Maine Patent of the Month – January 2026

Introduction: The Convergence of Artificial Intelligence and Blue Tech Innovation

In the contemporary landscape of intellectual property, the volume of filings often obscures the most transformative innovations. It is within this dense ecosystem that United States Patent No. 12,522,324, formally titled “Foot pad for submerged machinery,” has emerged as a singular achievement in marine engineering. Applied for on May 6, 2022, and officially awarded on January 13, 2026, this patent has been distinguished as the Maine Patent of the Month. This prestigious accolade was not bestowed through a traditional, subjective peer review process, but rather was identified through a rigorous, data-driven selection mechanism utilizing advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The proprietary algorithms employed in this selection process screened over 1,000 potential patents filed within the jurisdiction, evaluating them not merely on theoretical novelty, but on a complex matrix of “real-world impact,” “industrial utility,” and “economic potential.”

The selection of Patent 12,522,324 highlights a critical evolution in how intellectual property is valued: moving beyond abstract inventiveness to prioritize tangible solutions to pressing industrial challenges. The patent, assigned to StationKeep LLC and invented by Richard H. Akers and Melissa E. Landon, was chosen specifically for its potential to revolutionize the “Blue Economy.” By addressing the fundamental instability of machinery operating on the benthic (seafloor) interface, the invention promises to unlock new efficiencies in aquaculture, offshore wind, and subsea defense. It is superior to its competitors because it abandons the brute-force physics of legacy anchoring systems in favor of a bio-mimetic, adaptive approach that ensures stability on the unpredictable, heterogeneous topography characteristic of the Gulf of Maine and other high-energy marine environments.

Technical Architecture and Engineering Superiority

To understand the magnitude of this innovation, one must first appreciate the engineering context of the subsea environment. The ocean floor is a hostile, dynamic frontier. Unlike terrestrial construction, where foundations can be dug into static soil, subsea machinery must contend with hydrostatic pressure, hydrodynamic drag from currents, and a substrate that varies from soft, thixotropic clays to jagged, metamorphic bedrock.

Anatomy of the StationKeep Foot Pad

Patent 12,522,324 describes a system that departs radically from the static “clump weights” of the past. The invention is a modular, adaptive foot pad system designed to be removably attachable to a machine, supporting it during operation in a fluid environment. The architecture is defined by the interaction of four critical subsystems:

1. The Support Frame and Skirt:
The structural skeleton of the device is a rigid support frame coupled to a flexible skirt. In legacy systems, the interface with the ground is often rigid steel. If a rigid steel pad lands on a rock, it creates a point load, leading to instability or structural failure. The skirt in the Akers-Landon design provides a compliant interface, capable of conforming to micro-topographical features. This ensures that the seal—essential for stability—is maintained even on irregular surfaces.

2. The Bellows System:
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the invention is the bellows. This component connects the skirt to the main machine chassis. In traditional engineering, legs are fixed and rigid. The StationKeep patent introduces a flexible bellows that allows for significant articulation. This compliance serves two functions:

• Shock Absorption: Upon landing, the bellows compress, dampening the impact energy and preventing the disturbance of the seabed (which can obscure sensors with sediment plumes).
• Terrain Accommodation: If the machine lands on a slope, the bellows allow the foot pad to pivot and flatten against the substrate while keeping the machine chassis level. This decoupling of the ground angle from the machine angle is a critical advancement for precision instrumentation.

3. The Plenum and Active Pressure Control:
Arranged to move within the skirt is a plenum. While the patent abstract is concise, the presence of a plenum implies a sophisticated mechanism for pressure manipulation. By evacuating fluid from the plenum, the system can generate a pressure differential (suction) that anchors the pad to the seafloor with force far exceeding its buoyant weight. Conversely, flooding or pressurizing the plenum allows for immediate detachment. This active control transforms the anchor from a “dead weight” into a “smart gripper.”

4. The Flexible Seal:
Completing the assembly is a flexible seal positioned between the plenum and the skirt. This component is the linchpin of the system’s efficacy. In deep-water environments, the pressure differential between the ambient water and the internal plenum is immense. A failure in the seal would result in catastrophic loss of adhesion. The patent details a flexible seal architecture designed to maintain integrity under dynamic loads, ensuring that the suction force remains constant even as the machine shifts or vibrates during operation.

