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. 22, 2014
Filed:
Mar. 09, 2011
Applicant:
Leonard D. Vance, Tucson, AZ (US);
Inventor:
Leonard D. Vance, Tucson, AZ (US);
Assignee:
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64G 1/64 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A device for grappling orbital debris includes a chain of interconnected links, each having a corresponding contact sensor (for sensing contact with the orbital debris), and each connected to a subsequent link by an actuator (e.g., a worm drive assembly or the like). The actuators are configured to sequentially cause rotation of each link in the chain until the corresponding contact sensor indicates that the link has made contact with the orbital debris. Subsequently, the next link in the chain is rotated, and so on, until the chain of interconnected links substantially surrounds at least a portion of the orbital debris.