GB527110A - Improvements relating to retractable undercarriages for aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

527,110. Aircraft landing gear. DOWTY, G. H. March 31, 1939, No. 10139. [Class 4] In a retractable landing gear for aircraft of the kind in which a leg has resilient mounting means extending from it comprising a pivoted lever or deformable frame carrying the wheel or other landing element controlled by a shock absorber, the landing element and its resilient mounting are movable relative to the leg during retraction in order to reduce the stowage space required. Examples of such resilient mountings are described in Specifications 473,756, 473,768, 517,370, 517,373, 517,380, 517,724, 521,219 and 522,833. In one form a leg 6 carries a pivoted arm 17 supporting a wheel axle 18, and a lug 20 on the lever is connected by a shock absorber 23 to one end of a link 24 pivoted to the leg, the link and shock absorber normally being in alignment. The junction 22 of the shock absorber and link is connected by a rod 30 to another rod 8, guided within the leg 6 by blocks 9, 10, and the upper end of the rod 8 is connected by a link 12 to a fixed pin 14 laterally offset from the retraction pivot 7 of the leg. As the leg is retracted the link 12 forces the rod 8 downwards, and by shortening the toggle formed by the links 24 and the shock absorber, raises the arm 17. A stop 26 on the link 24 ensures that no landing shocks are transmitted to the rod 30 when in the normal position, and another stop 27 on the arm 17, limits the downward movement of the arm. In a modification, the wheel is carried by a lever connected at a point near its pivot to a shock absorber extending through the leg to a link pivoted to a vertically offset pivot on the aircraft. In this case the link raises the shock absorber during retraction and with it the wheel-carrying lever.