GB835221A - Improvements in aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

835,221. Aircraft. MINISTER OF SUPPLY. Aug. 15, 1956 [May 26, 1955], No. 15293/55. Class 4. An aircraft comprises an aerodynamic lifting member and a movable control member formed as inflatable chambers from stretch resistant flexible impermeable material, and having flexible stretch resistant internal diaphragms arranged so that when the members are inflated they become structurally stiff and of effective aerodynamic shape. In Fig. 1, a washed-out inflatable wing 1 is divided into spanwise cells and maintained in shape by diaphragms 5, and is fitted with a relief valve 39. The wing has elevons 9 similarly divided and kept at the same pressure as the wing by flexible conduits 11. A car 2 is suepended from the wing by a framework 26 and stays 12, and comprises an engine 29 and pusher propeller 30. The main landing gear is mounted on an axle 28 attached to the framework 26 by rubber band suspension, and a steerable front wheel 37 is actuated by a rubber bar 25 in conjunction with the rudder 20 mounted on a fin 22. The car is fitted with an anemometer and pitot tube, and an electrically driven compressor 31 for inflating the wing. The elevons 9 are operated through cables 18, levers 17, and cables 14a by a control column 15, Fig. 3, connected to a bevel gear 51 pivoted on a housing 52 secured to shafts 49a, 49b, terminating in levers 55a, 55b, each bearing two pulleys 56. Smaller bevel gears 53a, 53b mesh with gear 51 and are attached to shafts 54a, 54b running within shafts 49a, 49b, and attached to pulleys 57a, 57b. Each cable 14a passes round a pulley 56 and is anchored to a pulley 57a or 57b. Movement of the control column 15 in the direction of arrow A rocks levers 55a, 55b equally in the same sense and actuates the cables 14a to move the elevons as elevators. Movement of the control column in the direction of arrow B rotates the gears 53a and 53b equally in opposite senses, rotating pulleys 57 to actuate the elevons as ailerons. Another way of operating an elevon 101 on a wing 100 is shown in Fig. 7, where inflatable bays 102a, 102b are secured one on each side of the hinge axis and are connected by conduits 103a, 103b to a pneumatic valve which can connect either conduit to atmosphere or a source of pressure which may be the wing itself, thus inflating one bag while deflating the other until the elevon reaches a required deflection. The wings may be provided with fixed vertical inflatable fins in place of a rudder, and the car may also be an inflatable structure, Fig. 5 (not shown). Fig. 9 shows part of an aircraft equipped with rotating inflated cylinders 120a, 120b achieving lift by the Magnus effect. An end fence 160 is fitted to each cylinder to improve the air flow. The shaft on which the cylinders are mounted are driven through a differential gear 113, and brakes 126a, 126b are operable differentially to show one or other cylinder for control in roll. Conventional elevators and rudder are used. A cam 141 on each shaft drives a pump 140 adapted to maintain the pressure in the cylinders. In all embodiments, the inflatable members may be made of rubberised fabric, reinforced by steel wires. The fences 160 may be inflatable by air scoops. The cylinders may be of frusto-conical form instead, and may be driven by pulse jets or high pressure air jets. The cylinders may also be rotated about a vertical axis in the manner of a helicopter rotor, there being provision for varying cyclically the speed of rotation of each cylinder about its horizontal axis.