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:
Jul. 14, 1992
Filed:
Jun. 21, 1991
Charles O Etheridge, Houston, TX (US);
Peter F Poranski, Sr, Houston, TX (US);
Sofec, Inc., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A mooring system and method of anchoring a buoyant module (16) in a submerged location in the sea for supporting an underwater structure such as a plurality of acoustical arrays (18) for receiving and transmitting acoustical signals is disclosed. The buoyant module (16) is held in a submerged position by at least one anchor leg or line (46) anchored to the sea floor and of a variable length to permit controlled movement of the module (16) to the sea surface (10) for servicing. The single anchor line (46) is a stretchable line and includes an upper segment (56) formed of a Kevlar material and a lower segment (58) formed of a nylon material. Line 46 may stretch easily for a length of 400 feet, a preferred submerged depth of the module (16). Module (16) includes a constant buoyant material (36) and a source of compressed gas (32) controlled by a remotely actuated valve (40) to provide a variable buoyancy.