Functional Mechanics: The “Bio-Mimetic” Advantage

The operational mechanics of the StationKeep foot pad can be likened to the biological mechanisms of marine invertebrates, such as limpets or abalone, which use a combination of muscular flexibility (the bellows) and suction (the plenum) to cling to rocks in high-energy surf zones.

When a machine equipped with this technology approaches the seafloor, the skirt makes initial contact. The bellows then compress, allowing the skirt to settle flush against the substrate, regardless of local irregularities. Once the seal is established, the plenum is activated, locking the pad in place. This sequence creates a “hard point” on the seafloor that is mechanically distinct from the machine itself. The machine effectively “floats” on the bellows while being firmly anchored, isolating it from vibration and ensuring that the anchoring force is distributed evenly across the skirt area rather than concentrated at specific stress points.

Comparative Benchmarking: A Paradigm Shift in Subsea Anchoring

To fully appreciate why Patent 12,522,324 was selected as the Maine Patent of the Month over 1,000 other contenders, it is necessary to benchmark it against the incumbent technologies. The subsea construction and instrumentation market has long been dominated by three primary solutions: Gravity Based Structures (GBS), Driven Piles, and Suction Caissons. Each of these legacy technologies suffers from significant limitations that the StationKeep invention directly addresses.

Competitor 1: Gravity Based Structures (GBS)

Gravity anchors are the simplest and oldest form of subsea fixation. They rely entirely on mass—usually large blocks of concrete or steel—to resist sliding and overturning forces.

• The Limitation: To achieve sufficient holding power, GBS must be massive. This mass translates to exorbitant deployment costs, often requiring heavy-lift crane vessels that can cost upwards of $200,000 per day. Furthermore, GBS are prone to “scour”—the erosion of sediment around the base—which can cause the structure to tilt or sink over time.
• The StationKeep Superiority: The 12,522,324 patent decouples holding power from mass. By utilizing the pressure differential created by the plenum, the foot pad can generate holding forces equivalent to a multi-ton concrete block while weighing a fraction of the amount. This allows for deployment from smaller, less expensive vessels, drastically reducing the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for projects like offshore wind.

Competitor 2: Driven Piles

Driven piles are steel tubes hammered deep into the seabed. They offer high stability and are the standard for permanent oil platforms.

• The Limitation: Piling is irreversible and environmentally destructive. The installation process generates intense hydro-acoustic noise that is harmful to marine mammals (cetaceans), often leading to strict regulatory bans during migration seasons. Additionally, piles cannot be easily removed, making site decommissioning expensive and leaving “steel trash” on the seafloor.
• The StationKeep Superiority: The patent explicitly describes the device as “removably attachable.” This reversibility is a game-changer. It allows for “Leave No Trace” operations, essential for modern environmental permitting. The StationKeep system can be deployed, operated, and recovered with zero residual footprint, avoiding the regulatory headaches and environmental damage associated with pile driving.

Competitor 3: Traditional Suction Caissons

Suction caissons are inverted buckets that are sucked into the sediment. They are a step up from gravity anchors but have rigid limitations.

• The Limitation: Traditional suction buckets are rigid steel cylinders. They require a specific type of seabed—deep, homogeneous clay or sand—to work. If they encounter a rock, a boulder field, or a shallow sediment layer (common in the glaciated geology of the Gulf of Maine), the rim cannot seal, and the anchor fails. They have zero compliance.
• The StationKeep Superiority: The inclusion of the bellows and flexible skirt solves the “rock problem.” The StationKeep device is compliant. It can deform over obstacles that would thwart a rigid bucket. This capability opens up vast areas of the ocean floor—previously deemed “unbuildable” due to rocky terrain—for commercial and scientific use.

Summary of Competitive Advantage

The StationKeep technology is superior because it introduces adaptability into a domain defined by rigidity. It transforms the foundation from a passive structural element into an active, responsive machine component. This shift allows operators to standardize their equipment regardless of the seabed type, streamlining logistics and reducing the risk of mission failure due to unexpected terrain.

Real-World Impact and Future Potentials

The “real-world impact” criterion was the primary driver for the AI’s selection of this patent. The technology described in Patent 12,522,324 is not merely an academic exercise; it is a foundational technology for the rapidly expanding Blue Economy. The analysis identifies three primary sectors where this innovation is poised to reshape the landscape.

