Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73
§8673 Model Basin; investigation of hull designs
Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle C— - Navy and Marine Corps › Part PART IV— - GENERAL ADMINISTRATION › Chapter CHAPTER 863— - NAVAL VESSELS › § 8673
Summary
The Navy Secretary may let private people use the Model Basin and require them to pay the costs, keep results confidential without their consent, and use the data for government purposes under U.S. patent law.
Full Legal Text
Title 10, §8673
Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
The Secretary of the Navy may authorize experiments to be made at the Model Basin for private persons. The costs of experiments made for private persons shall be paid by those persons under regulations prescribed by the Secretary. The results of private experiments are confidential and may not be divulged without the consent of the persons for whom they are made. However, the data obtained from such experiments may be used by the Secretary for governmental purposes, subject to the patent laws of the United States.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 73035 U.S.C. 430a.
May 6, 1936, ch. 333, 49 Stat. 1263;
June 20, 1940, ch. 400, § 1(a), (b), 54 Stat. 492. In subsection (a) the authority to purchase a site and construct the model basin is omitted as executed. The words “David W. Taylor Model Basin, Carderock, Maryland” are inserted to designate the model basin established under this authority. The words “investigations to determine” are substituted for the words “work of investigating and determining.” The phrase “vessels, including aircraft” is changed to read “vessels and aircraft”, and the words “their design” are substituted for “ship design”.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2018—Pub. L. 115–232, § 807(d)(2), renumbered section 7303 of this title as this section. Pub. L. 115–232, § 1015(a), struck out subsec. (b) designation before “The Secretary” and struck out subsec. (a) which read as follows: “An office or agency in the Department of the Navy designated by the Secretary of the Navy shall conduct at the David W. Taylor Model Basin, Carderock, Maryland, investigations to determine the most suitable shapes and forms for United States vessels and aircraft and investigations of other problems of their design.” 1966—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 89–718 substituted “An officer or agency of the Department of the Navy designated by the Secretary of the Navy” for “The Bureau of Ships”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by section 807(d)(2) of Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of
Amendments
and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
10 U.S.C. § 8673
Title 10 — Armed Forces
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73