Patent ID: 9469960
Filing Date: 2016-10-18
CPC Classification: B63B,E02D

Claim Text:
1. A method for installing one or more plate anchors in a seafloor underlying a body of water, comprising: first deploying at least one plate anchor on the seafloor, the plate anchor comprising an anchor section that comprises a shank coupled to a substantially planar fluke section, and a keying flap coupled to the fluke section, and where the plate anchor further comprises at least one recovery pendant coupled to the keying flap; then deploying a suction follower into the body of water into a position suspended above the seafloor, the suction follower comprising an anchor docking feature that includes anchor docking slots defined in opposing sides of a hollow distal end of the follower, each of the anchor docking slots being configured with dimensions and size that are complementary to the outer dimensions and size of the keying flap and fluke section of the plate anchor so as to allow the opposing anchor docking slots to cooperate to at least partially receive the plate anchor in the hollow distal end of the follower in a docked embedding position; then docking the deployed plate anchor to the suction follower, and lowering the suction follower with the docked plate anchor to embed the docked plate anchor into the seafloor; and then raising the suction follower above the seafloor to undock the embedded plate anchor from the suction follower; where the method further comprises: