Patents by Inventor Robert L. Pendleton

Robert L. Pendleton 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: 7252046
    Abstract: A free flooded section of an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) contains a rotating cylindrical drum, which serves as a spool for a towed line array cable. At the end of the cable is a reverse thruster with the ability to propel itself away from the UUV when the UUV is submerged. The thruster moves away from the UUV, pulling the cable and unspooling it as it does so in order to deploy the array. To recover the array, the cylindrical drum rotates to reel in the cable. The cable is guided through a series of winding guides that allow the cable to be wound evenly on the drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: The United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Richard M. Ead, Robert L. Pendleton
  • Patent number: 6305309
    Abstract: An attitude and roll stabilizer for towed undersea vehicles includes a vertical joining rod having an upper end and a lower end, a roll control weight mounted to the lower end of the vertical joining rod, an attitude control surface mounted to the upper end of the vertical joining rod, a tow rod pivotally mounted transverse to the vertical joining rod, an actuator member connected to the vertical joining rod between the tow rod and the roll control weight, and a connecting bar connecting the actuator adjacent to the aft end of the tow rod. A change in tow speed of the towed vehicle selectively pivots the tow rod about the vertical joining rod, and is correspondingly compensated for with a counteractive pitching of the attitude control surface and the roll control weight, thereby maintaining the level of the towed vehicle at the altered speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Richard M. Ead, Robert L. Pendleton
  • Patent number: 5822271
    Abstract: A very low frequency augmentation system consists of a mobile target very w frequency projector (VLFP) adapted for operation as an augmentation device and installed within a torpedo shell housing. The housing is loaded within the torpedo tube of a submarine. A control and power interface is provided between the housing and the submarine to operate and monitor the augmentation device from the submarine. The housing is loaded in one of the submarine's torpedo tubes and the tube is flooded. The VLFP transmits low frequency vibrations into the surrounding seawater, acting as an augmentor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Richard M. Ead, Robert L. Pendleton