B63B 21/66
Equipment specially adapted for towing underwater objects or vessels
Official title: Equipment specially adapted for towing underwater objects or vessels, e.g. fairings for tow-cables ({paravanes for dragging fishing nets A01K73/02; } salvaging underwater vessels or objects B63C7/00; towed underwater vessels B63G8/42)
B63B21/66 (Equipment specially adapted for towing underwater objects or vessels) appears on 533 US grants and 416 published applications in this corpus.
Search patents in B63B- Granted patents
- 533
- Published applications
- 416
- Assignees
- 197
- Inventors
- 821
- Latest grant
- 15 Sep 2026
Filings by year
| Year | Granted patents | Published applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 7 | 0 |
| 1977 | 5 | 0 |
| 1978 | 3 | 0 |
| 1979 | 2 | 0 |
| 1980 | 4 | 0 |
| 1981 | 3 | 0 |
| 1982 | 3 | 0 |
| 1983 | 1 | 0 |
| 1984 | 4 | 0 |
| 1985 | 1 | 0 |
| 1986 | 6 | 0 |
| 1987 | 6 | 0 |
| 1988 | 8 | 0 |
| 1989 | 4 | 0 |
| 1990 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991 | 4 | 0 |
| 1992 | 1 | 0 |
| 1993 | 6 | 0 |
| 1994 | 9 | 0 |
| 1995 | 11 | 0 |
| 1996 | 6 | 0 |
| 1997 | 5 | 0 |
| 1998 | 4 | 0 |
| 1999 | 7 | 0 |
| 2000 | 6 | 0 |
| 2001 | 11 | 2 |
| 2002 | 9 | 7 |
| 2003 | 14 | 4 |
| 2004 | 9 | 9 |
| 2005 | 8 | 4 |
| 2006 | 5 | 9 |
| 2007 | 8 | 7 |
| 2008 | 6 | 12 |
| 2009 | 4 | 14 |
| 2010 | 8 | 22 |
| 2011 | 10 | 8 |
| 2012 | 14 | 19 |
| 2013 | 17 | 25 |
| 2014 | 26 | 27 |
| 2015 | 23 | 23 |
| 2016 | 28 | 31 |
| 2017 | 27 | 35 |
| 2018 | 30 | 37 |
| 2019 | 41 | 22 |
| 2020 | 18 | 29 |
| 2021 | 21 | 20 |
| 2022 | 20 | 13 |
| 2023 | 23 | 14 |
| 2024 | 13 | 11 |
| 2025 | 14 | 6 |
| 2026 | 9 | 6 |
By publication year. Applications have been published since 2001. 2026 runs to 8 Oct.
Subgroups
Granted patents
Recent patents
- Submersible device for underwater sonar imagery15 Sep 2026US 12,736,669 B2Navico Group Americas, LLC
- Multi-source with inline offset and method28 Jul 2026US 12,691,976 B2Cgg Services SAS
- Apparatus and system for flexible member deployment using sabot cones21 Jul 2026US 12,686,475 B1The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
- Apparatus and method for measuring shape of underwater tow cables14 Jul 2026US 12,680,811 B1The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
- Pulling structures into water16 Jun 2026US 12,654,810 B2Subsea 7 Limited
- Multi-source with inline offset and method8 Oct 2026US 2026/0307761 A1Cgg Services SAS
- Underwater towing system27 Aug 2026US 2026/0249958 A1Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
- Coupling device for connecting an unmanned underwater vehicle to a floating vehicle and navigation assembly comprising said coupling device2 Jul 2026US 2026/0184403 A1
- Expandable drift sock system28 May 2026US 2026/0145765 A1
- System, apparatus and method for a hook end effector9 Apr 2026US 2026/0097829 A1USA AS Represented By the Sec of the Navy
Most cited
By later US patents
- Submarine deployed ocean bottom seismic system109US 6,474,254 B1WesternGeco L. L. C. · 2002
- Method and apparatus for deploying and recovering water borne vehicles101US 5,253,605 AApplied Remote Technology, Inc. · 1993
- Method and apparatus for controlling and optimizing seismic data acquisition94US 6,590,831 B1WesternGeco L. L. C. · 2003
- Riser pipe fairing84US 4,474,129 AW. R. Grace & Co. · 1984
- Steerable tail buoy83US 4,890,568 AExxon Production Research Company · 1990