Sectionalized marine seismic cable

Claim 1

A marine seismic cable comprising: a. a plurality of marine seismic cable sections, b. a plurality of articulated connector assemblies joining said cable sections to form a sectionalized marine seismic cable, each articulated connector assembly comprising: i. a housing having first and second sockets provided in opposite ends thereof; ii. a pair of diametrically opposed grooves in the inner surface of each of said first and second sockets and extending longitudinally relative to said housing; iii. a first strain member to which one end of a first seismic cable section is affixed and having a ball-like member at one end thereof; iv. a second strain member to which one end of a second seismic cable section is affixed and having a ball-like member at one end thereof; and v. a pair of pins extending from opposite sides of said ball-like members of said first and second strain members and extending into the grooves in the first and second sockets of said housing, whereby two degrees of freedom of movement of said first and second cable sections relative to one another is permitted during seismic exploration operations, a first degree of said movement being effected by rotational movement of said pins within said grooves and a second degree of said movement being effected by translational movement of said pins along said grooves.