Available for licensing · U.S. Patent 10,549,829

The dry snorkel without a valve.

Conventional dry snorkels rely on a mechanical float valve to seal the airway upon submersion. The Dorsal AQ eliminates this component entirely. Instead, its patented dorsal-fin housing utilizes a hydrodynamic diving-bell geometry to trap a pocket of air over the intake opening, preventing water ingress without moving parts. This solid-state design removes failure points caused by mechanical wear, seal degradation, or particulate fouling from sand and marine debris.

See how it compares Licensing inquiries

Issued patent · Working prototype · Open to license or manufacturing partnership

The Dorsal AQ snorkel: a matte-black tube rising from a soft mouthpiece and flexible corrugated section to a wide, swept-back top shaped like a shark's dorsal fin, printed with the Dorsal AQ logo in red.

PatentedU.S. Patent 10,549,829 B1

  • Issued U.S. patentNo. 10,549,829 B1, Feb. 4, 2020
  • Status: ActiveMaintenance fees current
  • Zero valvesNo float, seat, hinge or spring at the top

The market today

Every snorkel on the market uses one of three approaches. Dorsal AQ is a fourth.

Existing snorkels either leave the tube open, deflect water with a guard, or seal the tube with a floating valve. Each has a known weakness. Dorsal AQ keeps water out with trapped air and the shape of the housing.

Type 1

Classic (“wet”) snorkel

An open J-shaped tube. Anything that reaches the top, from splash and wave wash-over to a dive, goes straight down the tube and has to be blown out.

Type 2

Semi-dry snorkel

Adds a splash guard (a deflector) at the top and usually a purge valve at the bottom. It deflects spray, but water still enters when a wave rolls over the top or the snorkel is submerged.

Type 3

Dry snorkel

Adds a buoyant float valve that should rise and seal the tube when submerged. The valve is the weak point: sand, salt and wear can make it stick or leak, and the valve adds resistance at the surface.

New category

Dorsal AQ: Air-Lock Snorkel

Engineered without mechanical valves, the Dorsal AQ features a closed, fin-shaped housing that surrounds the top of the breathing tube, with a single air slot positioned at its lowest edge. When submerged, this housing traps a protective pocket of air that prevents water from reaching the tube opening.

On the surface, the enclosed design blocks waves, splashes, sea spray and rain of any intensity from entering the airway.

Side-by-side

How Dorsal AQ compares with every other snorkel type

Each row is a question a product team will ask. The Dorsal AQ column is highlighted.

Comparison of snorkel types: classic, semi-dry, dry (float valve) and Dorsal AQ
Feature Classic Semi-dry Dry (float valve) Dorsal AQ
How water is kept out Not kept out. Open tube Splash guard deflects spray Float valve seals the tube; splash guard on top Trapped air pocket in a closed housing (diving-bell principle)
Surface splash and spray Enters tube Mostly deflected Mostly deflected Blocked Opening sits high inside a closed shell; the only inlet faces down
Wave washing over the top Floods Water enters Depends on valve response Blocked Air pocket forms the moment the slot goes under
Full submersion (surface dive) Floods Floods Sealed, if the valve works Protected to a design depth set by housing volume and slot-to-opening distance
Moving parts at the top None None, or a hinged guard Float, seat, cage and often a hinge None
Typical failure mode Flooding Flooding in waves and dives; guard can crack Valve sticks, clogs or wears, then leaks without warning No mechanism to fail. Protection comes from the shape itself
Airflow at the top Unobstructed Lightly baffled Air passes around the valve, adding resistance Unobstructed opening inside an open air chamber
Exhaled-air management Not addressed Not addressed Not addressed Slanted opening steers exhaled air toward the slot to reduce rebreathing
Clearing after surfacing Hard blast clear Blast clear, helped by purge valve Purge valve for seepage Self-draining. Water falls back out of the slot
Upkeep Rinse Rinse; check guard Rinse and inspect the valve after each use Rinse. Nothing to inspect or replace
Hydrodynamic profile Round tube Round tube with guard head Bulky valve head Dorsal-fin shape with concave/convex sides contoured to the head

The comparison describes typical designs in each category; individual products vary. Dorsal AQ characteristics are as described in U.S. Patent 10,549,829.

How it works

A 500-year-old principle, in the shape of a fin

In 1535, Guglielmo de Lorena dove in a diving bell: an upside-down chamber that stays full of air because water can't push the air out. Dorsal AQ builds that principle into a fin-shaped housing at the top of the snorkel.

  1. Patent Figure 9: line drawing of the snorkel top above wavy water. The breathing tube's opening sits high inside the fin-shaped housing, and a slot opens along the housing's bottom edge.

    Patent Fig. 9: at the surface

    At the surface, air flows freely

    Air enters through a slot in the flat bottom edge of the fin. The tube's opening is high inside the closed housing, so splash, spray and rain can't fall in.

