Low cost sonobuoy
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsJohn R. Dale, Malcolm I. Dickinson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A novel low cost air-launched sonobuoy having a spherical housing of a liweight semi-rigid foam housing encapsulated the electronic components. The housing includes recesses for receiving a hydrophone and cable pack, and for inserting D-size batteries just prior to launching. A vertical antenna is wrapped around the housing and prevents the pack from deployment until the sonobuoy is charged with the batteries and immersed in water. The free end of the antenna is released and unwraps to permit deployment of the hydrophone and cable pack. The sonobuoy is stored without the batteries in a sealed moisture-proof envelope which can be easily torn open and removed when desired.
Claims6
A low cost air launched sonobuoy, comprising, in combination:
- spherical float means of a semi-rigid expanded foam having a first recess means extending inwardly along an axis passing through the center of said float means, and a second recess means symmetrically positioned about said first recess means extending inwardly for receiving and retaining a plurality of batteries;
- hydrophone means deployably positioned within said first recess means;
- plug means slidably positioned in the opening of said first recess means against said hydrophone means;
- vertical antenna means fixed at the base thereof to said float means on said axis opposite from said first recess means and externally wound around said float means and said plug means in a plane co-linear with said axis;
- antenna release means mounted on the surface of said float means in said plane releasably maintaining said antenna means around said float means;
- electrical component means encapsulated in said float means along said axis between said first recess means and the base of said antenna means and operatively connected between said hydrophone means and said antenna means for processing and transmitting detected acoustic signals;
- and
- electrode means encapsulated in said float means having a terminal exposed at the opening of said second recess means for electrically energizing said release means and said component means when the batteries are inserted and said float means is immersed in water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.