Patents by Inventor George W. Starkey

George W. Starkey has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4234141
    Abstract: An optical tracking link in an automatic command to line-of-sight missile idance system improves the system efficiency and employs a reuseable light source. In tracking a missile during trajectory toward a target, short pulses of collimated light are transmitted from the launch site toward the missle. These light pulses are received by a missile optical receiver for guidance of the missile and are simultaneously reflected by a retrodirective prism on the missile. The reflected energy follows a path parallel to the incident wave and is thus directed back to the launch site. A missile tracker at the launch site responds to the reflective energy, measuring any deviation of the missile from a line-of-sight axis maintained between the launch site and a target. Guidance commands are transmitted toward the missile for maintaining the missile on the line-of-sight trajectory and containing correctional signals in response to any missile deviation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 1970
    Date of Patent: November 18, 1980
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
    Inventors: Walter E. Miller, Jr., Jimmy R. Duke, George W. Starkey, Robert L. Sitton