GB568548A - Improvements in aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

568,548. Aircraft ; screw propellers. ANDERSON, J. R. June 28, 1943, No. 10464. [Classes 4 and 114] An aircraft provided with counter rotating airscrews 16, 18, at or near the front of the fuselage has retractable telescopic supporting means 24, 26 at the tail to enable the aircraft to be held in a substantially vertical position, whereby it may take off, and also land, in the manner of a helicopter, the retractable supports constituting the sole means for supporting the aircraft upon the ground. Directional control during flight is provided by means of an enginedriven airscrew 20 mounted on a universal joint at the tail of the aircraft. Alternatively, the engine exhaust may be discharged through a jet tube mounted in a ball-and-socket joint. The hubs 17, 19 of the airscrews rotate on roller bearings 30 on an internally ribbed structural member 32, and are driven from the engine through a free-wheel coupling by a pinion 68 meshing with internal gear teeth on the hub 19. A change-speed gear may be provided consisting of a second pinion 78 meshing with internal teeth 84, with a clutch 79 for engaging the appropriate pinion. Counter rotation of the airscrews is effected by means of bevel pinions 74 which engage bevel wheels 72, 76, integral with the respective airscrews. The airscrews may be of variable pitch, controlled automatically by the pressure at the surfaces of the blades as described in Specification 565,912, or mechanically in accordance with the construction shown in Fig. 8. Each of the blade shanks of the propeller 18 carries, a bevel pinion 96 meshing with a bevel wheel 98, connected by arms 100 to a similar wheel 102 which is engaged by further pinions 104 coaxial with the reversing pinions 74. The pinions 104 mesh with a bevel wheel 106 connected by arms 108 to a similar wheel 110 which meshes with bevel pinions on the blade shanks of the propeller 16, similar to the pinions 96.