Buoyancy engine module for an unmanned underwater vehicle

Skip to: Description  ·  Claims  ·  References Cited  · Patent History  ·  Patent History
Description

The present invention was made with Government support under Contract Nos. STTR N08-T016 and N00014-09-C-0527 awarded by the United States Navy. The Government has certain rights in the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a buoyancy engine module for an unmanned underwater vehicle in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein a centrally located pair of adjacent dashed lines is included for indicating that no particular length is being claimed;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a right elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a left elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a bottom plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a buoyancy engine module for an unmanned underwater vehicle in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein a centrally located pair of adjacent dashed lines is included for indicating that no particular length is being claimed;

FIG. 9 is a front elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a rear elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a right elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is a left elevation view of the apparatus of FIG. 8; and,

FIG. 14 is a bottom plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 8.

The broken lines shown are included for the purpose of illustrating the unclaimed portions of the article and forms no part of the claimed design.

Claims

The ornamental design for a buoyancy engine module for an unmanned underwater vehicle, as shown and described.

Referenced Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
1093868 April 1914 Leighty
2992840 July 1961 Reynolds et al.
3016249 January 1962 Contreras et al.
3105453 October 1963 Hayes
3744825 July 1973 Cooper et al.
3987745 October 26, 1976 Chaverebiere de Sal et al.
4204806 May 27, 1980 Blanchard
4271552 June 9, 1981 Sandler
4553493 November 19, 1985 Sadler et al.
4919066 April 24, 1990 Gongwer
5105753 April 21, 1992 Chih et al.
5183384 February 2, 1993 Trumbly
5379714 January 10, 1995 Lewis et al.
5527195 June 18, 1996 Neisen
5660135 August 26, 1997 Gomes et al.
5686694 November 11, 1997 Hillenbrand et al.
5708230 January 13, 1998 Woodall, Jr. et al.
D393618 April 21, 1998 Gustavsson et al.
5786545 July 28, 1998 Hillenbrand
D435238 December 19, 2000 Neisen
D442906 May 29, 2001 Prokop
6359834 March 19, 2002 English
6390012 May 21, 2002 Watt et al.
D459285 June 25, 2002 Rietsch
6600695 July 29, 2003 Nugent et al.
6738314 May 18, 2004 Teeter et al.
6766745 July 27, 2004 Kuklinski et al.
6854410 February 15, 2005 King et al.
7000560 February 21, 2006 Wingett et al.
D518768 April 11, 2006 Mah et al.
7250568 July 31, 2007 Dow et al.
7337741 March 4, 2008 Ansay et al.
D576539 September 9, 2008 Tymark et al.
7533625 May 19, 2009 Lambertus et al.
20080041293 February 21, 2008 Diorio et al.
20080041294 February 21, 2008 Diorio et al.
Foreign Patent Documents
39 27 725 February 1991 DE
Other references
  • Vehicle Control Technologies, Inc., “STTR Proposal No. N08A-016-0269—Expendable Glider for Oceanographic Research”, Mar. 18, 2008, pp. 3-25.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 29/351,242; filed Dec. 2, 2009; In re: Douglas E. Humphreys et al., entitled “Tail Module for an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle”.
  • U.S. Navy, Naval Education and Training Professional Development and Technology Center, “Nonresident Training Course—Airman NAVEDTRA 14014”, Jul. 2000, Cover Page, pp. i and 8-1 thru 8-36.
  • Patrick McSherry, “Whitehead Torpedo”, http://www.spanamwar.com/torpedo.htm, pp. 1-4.
  • Clampco Products, Inc., “Product Catalog—Manufacturers of Engineered Joining Solutions for the Clamping Industry”, Cover Pages. and pp. 1-37.
  • Notice of Allowability for U.S. Appl. No. 29/351,242, filed Dec. 2, 2009; In re: Humphreys et al., entitled Tail Module for an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle.
  • Payment of Issue Fee for U.S. Appl. No. 29/351,242, filed Dec. 2, 2009; In re: Humphreys et al., entitled Tail Module for an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle.
Patent History
Patent number: D649924
Type: Grant
Filed: Feb 17, 2010
Date of Patent: Dec 6, 2011
Assignee: Vehicle Control Technologies, Inc. (Reston, VA)
Inventor: Thomas F. Tureaud (Fairfax, VA)
Primary Examiner: Cynthia M Chin
Attorney: Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC
Application Number: 29/355,946
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Element Or Attachment (5) (D12/317); Submersible (D12/308)