The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 04, 1990
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1989
Roger I Saunders, Hollis, NH (US);
Sanders Associates, Inc., Nashua, NH (US);
Abstract
An energy-absorbing towline (14) comprises an elastomeric core (16) having a set of internal polymeric strands (18) helically wound around the outer surface (20) of the core in a first direction and a set of external polymeric strands (22) helically wound around the outer surface (24) of the internal strands in a direction opposite to the first direction. There may be more internal strands than external strands in order to maintain torque balance as the cable elongates. Each of the internal and external strands consists of a plurality of filaments (30), and each external strand (22) may have fewer strand filaments than each internal strand (18) so as to aid in torque balancing. Electrical conductors (26) may be helically disposed between turns of the external or the internal strands. When the towline experiences tension, the elastomeric core elongates, as do the helixes. But the diameters of the helixes contract, so the strands themselves do not elongate. Consequently, the towline can elongate in response to tension and thereby absorb energy without placing any significant tensile stress on the electrical conductors used for electrical communication between a moving craft and a deployed drogue.