GB487568A - Improvements in or relating to reeling systems particularly applicable to the reeling of antenna wires in aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

487,568. Winches. STANDARD TELEPHONES & CABLES, Ltd. Oct. 8, 1937, No. 37377. Convention. date, Dec. 30, 1936. [Class 78 (v)] In a reeling device for radio antennae carried by aircraft' feed-rolls 20, 21 are: provided which keep the length of antenna between them and the storage reel 100 always in tension, whether the reel be winding on or off, and to give a non- snarling wind the reel 100 is mounted angu-' larly on its driving shaft 13, its central' fibre web 7 being gripped between two tapered washers 1'6 so that the reel wobbles in turning. A friction drive is interposed between the reel and its shaft, consisting of leather washers 15 buttressed between a hub 8 pinned to the shaft 13 and a disc 10 slidable on flats on the shaft. An adjustable spring 12, non-rotatable with respect to the shaft and the disc 10, bears on the latter. The feed roll 21 is carried by a swinging shaft 34 spring-pressed to bring the roll 21 against the antenna lying in a groove in the rim of the roll 20, which is driven by the motor 18 through a gear-box 19 furnished with a ratchet-andpawl and pinion arrangement which rotates the roll 20 at different speeds in different directions. These speeds are such as to wind off the antenna from a full reel slightly faster than it would otherwise come off, and on to an empty reel slightly slower than the reel tends to take it, thus under every condition of direction and fullness of reel causing a slip to occur in the friction drive between reel and shaft 13. Means are also provided for paying-out, and taking-in, pre-determined lengths of antennae, cbnsisting of a switch-cam driven from the shaft of either the roll 20 or the roll 21, and operated by selective pressbuttons acting through relays to stop the motor 18 automatically at given points. Fig. 5 shows the apparatus mounted near the tail of an aeroplane, the antenna 23 passing through an insulating tube 50 to the rolls 20, 21 and the reel 100, and being tapped by springs 51 connected with a line 52. Wires 55 lead to the push-buttons located near the operator. A ball or fish 54 stretches out the antenna.