Patent ID: 6443087
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: B63C

Abstract:
An underwater dive vehicle comprising selectively energizable propulsion unit for forcibly driving said vehicle through the water, buoyancy means including at least one flexible, resilient and compressible first gas filled buoyancy element and at least one rigid foamed and substantially incompressible gas filled second buoyancy element, said buoyancy elements being unvalved and completely and permanently sealed against the passage of gas therefrom or water there into, in open contact with the surrounding water when said vehicle is in the water, the volume of gas in said first buoyancy element providing sufficient displacement of water to provide the desired amount of buoyancy at the surface, whereby when said vehicle is forced downwardly in the water by said propulsion unit the increasing water pressure will act upon and compress the buoyancy element and the gas contained therein reducing the volume of the gas and thus the buoyancy of the first buoyancy element, the volume of gas in said second buoyancy element providing sufficient displacement of water to provide a neutral buoyancy in the water.