couplings

Claim 1

A flex wing apparatus comprising: a support; a mast coupled to the support and projecting therefrom; a sail of flexible material, said sail having a leading edge, a trailing edge and a luff sleeve at the leading edge for receiving the mast; a plurality of resilient battens, each of said battens having leading and trailing ends; batten pockets on the sail for carrying the battens, respectively, with the battens extending toward the leading edge of the sail, at least one of said batten pockets having a forward end which is closed sufficiently to retain the leading end of the batten therein against forward movement; coupling means for coupling the battens to the mast for pivotal movement of the battens and sail about the mast; said coupling means including a plurality of couplings within said luff sleeve, each of said couplings having a collar at least partially surrounding the mast and rotatable about the mast and at least one resilient legs coupled to said collar; said coupling means including coupling pockets on the sail for respectively receiving said legs and coupling said legs to the sail with the legs being adjacent associated battens and for resisting forward movement of the battens; and means for resiliently deforming the battens varying magnitudes to induce the desired camber into the battens and the sail.