Stabilized buoy assembly

Claim 1

A FREE-FLOATING, STABILIZED BOUY ASSEMBLY EXHIBITING ONLY MIN OR RESPONSE TO DISTURBING WAVE MOTIONS AND SERVING AS A STABLE REFERENCE FOR WAVE MOTION SENSORS, COMPRISING: A BUOYANCY COMPONENT AND A BALLAST COMPONENT; SAID BYOYANCY COMPONENT INCLUDING A MAIN BUOYANCY SECTION HAVING A LARGE LATERAL DIMENSION AND A LARGE DISPLACEMENT, AND AN ELONGATE UPWARD EXTENSION HAVING A RELATIVELY SMALL CROSS-SECTONAL AREA AND A TOTAL DISPLACEMENT WHICH IS ONLY A MINOR PROPORTION OF THE DISPLACEMENT OF THE MAIN BUOYANCY SECTION AND IS LESS THAN 10 PERCENT OF THE DISPLACEMENT OF THE BUOY ASSEMBLY; AN EXTENSION SECURED TO SAID MAIN BUOYANCY SECTION AND EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY THEREFROM AND HAVJING A LOWER FREE END; A SLENDER, ELONGATE CONNECTOR HAVING ITS UPPER END FLEXIBLY COUPLED TO THE LOWER END OF SAID DOWNWARD EXTENSION; AND SAID BALLAST COMPONENT BEING SECURED TO THE LOWER END OF SAID CONNECTOR; THE CENTER OF GRAVITY OF THE ASSEMBLY BEING BELOW THE CENTER OF BUOYANCY OF THE ASSEMBLY; THE TOTAL OUT-OF-WATER WEIGHT OF THE ASSEMBLY BEING JUST ENOUGH LESS THAN ITS TOTAL WATER DISPLACEMENT SO THAT A PORTION OF THE UPWARD EXTENSION WILL BE ABOVE THE STILL WATER LEVEL WHEN THE BUOY ASSEMBLY IS FREE-FLOATING; AND IN ADDITION THERETO, SENSOR MEANS CARRIED BY SAID BUOYANCY COMPONENT AND ACTING TO SENSE THE INSTANTANEOUS HEIGHT OF THE WATER SURFACE WITH RESPECT TO A REFERENCE POINT ON SAID BUOYANCY COMPONENT; A HYDROPHONE CARRIED BY SAID BUOYANCY COMPONENT TO SENSE ACOUSTICAL BACKGROUND NOISE; AND MEANS CARRIED BY SAID BUOYANCY COMPONENT FOR CORRELATING SAID NOISE AND THE SEA STATE INFORMATION GATHERED BY SAID SENSOR MEANS TO PROVIDE A RECORD OF THE CORRELATION FOR USE IN SEGREGATING SAID NOISE FROM OTHER SIGNALS.