Abstract: An apparatus for recovering fluid from a liquid formation includes a submersible pump for pumping fluid from the liquid formation. The submersible pump is coupled to an eductor defining a fluid member for receiving and transporting the fluid from the pump, and a fluid inlet in fluid communication with the fluid member for placement at a liquid-product layer in the formation. A probe assembly is coupled to the eductor for ensuring that the pump is inoperative when the fluid level in the formation is low. In operation, a motive force created by the upward flow of fluid pumped through the fluid member draws additional fluid into the fluid inlet from the liquid-product layer. The fluid entering the fluid inlet merges with the fluid flowing through the fluid member and is transported to a treatment facility.

Abstract: An expendable autonomous underwater vehicle is deployed from a trash disposal unit of a submarine into a body of water. The vehicle and one or more launch-aiding components are inserted into the trash disposal in an arrangement that results in safe and reliable deployment from the trash disposal unit. The launch-aiding components keep the vehicle in a predetermined orientation within the trash disposal unit prior to deployment and protect the trash disposal unit from damage. The launch-aiding components also aid the vehicle in ejecting from the trash disposal unit and descending into the body of water to a depth at which the vehicle can begin its autonomous operation. In general, the vehicle must be a safe distance away from the submarine before it begins operation. The launch-aiding components fall away from the vehicle in the body of water as the vehicle descends thereinto.

Abstract: An expendable underwater vehicle for use in training naval forces in anti-submarine warfare in ocean waters is between about three to five feet in length and about five inches in diameter, and it is field programmable. The expendable underwater vehicle can be programmed in the field at the location where the vehicle actually will be used as a training device. A system for field programming the vehicle comprises a run geometry generator and a portable interface module. The run geometry generator downloads the operational parameters to the portable interface module, and the portable interface module then downloads the operational parameters into the vehicle. These operational parameters are stored in the vehicle and then used by the vehicle during an in-water run.

Abstract: An expendable oceanographic probe includes a body having a weighted nose section and an after body having a tail for stabilization. A spool of wire is paid out through the tail of the after body for coupling to a data acquisition system. The expendable oceanographic probe also includes a sensor exposed to the seawater for measuring a seawater property and for providing a signal representing the measured property to the data acquisition system over the wire. A pressure sensor of the probe is exposed to the seawater for determining the depth of the probe as the probe descends into the seawater with respect to the measured seawater property by perturbing the measured parameter signal at a predetermined pressure.

Abstract: An expendable underwater vehicle for use in training naval forces in anti-submarine warfare in ocean waters, including shallow waters, is between about three to five feet in length and about five inches in diameter, and it includes various improvements which make successful operations in shallow ocean waters, and improved operation in all ocean waters, possible. The improvements include a one-piece nose cup which allows the expendable underwater vehicle to be air launched into shallow water, a scuttle plug which allows water to fill the expendable underwater vehicle after the vehicle is expended and drops to the bottom of the ocean, and rudders and elevators of increased surface area which improve controllability of the vehicle in the water.

Abstract: A waveguide pack for transmission of information that includes a length of a dielectric waveguide wound into a free-standing coil with an inner diameter of less than three inches and coated with a binder suited to maintaining the waveguide in the coil, and a method for preparing the pack.

Abstract: An expendable underwater vehicle for use in training naval forces in anti-submarine warfare in ocean waters is between about three to five feet in length and about five inches in diameter, and it includes various improvements which make successful operation in the ocean waters possible. The improvements include an in-water variable speed feature, a variable tonal levels feature, an autonomous evasion feature, and a high-power integrated pinger feature. One or more of these features can be combined to provide an extremely effective and versatile expendable underwater training vehicle.

Abstract: Apparatus for chemical detection includes a cap for coupling with a sample vial containing a sample. The sample includes at least one chemical to be detected. The cap includes a reagent vial which contains a liquid reagent. The reagent vial includes a membrane which substantially retains the liquid reagent and which is substantially permeable to the chemical to be detected. The reagent vial can be opened to allow the chemical to permeate and enter the reagent vial and closed to substantially prevent the chemical from permeating the membrane and entering the reagent vial. In some embodiments, the reagent vial is opened and closed by movement of the reagent vial. In some other embodiments, the reagent vial remains stationary while a device moves to open and close the stationary reagent vial.

Abstract: An expendable underwater vehicle for use in training naval forces in anti-submarine warfare in ocean waters is between about three to five feet in length and about five inches in diameter, and it includes various improvements which make successful operation in the ocean waters possible. The improvements include an in-water variable speed feature, a variable tonal levels feature, an autonomous evasion feature, and a high-power integrated pinger feature. One or more of these features can be combined to provide an extremely effective and versatile expendable underwater training vehicle.

Abstract: A portable modular water air stripper system for remediation of contaminated water, such as groundwater at an outdoor contamination site, has its primary components, including the frames of a vertical assembly of individually demountable tray units, a sump and cap member, formed as hollow rotationally molded plastic pieces. Each tray unit has an air-porous sheet member having air-flow apertures with a diameter of 0.100 inches or less constructed to retain water during stripping action by air passing upwardly through the apertures. Each sheet member is removable from a respective tray frame and has mounted thereon a baffle that defines a tortuous water flow path across each tray. In one embodiment, the baffles extend between and are substantially sealed to the undersurface of the next higher tray.

Abstract: An assembly capable of being launched from a submarine to carry into seawater an element responsive to a property of the water to be measured, comprising a carrier member coupled to the element, a lifting body shaped to provide hydrodynamic lift, a tether for mechanically connecting the lifting body to the submarine, the lifting body and the tether being constructed and arranged so that the lifting body, when connected to a moving submarine, will move through the water at a distance above the submarine, a supply of electrically conductive cable connected to the element and stored at least in part by the lifting body for payout to accommodate movement of the submarine relative to the member and releasable coupling means for holding the member and the lifting body together during their launch from the submarine and there after releasing the lifting body from the member.