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. 09, 2002
Filed:
Feb. 16, 2001
Matthew J. Sanford, Bel Alton, MD (US);
Keith B. Lewis, King George, VA (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A line charge assembly and system are provided for use in a shallow-water obstruction clearing operation. Each assembly has a propulsion unit capable of flight through the air, a line charge array, an air-safed water-armed fuze, and at least one explosive diode. The line charge array is defined by a plurality of line charges successively coupled to one another by a line capable of transferring detonation energy therealong successively to each of the line charges. One end of the line charge array is coupled to the propulsion unit and the other end is coupled to the fuze. The fuze is capable of generating the detonation energy only when in water. The explosive diode is positioned in the line charge array to limit transfer of the detonation energy in a direction of propagation running from the fuze to the propulsion unit. The system utilizes a plurality of the line charge assemblies deployed over an area. If a line charge assembly has a dud fuze, the explosive diode prevents the back propagation of sympathetic detonation energy to any of the assembly's line charges that reside between the dud fuze and explosive diode.