USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Paul A Hanson

John D Hightower

Charles E Hansen

James M Walton

Alvah T Strickland

An expendable sound source provides a cost effective projection of acoustic nergies in the ocean. A tubular housing contains a d.c. motor that locates its shaft coaxial with the housing. Cylindrically-shaped camming blocks engage spurs in a pair of rigid pistons at both ends of the tubular housing to reciprocate them in accordance with the pattern of the camming surfaces and the motor speed. A flywheel on the shafts and journaling supports assure the projection of arbitrary waveforms and a key-and-keyway cooperation between the housing and prevents the pistons turning in the housings. A self-contained, high energy battery pack is actuated by magnetic reed switch to assure reliable long term projection after deployment. Pressure compensation can be included.

Expendable underwater acoustic projector

An improved fairlead reduces the problems associated with deploying and rieving a towing cable and its interconnected elongate instrumentation array. A pair of parallel rollers orthogonally disposed to a storage winch reel are spaced apart to present a smooth, protuberance-free surface to accommodate the elongate instrumentation array. A shell coaxially disposed about each of the cylinders is rotated to cover the smooth protuberance-free surfaces and present a pair of abrasion-resistant surfaces when the towing cable is reeled in or payed out. Since it is likely that the abrasion-resistant surface might be scored by the towing cable, rotating the abrasion-resistant surfaces out of the way to expose the protuberance-free accommodating surfaces when the array goes through the fairlead helps reduce the possibility of damage of the elongate instrumentation array during deployment and recovery.

Overboarding fixture

A method for deploying towed instrumentation arrays from vessels having miple submerged hulls is disclosed. The method significantly reduces the possibility of the array abrading or fouling upon any submerged structure or part of the vessel.

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La Mesa, CA, United States of America

Paul A Hanson