A depressor weight is a device used on tow lines in nautical applications. A depressor weight can be attached to a floating or otherwise stiff line to effectively produce a catenary geometry better able to mitigate shocks associated with towing and wave impacts.[1][2]

Depressor weight implementation. The blue line indicates the unmodified tow line, while the red line indicates the shape created by the depressor weight.

References

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  1. ^ United States Patent office google.com/patents
  2. ^ Whitcomb, Louis L. (2000). "Underwater Robotics: Out of the Research Laboratory and Into the Field". CiteSeerx10.1.1.31.5434.