Mechanical attachment mechanism with catchment fingers engaging curved grooves

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12486003-B2
Application number	US-202217731633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2022
Priority date	Apr 28, 2022
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A mechanical attachment mechanism includes a clamp and a receptacle. The clamp includes a trigger arm and catchment fingers biased to pivot toward the trigger arm. The receptacle includes an aligner and curved grooves. The curved grooves each have open exterior and closed interior ends. The trigger arm of the clamp is biased from a triggered position toward secured and extended positions. The extended position is for the trigger arm beginning and ending contact between the trigger arm and the aligner. The extended position is also for the trigger arm capturing the catchment fingers of the clamp from the open exterior end of the curved grooves of the receptacle. The triggered position is for the trigger arm releasing the catchment fingers into the curved grooves. The secured position is for securing the clamp and the receptacle together with the catchment fingers engaging the closed interior end of the curved grooves.

First claim

I claim:

1 . A mechanical attachment mechanism, comprising:
a clamp including a trigger arm extensible along an axis and a plurality of catchment fingers arranged around the axis and biased to pivot toward the trigger arm; and a receptacle including an aligner and a plurality of curved grooves, which each have a closed interior end and an open exterior end, wherein attachment between the clamp and the receptacle includes:
the trigger arm of the clamp starts in an extended position before beginning a contact between the clamp and the receptacle,
after beginning the contact, the trigger arm and the aligner of the receptacle move toward each other while aligning the axis of the clamp with a corresponding axis of the receptacle and while the trigger arm, in the contact with the aligner, transitions from the extended position to a triggered position, and
upon the trigger arm reaching the triggered position, the trigger arm releases the catchment fingers of the clamp into the curved grooves of the receptacle, and the clamp and the receptacle become secured to each together with the catchment fingers engaging the closed interior end of the curved grooves, and,
wherein detachment between the clamp and the receptacle includes:
as the clamp and the receptacle relatively move, including rotating relative to each other around the axis while the catchment fingers engage the curved grooves from the closed interior end to the open exterior end of the curved grooves, the trigger arm, in the contact with the aligner, transitions to the extended position,
upon the trigger arm reaching the extended position, the trigger arm captures the catchment fingers from the open exterior end of the curved grooves, and
the trigger arm returns to the extended position after ending the contact between the clamp and the receptacle.

2 . A mechanical attachment mechanism, comprising:
a clamp including a trigger arm extensible along an axis and a plurality of catchment fingers arranged around the axis and biased to pivot toward the trigger arm; and a receptacle including an aligner and a plurality of curved grooves, which each have an open exterior end and a closed interior end, wherein:
the trigger arm of the clamp includes a spring that biases the trigger arm along the axis from a triggered position toward a secured position and an extended position,
the extended position is for the trigger arm beginning and ending contact between the trigger arm and the aligner of the receptacle, the extended position is also for the trigger arm capturing the catchment fingers of the clamp from the open exterior end of the curved grooves of the receptacle,
the triggered position is for the trigger arm releasing the catchment fingers into the curved grooves, and
the secured position is for securing the clamp and the receptacle together with the catchment fingers engaging the closed interior end of the curved grooves.

3 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 2 , wherein the clamp and the receptacle are solely powered during a sequence of attachments and detachments with a mechanical power of relative translational and rotational movements between the clamp and the receptacle.

4 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 2 , wherein the curved grooves of the receptacle each have a compound curvature including a spiral component and a helical component.

5 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 4 , wherein:
the spiral component ramps away from a corresponding axis between the closed interior end and the open exterior end of the curved grooves; and the helical component slopes along the corresponding axis between the closed interior end and the open exterior end of the curved grooves.

6 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 5 , wherein:
the spiral component ramps away from the corresponding axis for hyperextending the catchment fingers away from the trigger arm; and the helical component slopes along the corresponding axis for separating the clamp and the receptacle while the trigger arm, in the contact with the aligner, correspondingly transitions from the triggered position to the extended position.

7 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 2 , wherein:
the trigger arm of the clamp includes an alignment cone projecting along the axis; and the aligner of the receptacle includes a complementary alignment cone for aligning the axis of the projecting alignment cone of the clamp with a corresponding axis of the complementary alignment cone of the receptacle while the trigger arm, in the contact with the aligner, is at the extended position or between the extended position and the triggered position.

8 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 2 , wherein:
the plurality of catchment fingers of the clamp is three identical catchment fingers arranged evenly spaced around the axis; and the plurality of curved grooves of the receptacle is three identical curved grooves arranged evenly spaced around the receptacle.

9 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 2 , wherein the secured position is the triggered position and, during the securing of the clamp and the receptacle together with the catchment fingers engaging the closed interior end of the curved grooves of the receptacle, the clamp and the receptacle are secured from all relative translational and rotational movements between the clamp and the receptacle except a particular one of clockwise or counterclockwise rotational movement of the clamp around the axis relative to the receptacle.

10 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 2 , wherein:
the catchment fingers of the clamp each have a claw tip; and the curved grooves of the receptacle each have a complementary recess opening inward at the closed interior end of the curved grooves.

11 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 10 , wherein:
the secured position of the trigger arm is between the extended position and the triggered position of the trigger arm; the triggered position is for the releasing of the catchment fingers of the clamp into the curved grooves of the receptacle with the claw tip of each of the catchment fingers nearby the complementary recess of the closed interior end of a respective one of the curved grooves; and the secured position is for the securing of the clamp and the receptacle together with the claw tip of the catchment fingers engaging the complementary recess of the closed interior end of the curved grooves.

12 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 11 , wherein, upon the claw tip of the catchment fingers of the clamp engaging the complementary recess of the closed interior end of the curved grooves of the receptacle during the securing of the clamp and the receptacle together, any residual misalignment between the clamp and the receptacle becomes eliminated.

13 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 12 , wherein, upon the claw tip of the catchment fingers of the clamp engaging the complementary recess of the closed interior end of the curved grooves of the receptacle during the securing of the clamp and the receptacle together, the clamp and the receptacle are secured from all relative translational and rotational movements between the clamp and the receptacle except translating the clamp and the receptacle toward each other along the axis.

14 . The mechanical attachment mechanism of claim 2 , wherein the clamp further includes an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) and the receptacle further includes a cargo container, which is lifted, transported, and released by the UUV using the mechanical attachment mechanism.

Assignees

• Us Navy
• United States Of America Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy

Inventors

• Lowenberg Lance V

Classifications

• B63G2008/008

  Docking stations for unmanned underwater vessels, or the like · CPC title

• B63B2021/004

  Quick release elements in mooring connections · CPC title

• B63G2008/002

  unmanned · CPC title

• B63G2008/425

  for transporting cargo, e.g. submersible barges for fluid cargo · CPC title

• B63G8/001 Primary

  Underwater vessels adapted for special purposes, e.g. unmanned underwater vessels; Equipment specially adapted therefor, e.g. docking stations (self-propelled or direction controlled diving chambers with mechanical link to a base B63C11/42) · CPC title