GB538046A - Improvements in or relating to aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

538,046. Driving airscrews. TAMPIER, R. April 24, 1940, No. 7415. [Class 4] An airscrew shaft is driven from an engine shaft through a plurality of intermediate shafts disposed in parallel relationship and connected by gearing. Fig. 12 shows an aeroplane in which four airscrews are driven from a single engine 1 the shaft 5 of which drives through bevel gearing groups of parallel shafts 12, 13, 14, arranged in one plane within the wing, and to which two of the propeller shafts are connected by bevel gearing. The shaft 5 also drives a shaft 6 through a group of four shafts 24 arranged about a common centre in the fuselage and geared to the shafts 5, 6 by spur gearing. The shaft 6 drives two propeller shafts arranged behind the elevators by gearing similar to that which drives the other two propellers. The gears are chosen to give a speed reduction from the engine shaft to the propeller shaft but the intermediate shafts rotate at higher speeds than their driving shafts. In a modification the shaft 6 is driven by a separate engine in the fuselage. A single pair of propellers on the main wing may be driven by shafts similar to the shafts 12, 13, 14. Fig. 7 shows a modification in which propellers on the wings are driven, each through two groups of shafts 24 in addition to the shafts 12, 13, 14. Worm gearing may replace the bevel gearing. Two engines arranged side by side in the fuselage may drive groups of shafts similar to the shafts 12, 13, 14 the two engine shafts being geared together through three intermediate shafts coaxial with the shafts 12, 13, 14. Fig. 11 shows a modification in which two engines drive, through groups of shafts E. F' arranged about two common centres, and through a change speed gear 35 two shafts,30, 31 geared to the propellers. A group of shafts similar to the, groups E, F may replace the change speed gear 35 and couple the shafts 30, 31 together. An engine at the front of the fuselage may drive a propeller at the rear through a group of shafts similar to the group 24 of Fig. 12. Fig. 13 shows an arrangement of gears enabling intermediate shafts arranged in one plane to be brought closer together.