  2. Patent Figure 10: the same snorkel top fully beneath the water's surface. A line inside the housing shows water rising only partway, with a trapped air pocket above it surrounding the tube opening.

    Patent Fig. 10: fully submerged

    Submerged, air is trapped

    When the housing goes under, water can rise only partway inside. The trapped air compresses slightly but stays around the tube opening and keeps water out.

  3. Patent Figure 4: front cutaway of the snorkel top. Dashed lines show the breathing tube running up inside the fin housing to a slanted opening near the top, with an arrow showing exhaled air directed down toward the slot.

    Patent Fig. 4: cutaway of the housing

    Surfacing, it drains itself

    Water falls back out of the slot and the air pocket is still in place. A slanted tube opening directs exhaled air toward the slot so it isn't rebreathed.

Photo of the Dorsal AQ prototype top section: a black tube rising into a broad, swept-back fin-shaped housing. A narrow horizontal air slot runs along the fin's flat bottom edge, beside the tube.

Anatomy

Four design elements

Select a number on the photo or in the list.

Close-up photo of the Dorsal AQ prototype fin: the narrow horizontal air slot (element 2) opens along the flat bottom edge of the fin, where it meets the tube. DORSAL AQ is molded in raised letters along the tube.
Close-up of the prototype: the horizontal air slot (2) along the fin's bottom edge

Intellectual property

The patent at a glance

Bibliographic data

Patent
U.S. 10,549,829 B1
Title
Snorkel System
Application
16/164,063, filed Oct. 18, 2018
Issued
Feb. 4, 2020
Term adjustment
27 days (35 U.S.C. 154(b))
Inventors
Anthony Vinokur, Pavel Flider, Galina Levinson
Classification
CPC B63C 11/205
Claims
15 (independent: 1, 8, 14)
Status
Active. 3.5-year maintenance fee paid July 24, 2023
Estimated expiry
Nov. 2038, if remaining maintenance fees are paid

What the claims cover, in plain language

  • A snorkel with a housing around the breathing tube's upper opening and a slot in the housing that is horizontal when in use.
  • The housing and slot together trap an air pocket when submerged, with the tube opening positioned inside that pocket.
  • The housing's edges form the fin profile: an angled edge and a flat horizontal edge, with the slot in the flat edge.
  • Opposite concave and convex surfaces shaped to conform to the user's head.
  • The housing volume and slot-to-opening distance are sized to keep water out to a predefined depth.
  • A specific embodiment with the slot about three inches below the opening.

This is an informal summary, not a legal interpretation. The issued claims control.

Examined against existing dry-snorkel designs

The patent issued after examination against earlier snorkel patents and publications in the same class (B63C 11/205), including references to Monnich, Pan, Kawashima, Christianson, Wheelwright, McCarthy and Shiue, as well as the inventors' own earlier work (U.S. 6,513,520).

For manufacturers

Why it makes sense to build

The design removes the most complex and failure-prone assembly in a dry snorkel and replaces it with a single shaped part.

Fewer parts

No float, valve seat, cage, hinge or spring in the dry top. Fewer components mean simpler assembly and fewer quality-control checkpoints.

Simple tooling

The housing is a hollow, valve-free shell, a shape suited to conventional plastic molding processes such as blow molding.

Lower failure risk

Valve sticking and wear are the classic dry-snorkel complaint. With no valve, that failure mode and its returns are designed out.

Instantly recognizable

The dorsal-fin silhouette stands apart on the shelf and offers a large, flat surface for molded or printed branding.

Working prototype

Prototype top section, outer side: a smooth matte-black fin with DORSAL AQ molded in raised letters down the tube and the horizontal air slot along the fin's bottom edge.
Outer face, with the air slot at the fin's bottom edge
Prototype top section, inner (head-side) face, showing the curved surface of the fin housing that sits against the side of the head.
Inner (head-side) face
Prototype top section viewed at an angle, showing how slim and swept-back the fin is from the side.
Slim, swept-back side profile
Patent Figure 11: line drawing of a person wearing the snorkel, with the mouthpiece in their mouth and the fin-shaped housing rising alongside the side of their head.

“As an engineer, I knew that light plastic valve, with no spring and moved only by its own buoyancy, was the Achilles' heel of every dry snorkel. Any degradation in its fit means failure. So I removed it and used plain air to block the water.”

Anthony Vinokur, co-inventor, U.S. Patent 10,549,829

FAQ

Questions from manufacturers and licensees

Licensing & manufacturing

Interested in bringing Dorsal AQ to market?

This page is for information only; nothing here is offered for retail sale. If you're a manufacturer, brand or investor, we'd be glad to talk.

  • Exclusive or non-exclusive licensing
  • Manufacturing partnership
  • Patent acquisition

Prefer email? anthony@dorsalaq.dev