GB571782A - Improvement in retractable landing gear for airplanes - Google Patents

Abstract

571,782. Retractable undercarriages for aircraft. AEROPLANES MORANESAULNIER SOC. ANON. DE CONSTRUCTIONS AERONAUTIQUES. Jan. 29, 1940, No. 1804. Convention date, Jan. 31, 1939. [Class 4] A retractable undercarriagecomprises a strut pivoting about an axis parallel or substantially parallel to the fore-and-aft direction of the aircraft and a wheel pivotally mounted on this strut about a second axis parallel or substantially parallel to this direction, so arranged that the wheel is caused to pivot about the second axis before entering the' housing or cavity adapted to receive it until it occupies a position tangential or substantially tangential to the path described by the second axis during retraction of the undercarriage, said second axis being so disposed with respect to the wheel that the latter enters its housing in an edgewise position. In one form, the wheel 6 is pivoted by an extension 5 to the end of a leg 3 which is pivoted at 12 to the wing 2 of an aeroplane, the leg with the wheel being retractable into the wing and fuselage 1 respectivety by means of a jack 9 operating through its rod 10 on an extension 11 of the leg 3. The wheel is moved to the position 6a for the first step of the retraction by a jack (not shown) arranged on the inside of the leg 3 which is operatively connected to a collar 8 on the leg; the collar being linked to the extension member 5 by a connecting rod 7. In another form, the leg and wheel are retracted into the plane by means of a self-breaking strut pivotally connected at its ends to the lower part of the leg and the wing respectively, the strut being folded by the operation of a pair of jacks each of which is linked by a connecting rod to each of a pair of coacting toothed sectors. In this form, the wheel is pivotally connected to the connecting rod 7 only.