Patent ID: 7520463

Claim:
A method of retrieving a device towed from a moving vehicle by a towing cable which extends about a spool which oscillates along a helix shaft formed with a helical groove, said helix shaft being concentrically mounted about an inner control shaft operatively connected thereto, and wherein the cable is removed from the spool by an outer rotating member to permit rapid deployment of the device, comprising the steps of: reversing the rotation of the control shaft and correspondingly the direction of rotation of the helix shaft and outer rotating member by energizing a DC motor coupled to the control shaft to reel the cable back upon the spool; actuating a solenoid to unlock a cam locking mechanism to permit the outer rotating member to reverse direction; and mounting a control ring on the outer rotating member and moving a plurality of cams out of engagement with the control ring upon actuating the solenoid to unlock the cam locking mechanism.