Revolutionizing Regenerative Aquaculture

The most immediate and high-impact application lies in the aquaculture sector, particularly in the cultivation of macroalgae (kelp) and shellfish.

• The Challenge: Offshore aquaculture farms require massive grid structures suspended in the water column. Anchoring these grids is a nightmare of engineering. Heavy chains drag across the bottom, destroying sensitive habitats (eelgrass beds), and static anchors are difficult to move, preventing farmers from rotating crops or fallowing sites to prevent disease.
• The StationKeep Solution: The patent details link StationKeep LLC to projects developing “composite, subsurface grids” for macroalgae farming. The patented foot pads serve as low-impact, high-holding-power anchor points for these grids. Their “removability” allows farmers to seasonally deploy and recover infrastructure, mimicking terrestrial crop rotation. This capability is essential for scaling the kelp industry from artisanal plots to industrial-scale carbon sequestration farms without industrializing the seabed.

Enabling Floating Offshore Wind

As the offshore wind industry moves into deeper waters (like the Gulf of Maine), fixed-bottom turbines are becoming obsolete. Floating wind turbines are the future, but they require intricate mooring systems.

• The Challenge: Taut-leg mooring systems for floating turbines require anchors that can withstand massive vertical uplift forces. Traditional drag anchors cannot handle vertical loads, and driven piles are too expensive.
• The StationKeep Solution: The suction-based mechanics of the StationKeep pad are ideal for resisting vertical uplift. Furthermore, the ability to install these anchors on the rocky, uneven seabed of the Gulf of Maine removes a significant barrier to development. By reducing installation costs and enabling development in geologically complex areas, this technology could significantly accelerate the transition to renewable marine energy.

Advancing Subsea Defense and Research

The Assignee name, “StationKeep,” and the technology’s design strongly suggest applications in Station Keeping—the ability of a vehicle to maintain a precise position relative to the planet.

• Benthic Landers & Science: Oceanographic research relies on “landers”—instrument packages dropped to the seafloor to measure seismic activity or ocean chemistry. Current landers often tip over in strong currents or settle at odd angles on rocks, ruining the data. The StationKeep bellows system ensures that the instrument payload remains perfectly level and stable, regardless of the terrain underneath.
• Defense Applications: The U.S. Navy and other defense entities are heavily investing in Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs). A critical operational requirement for these drones is the ability to “loiter” or “sleep” on the seafloor to conserve battery power, waiting for a signal to activate. The StationKeep foot pad provides a reliable docking interface that allows a UUV to grip the bottom in currents, effectively extending the mission endurance of subsea surveillance networks.

Market Expansion and Economic Projections

The convergence of these sectors creates a massive total addressable market. While precise financial projections for the patent itself are proprietary, the broader market dynamics are clear. The global floating wind market is projected to grow exponentially over the next decade. Simultaneously, the regenerative aquaculture sector is receiving billions in investment as a climate solution. The demand for “smart,” low-impact anchoring solutions is outpacing supply. The StationKeep patent sits at the intersection of these growth curves, providing the “picks and shovels” for the next gold rush in the ocean. The ability to serve multiple high-growth sectors—energy, food, and defense—provides a diversified path to commercialization and justifies the patent’s high economic valuation by the AI selection algorithms.

R&D Tax Credit Analysis: Substantiating the Claim

Swanson Reed, a specialist R&D tax advisory firm, highlights this patent not just for its technical merit but for its clear eligibility for the Research and Experimentation (R&D) Tax Credit under IRC Section 41. For a project utilizing this patent technology to qualify, it must satisfy the Four-Part Test. The development of Patent 12,522,324 serves as a textbook case study for eligibility.

The Four-Part Test Applied to Patent 12,522,324

Part 1: Permitted Purpose

Requirement: The activity must relate to a new or improved business component (product, process, software, or technique) with the specific goal of improving functionality, performance, reliability, or quality.

Application: The development of the StationKeep foot pad was explicitly aimed at improving the stability, reliability, and adaptability of subsea machinery foundations. The creation of a “removably attachable” system with a “bellows and plenum” represents a distinct performance improvement over the static functionality of gravity bases or the rigidity of suction buckets. The project’s purpose was to eliminate specific failure modes—such as tipping on uneven terrain or sliding in currents—thereby meeting the permitted purpose requirement.

