GB512355A - Improvements in or relating to gyroscopes - Google Patents

Abstract

512,355. Gyroscopic apparatus. HILLIER, A. (Sperry Gyroscope Co., Inc.). July 5, 1938, No. 19892. [Class 97 (iii)] A spherical air bearing supports a casing with three degrees of freedom and the rotor is directly or indirectly supported in the casing with its centre of gravity within the sphere formed by the air bearing means. In the artificial horizon shown in Fig. 1, the rotor 15 spins in ball bearings 16, 17, in a spherical casing 10, which is supported on spherical air film bearings 13, 14 in a pendulously mounted cup 5. Air is forced through the hollow bearings 4, 6 supporting the cup 5 into a passage 9 in the cup. Part is supplied to the bearings 13, 14 and the remainder passes through the passages 20, 21, to the rotor driving jets 18. The air escapes from the casing 10 through tangential jets 22 which are differentially masked, when the casing 10 deviates from the vertical, by the upper edge 23 of the bearing surface 14. The jets 22 with or without an additional set of jets issuing tangentially from the underside of the mirror 1 also serve to limit rotation of the casing 10 by reaction of. the jets 18. As shown in Fig. 3, the ball rotor 25 spins about a vertical axis on an air film bearing in the pendulous spherical segment 33, which itself is supported by an air film bearing in the cup 34. The rotor 25 is also supported at the centre by an air film on a knob 30 at the end of a hollow depending stem 27 down which air is sucked to supply the tangential driving jets 26. The latter are differentially masked by the. lip of the segment 33 to provide an erecting torque when the rotor deviates from the vertical. A horizon line 37, visible through a window 39, is marked on a skirt 38 carried by the rotor. In the gyro vertical shown in Fig. 5, the rotor 15<1> spins in a casing 82 supported by a gimbal ring 83 in a hemispherical bowl 85 The latter is supported on a spherical air film bearing in a cradle 87 which is caused by the inductive controller 70, 98 and motors 73 to follow up the movements of the rotor spin axis. The pendulous bowl 85 is carried round slowly in the direction of rotation of the rotor by air drag and serves to impart an erecting force. Tilt due to the Earth's rotation is corrected by an air jet 103 on a ring 101 which is adjusted in azimath by a compass repeater 104. During accelerations the solenoid 112 is energized causing the sleeve 113 to be raised into engagement with a conical seat 115 at the bottom of the bowl 85.