Underwater watercraft
AssigneeIS Engineering Design LLC
InventorIan Sheard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An underwater watercraft including a passenger compartment and an ingress/egress port in which the watercraft has buoyancy and center of gravity adjusted to maintain a generally level or other desired attitude when submerged, and an optionally angled attitude at a water surface for ingress/egress. The attitude is also adjustable via the placement of ballast and optionally including a movable ballast that adjusts the location of the center of gravity as desired. The ingress-egress port optionally includes an entry elevated from a main passenger compartment and including a riser and optionally removable or concealable handrails. The ingress-egress port has an angled orientation in a submerged mode, and an optional orientation generally parallel to the water surface or angled but above the surface in a surface mode.
Claims19
An underwater watercraft comprising:
- an attitude adjustment system configured to move the underwater watercraft in at least two operational modes including:
- a submerged mode defining a submerged mode center of gravity;
- and
- a surface mode defining a surface mode center of gravity, wherein the surface mode center of gravity is closer to a front and a bottom of the underwater watercraft in relation to the submerged mode center of gravity, and
- one or more tow points for attaching a tow line to the underwater watercraft, the one or more tow points proximate to a rear of the underwater watercraft, such that in the surface mode, the underwater watercraft is towed in a reverse direction to prevent submersion of the underwater watercraft.
A method of operating an underwater watercraft, the method comprising:
- operating an attitude adjustment system to operate the underwater watercraft in one of (a) a submerged mode defining a submerged mode center of gravity, and (b) a surface mode defining a surface mode center of gravity, wherein the surface mode center of gravity is closer to a front and a bottom of the underwater watercraft in relation to the submerged mode center of gravity, and
- attaching, via one or more tow points, a tow line to the underwater watercraft, the one or more tow points proximate to a rear of the underwater watercraft, such that in the surface mode, the underwater watercraft is towed in a reverse direction to prevent submersion of the underwater watercraft.
An underwater watercraft comprising:
- an attitude adjustment system configured to move the underwater watercraft in at least two operational modes including:
- a submerged mode defining a submerged mode center of gravity;
- and
- a surface mode defining a surface mode center of gravity, wherein the surface mode center of gravity is closer to a front and a bottom of the underwater watercraft in relation to the submerged mode center of gravity;
- a compartment defining an interior space;
- and
- a port positioned on the compartment, providing human access to the interior space and having a hatch assembly comprising:
- an openable hatch cover;
- and
- a riser positioned between the compartment and the openable hatch cover, wherein the riser is mounted at an angle relative to a water surface plane in the surface mode, and wherein a riser height is proximate to a plane of a top of the compartment, thereby providing a lower height of the hatch assembly for storage of the underwater watercraft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.