Part 2: Technological in Nature

Requirement: The activity must fundamentally rely on principles of the physical or biological sciences, engineering, or computer science.

Application: The design of the foot pad relied heavily on advanced engineering disciplines:

• Fluid Dynamics: Designing the plenum to manage pressure differentials, water displacement, and suction forces.
• Structural Mechanics: Engineering the bellows to flex and articulate without fatiguing or buckling under the immense hydrostatic pressure of the deep sea.
• Materials Science: Selecting polymers and composites for the skirt that can seal against abrasive benthic substrates without degrading.

The reliance on these hard sciences to solve the problem of benthic instability satisfies the “Technological in Nature” test.

Part 3: Elimination of Uncertainty

Requirement: At the outset of the project, there must be technical uncertainty regarding the capability to develop the product, the method of development, or the appropriate design.

Application: The patent application process itself evidences this uncertainty. The inventors (Akers and Landon) faced significant unknowns:

• Capability Uncertainty: Can a flexible bellows structure withstand the lateral shear forces of ocean currents without collapsing?
• Design Uncertainty: What is the optimal geometry for the skirt to ensure a hermetic seal on both granular sand and fractured rock?
• Method Uncertainty: How does the plenum volume relate to the suction force required, and can this be actively controlled?

These were not known quantities at the start of the project and required investigation.

Part 4: Process of Experimentation

Requirement: Substantially all of the activities must constitute a process of experimentation (simulation, modeling, trial and error) to resolve the uncertainties.

Application: The development process for such a complex mechanical device inherently involves iterative experimentation:

• Simulation: Utilization of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to simulate stress loads on the bellows and plenum under various depth and current conditions.
• Prototyping: The fabrication of multiple iterations of the skirt and seal geometry.
• Testing: Tank testing (likely in wave flumes) to observe the physical interaction of the foot pad with different soil types (sand, clay, gravel). This involves testing to failure—pushing prototypes until they leak or slip—and then refining the design based on that failure data.

This systematic cycle of hypothesis, testing, analysis, and refinement is the core of the “Process of Experimentation.”

Swanson Reed’s Role in Claiming the Credit

Claiming the R&D tax credit requires more than just doing the work; it requires rigorous substantiation. Swanson Reed utilizes the creditARMOR platform, a sophisticated AI-driven risk management tool, to ensure that claims are audit-ready.

• Nexus Creation: Swanson Reed helps companies like StationKeep LLC link specific employee hours (e.g., engineering time spent by Akers and Landon) and supply costs (prototype materials, tank rental fees) directly to the qualified research activities identified in the Four-Part Test.
• Contemporaneous Documentation: The patent filing itself acts as a “gold standard” of documentation, proving the technological nature and novelty of the work. Swanson Reed integrates this with project logs, test results, and design iterations to build a comprehensive “defense file.”
• Audit Defense: Because the “Maine Patent of the Month” selection process already vetted the patent for industrial utility and innovation, the claim rests on a solid foundation. Swanson Reed’s expertise ensures that this technical validity is translated into a compliant fiscal claim, minimizing audit risk while maximizing the financial return to the innovator.

Final Thoughts

United States Patent 12,522,324 is a worthy recipient of the Maine Patent of the Month. It represents a sophisticated convergence of mechanical engineering and marine science, solving a critical bottleneck in the Blue Economy: how to securely and temporarily anchor machinery to an unpredictable seafloor.

By moving away from brute-force gravity anchors to an adaptive, bio-mimetic system, StationKeep LLC has opened new frontiers for aquaculture, renewable energy, and ocean research. The technology’s superiority lies in its elegant handling of complexity—using flexibility to conquer the rigid challenges of the benthic environment. For investors and industry stakeholders, this patent is not just a legal document; it is a blueprint for the future of sustainable subsea operations. Furthermore, the robust R&D process behind this invention serves as a prime example of eligibility for federal tax incentives, highlighting the vital link between fiscal policy and technological advancement. As the marine sector pivots toward sustainability and precision, technologies like the StationKeep foot pad will become the invisible, yet indispensable, foundations of the next industrial revolution at sea.