Emergency Escape Means Patents (Class 114/323)
  • Patent number: 11136740
    Abstract: An underwater traffic tunnel that includes a body immersed in water, a connector, and a ventilation system. The body comprises a first cavity for providing a passage space and a second cavity located below the first cavity. The second cavity is in communication with water; the connector connects the body and the water bottom and is used to resist buoyancy, and the ventilation system is in communication with the first cavity and extends above the water surface; the body of the present invention is safely immersed in water, and a vessel can navigate freely above the body; the second cavity is in communication with water and is not easy to be overturned by seawater; the connector resists buoyancy; the ventilation system can prevent damage by external forces through deformation and movement, and an escape system can be activated in emergency situations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Inventors: Di Du, Yang Du
  • Patent number: 8978572
    Abstract: A submarine is provided with an upwardly directed drilling device (12, 12?). The drilling device (12, 12?) is arranged in a pressure hull (4) of the submarine and has a drill (14, 14?) which can be extended out of the pressure hull (4) through an opening (10) arranged on the upper deck of the submarine. The drill has a drilling head (42, 42?) which forms a closure body which closes the opening (10) of the pressure hull. The drill functions to drill a hole from under an ice sheet to allow occupants of the submarine to exit through the hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Erhan Bolat, Christian Knop, Klaus-Gerrit Mews, Bernd Scholz
  • Patent number: 8358223
    Abstract: The vessel control device disclosed herein comprises a channel-mounted, spring-loaded eyebolt that trails a floating line. It also embodies a latch mechanism, a cable release device and an electrical switch. By the action of grabbing the line the man overboard victim (MOB) can stop the vessel by himself; then use the line to reboard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2013
    Inventors: James B. Read, Abbie Ann Read
  • Patent number: 6925954
    Abstract: A method for allowing underwater escape from a submarine includes attaching a lower escape tower connector of an escape tower to a hatch connector of a submerged submarine to sealingly attach a lower end of the escape tower to the submarine. A first riser tube is attached to an upper escape tower connector of the escape tower and second riser tube is attached to the first riser tube to form an escape tunnel. Water is replaced in an interior of the escape tower and a tunnel interior of the escape tunnel by air. An exterior hatch of the submarine is opened and a person passes through the hatch. The person is raised to the water surface through the tunnel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Inventors: Henry Van Acker, Jr., Charles A. Bollfrass
  • Patent number: 6840189
    Abstract: The apparatus comprises a generally cylindrical or sleeve-like or tubular housing 2 having an opening at one end which is locatable to be in sealing engagement with the outer surface of part of the hull 3 of a submarine with said housing 2 forming a water evacuable space around the propulsor unit 1 of the submarine, and access passages or ducts 4,5 for work personnel in communication with said space and extending upwardly from said housing 2 such as to, in use, to be above the surface of the water in which the submarine is floating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2005
    Inventor: Frederick Joseph McNally
  • Patent number: 5979354
    Abstract: A submarine has a forward pressure hull, an aft pressure hull, and a third pressure hull vessel which is connectable to each of the forward and the aft pressure hulls, wherein the submarine is provided with an array of tubes suitable for launching missiles, the tubes being disposed between the forward and the aft pressure hulls, generally around or adjacent to the center of buoyancy of the submarine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Inventor: Javier Silvano Arzola
  • Patent number: 5723176
    Abstract: An apparatus for forming an optical element on the surface of a substrate by ejecting a curable light guide forming liquid from a nozzle onto the substrate and curing the curable light guide forming liquid. A waveguide may be formed by moving the nozzle in a linear pattern over the surface of the substrate during ejection of the liquid from the nozzle. Curing the liquid may include exposing the liquid to ultraviolet radiation, and the radiation may be applied to only a small portion of the liquid. A multilayered waveguide may be formed by ejecting a further light guide forming liquid onto the first and curing it. A core and cladding may be formed simultaneously by ejecting core forming liquid from an inner tube and cladding forming liquid from an annulus about the inner tube. The waveguide may be formed in a groove, and a splitter may be formed by branching a second waveguide from a first, or by laying out two parallel waveguides and connecting them.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 3, 1998
    Assignee: Telecommunications Research Laboratories
    Inventors: Barrie Peter Keyworth, James Neil McMullin
  • Patent number: 4399764
    Abstract: Passive apparatus for absorbing the kinetic energy of a collision to prot an underwater structure from damage in a collision which includes a ring suspended by a ring support system so that the ring is positioned between the structure and the expected path of potentially impacting objects. The ring support system includes eight rigid rods which have one end coupled to one of four symmetrically disposed supporting pylons by spherical sleeve bushings and their other end coupled by spherical rod ends to one of four standoff members that are fixed to the top surface of the ring at equal intervals around its circumference. A shock absorber is coupled between each supporting pylon and the ring midway between standoff members by spherical rod ends. The dimensions of the rigid rods and their attachment points to the supporting pylon and the ring are chosen so that the ring may pivot on the rods against the resistance of the shock absorbers in response to an impact, but cannot strike the enclosed object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 23, 1983
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventor: D. Darrell Menz
  • Patent number: 4333414
    Abstract: A submersible watercraft has at least one watertight hull and a diver-exit vessel adapted to accommodate a diver is detachably connected to the watercraft by a sealable diver-exit port which enables divers to pass between the diver-exit vessel and the watercraft. The diver-exit vessel has a buoyancy and hauling apparatus such as a pair of ropes link the diver-exit vessel to the watercraft when the diver-exit vessel is not docked at the diver-exit port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 8, 1982
    Assignee: Gunther Rudi Laukien
    Inventor: Gerhard Hauz
  • Patent number: 4195949
    Abstract: An emergency life-supporting capsule is disclosed for transferring saturation divers from a main decompression chamber on board a main support vessel. The capsule is attached to the main decompression chamber in anticipation of an emergency. The capsule is located opposite a diving bell on the decompression chamber. The capsule includes self-contained breathing systems for supporting occupants divers. In case of an emergency such as abandonment of the main support vessel or the main decompression chamber, the divers are transferred to the capsule which is sealed and separated from the main decompression chamber, lowered overboard, and allowed to float independently until a rescue vessel arrives. The capsule is then retrieved by the rescue vessel and reconnected to a main decompression chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1978
    Date of Patent: April 1, 1980
    Assignee: J. Ray McDermott & Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Max A. W. Reiher