Deep water buoyancy device
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorThomas J Gieseke
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for creating on-command buoyancy is provided with an elastically deformable and axially elongated watertight hollow shell having a plurality of leaf springs and enveloped by a flexible skin. When flattened, the shell has a small internal volume and is negatively buoyant. The hollow shell is held in this position by a latch mechanism. When the mechanism is released, the leaf springs expand to increase the internal volume of the shell. In this state, the system is buoyant. A release mechanism for the latch bar is provided in a forward closure to permit transition from negatively buoyant to a buoyant configuration when an external signal is received.
Claims7
A buoyancy device comprising:
- an elastically deformable and axially elongated hollow shell having an upper surface, a lower surface, an open forward end and an open rear end;
- a closure affixed to the open rear end of said hollow shell to create a watertight boundary;
- a closure affixed to the open front end of said hollow shell to create a watertight boundary;
- a segmented latch bar accessible to an interior of said hollow shell and centrally positioned to be capable of holding said hollow shell in a compressed configuration until a control signal commands release with a result of increasing volume and buoyancy of said hollow shell;
- and
- an attachment means affixed to an exterior of said buoyancy device for connecting to an external structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.