GB497623A - Improvements in or relating to aircraft wing construction - Google Patents

Abstract

497,623. Aircraft wing structures. DEEKAY AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, Ltd., and STILL, S. C. HART-. June 21, 1937, No. 29528. Divided out of 484,305. [Class 4] A stressed-skin aircraft wing is formed with span-wise cells bounded by thin vertical sheet or plate members made of a mouldable thermohardening plastic material and formed with enlarged sections at top and bottom and by top and bottom members of the same material. The plastic material may have as a base a fibrous filler such, for example, as cellulose fluff impregnated' with a synthetic resin, e.g. a phenolic resin, and is hardened by the application of heat and pressure. A suitable material is stated to be that sold under the trade name Pe-Te. In one form, Figs. 2 (Prov.) and 3 (Prov.), vertical span-wise members 2 are formed with bulbous flanges 4 reinforced by tubular inserts 5 which may increase in gauge toward the wing root and provide the attaching means, and with integral vertical stiffeners 9. Upper and lower panels 3 are formed with span-wise parts shaped to embrace the flanges 4 and with transverse stiffening ribs 10. Attachment to members 2 is by screws passing through and engaging respectively metal plates 7, 8 countersunk in the moulded material. Transverse diaphragms may divide the cells formed by parts 2 and 3. Fig. 6 (Prov.) shows a modification in which the parts 3 are extended to form the complete aerofoil surface, part of the lower surface being hinged, if desired, to form an aileron or split flap 16. Attachment of the upper and lower members at the leading edge is by screws as shown in Fig. 7 (Prov.), the trailing edge joint being similar. According to a further modification, the cells instead of extending the full span of the wing but are reduced in number outwardly, Fig. 1 (Comp.), and the covering is formed as a series of panels 30, Fig. 3 (Comp.), each having one edge formed with a bulbous projection 31 and the other with a corresponding recess 32 with which the projection 31 of the adjacent panel is mated.