USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Lance Von Lowenberg

Anthony D Jones

Michael H Tall

Michael Ouimet

A mechanical attachment mechanism includes a clamp and a receptacle. The clamp includes a trigger arm and catchment fingers biased to pivot toward the trigger arm. The receptacle includes an aligner and curved grooves. The curved grooves each have open exterior and closed interior ends. The trigger arm of the clamp is biased from a triggered position toward secured and extended positions. The extended position is for the trigger arm beginning and ending contact between the trigger arm and the aligner. The extended position is also for the trigger arm capturing the catchment fingers of the clamp from the open exterior end of the curved grooves of the receptacle. The triggered position is for the trigger arm releasing the catchment fingers into the curved grooves. The secured position is for securing the clamp and the receptacle together with the catchment fingers engaging the closed interior end of the curved grooves.

Mechanical attachment mechanism with catchment fingers engaging curved grooves

The present invention relates to a system that can to capture, retain, and release a small UAV/drone. Exemplary embodiments include a plurality of capture mechanisms each include a capture arm coupled to an actuator. The capture mechanism can include two pivot points, one of which can move along a track or groove, to allow the capture arm to extend and retract while maintaining a small combined circumference during UAV landing while still being able to extend to engage with a retention ring on the UAV.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Lance Von Lowenberg