Foot pad for submerged machinery
AssigneeStationkeep LLC
InventorsRichard H. Akers, Melissa E. Landon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A foot pad removably attachable to a machine and that supports the machine for operation in a fluid. An active portion of the foot pad includes a piston arranged to move within the skirt, a seal between the piston and the skirt, and a flexible bellows that allows the foot pad skirt to be secured to, or within, a substrate. A pipe and valve assembly allows the piston to cycle through multiple strokes to increase the differential pressure between the ambient waters and the volume inside the skirt and bellows. The valve is controlled either directly in the form of a check valve or indirectly to allow for rapid depressurization and pressurization inside the skirt and bellows.
Claims17
A foot pad removably attachable to a machine and that supports the machine while submerged in a fluid, the foot pad comprising:
- a support frame;
- a rigid skirt coupled to the support frame, wherein the rigid skirt includes an edge that can be embedded in a substrate;
- a bellows coupled to the rigid skirt;
- a piston arranged to move within the rigid skirt, wherein the piston is configured to pressurize or depressurize a volume formed by a space between the piston, an interior of the rigid skirt, and the substrate, and a space between the rigid skirt and the bellows;
- a flexible diaphragm arranged to seal the piston to the rigid skirt;
- a pipe that passes through the piston and the flexible diaphragm;
- and-a valve between the pipe and ambient outside water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.