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US 12,084,152 B2Granted
Maritime automated alignment and connection system
AssigneeHuntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.
InventorsRonald A McClellan, Conlan Hsu, Ross Buck
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A maritime alignment and connection system allows a boat to be recovered and docked while a host vessel is underway. Components form a cradle to guide and slow an approaching boat into a desirable orientation such that the boat will be held in place in the cradle. Once captured, the boat can be locked in position to prevent it from inadvertently slipping its berth.
Claims12
A system for capturing and docking a boat, comprising:
- a plurality of cradle arms, each of the plurality of cradle arms extending aft from a forward portion configured to receive a bow of a boat, each of the plurality of cradle arms comprising a plurality of alignment arms;
- and
- the plurality of alignment arms, each alignment arm of the plurality of alignment arms being coupled to a cradle arm of the plurality of cradle arms at a first end of each alignment arm and configured to selectively resist aftward motion of the boat.
A system for docking a boat comprising:
- a plurality of cradle arms, each of the plurality of cradle arms extending aft from a forward portion configured to receive a bow of a boat, each of the plurality of cradle arms comprising a plurality of alignment arms, the plurality of cradle arms comprising at least one port side cradle arm and at least one starboard side cradle arm;
- and
- an alignment ramp disposed at least partially between the at least one port side cradle arm and the at least one starboard side cradle arm, the alignment ramp extending aft at a downward angle from the forward portion configured to receive the bow of the boat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.