Tracking buoy
First Claim
1. A tracking buoy for deployment in a body of water to monitor and indicate the direction and speed of travel of contaminants in the body of water, said tracking buoy comprises a lower housing and an upper cover, said lower housing comprises a substantially hemispherical member and said upper cover comprises a flattened substantially convex cap such that said substantially hemispherical member and said flattened substantially convex cap cooperatively form a chamber and a tracking buoy mounting mechanism comprising a first mounting member including an upper portion affixed to said upper cover and a second mounting member disposed to selectively receive said upper portion of said first mounting member therein and a tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism operatively disposed to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy therefrom, said first mounting member comprises an elongated vertically disposed element including a first retainer means and said tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism comprises at least one retainer/release device disposed to selectively engage said first retainer means to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A tracking buoy including a sensor to detect the presence of hydrocarbons in a body of water and a communication system to transmit data to a remote monitoring center when the hydrocarbons are detected to indicate the direction and speed of travel of the hydrocarbons in the body of water.
-
Citations
21 Claims
- 1. A tracking buoy for deployment in a body of water to monitor and indicate the direction and speed of travel of contaminants in the body of water, said tracking buoy comprises a lower housing and an upper cover, said lower housing comprises a substantially hemispherical member and said upper cover comprises a flattened substantially convex cap such that said substantially hemispherical member and said flattened substantially convex cap cooperatively form a chamber and a tracking buoy mounting mechanism comprising a first mounting member including an upper portion affixed to said upper cover and a second mounting member disposed to selectively receive said upper portion of said first mounting member therein and a tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism operatively disposed to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy therefrom, said first mounting member comprises an elongated vertically disposed element including a first retainer means and said tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism comprises at least one retainer/release device disposed to selectively engage said first retainer means to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy.
- 10. A tracking buoy including a sensor to detect the presence of contaminants in a body of water to indicate the direction and speed of travel of the contaminants in the body of water, said tracking buoy comprising a lower housing having a sensor recess formed in the side wall thereof to house said sensor therein and an upper cover, said tracking buoy further including a tracking buoy mounting mechanism comprising a first mounting member includes an upper portion affixed to said upper cover and a second mounting member disposed to selectively receive said upper portion of said first mounting member therein and a tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism operatively disposed to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy therefrom, said first mounting member comprises an elongated vertically disposed element having an upper portion and including an annular retainer groove and said tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism comprises at least one retainer/release device disposed to selectively engage said annular retainer groove to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy.
- 17. A tracking buoy for deployment in a body of water to monitor and indicate the direction and speed of travel of contaminants in the body of water, said tracking buoy comprises a lower housing and an upper cover, a tracking buoy mounting mechanism comprising a first mounting member including an upper portion affixed to said upper cover and a second mounting member disposed to selectively receive said upper portion of said first mounting member therein and a tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism operatively disposed to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy therefrom, said first mounting member comprises an elongated vertically disposed element having an upper portion and including a first retainer means and said tracking buoy retainer/release mechanism comprises at least one retainer/release device disposed to selectively engage said first retainer means to selectively retain and release said tracking buoy.
Specification