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:
Sep. 27, 1994
Filed:
Sep. 13, 1993
Christopher F Hillenbrand, Bristol, RI (US);
Thomas D Barron, Portsmouth, RI (US);
David M Nugent, Newport, RI (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A submarine trails one fiber optic cable and an undersea vehicle is contred by this first cable. A missile/torpedo trails a second cable that is to be coupled to the first cable. The second cable has a segment suspended vertically underwater between a buoyant pod and a sea anchor type buoy. The undersea vehicle, or Autonomous Undersea Vehicle, (AUV) hunts for the pod by a conventional homing transmitter, and a fork-shaped cable capture probe on the vehicle direct the cable's movement relative to the vehicle into a pod mating position in which a male plug portion in the underside of the pod mates with a female socket in a slot formed at the vertex of the fork. An interlock mechanism between the male socket and female socket holds the pod and AUV in engagement wherein optical coupling is achieved.