GB574090A - Improvements relating to aircraft surfaces intended to sustain aerodynamic pressures - Google Patents

Abstract

574,090. Aircraft structures. VICKERSARMSTRONGS, Ltd., and WALLIS, B. N. Feb. 19, 1942, No. 2233. [Class 140] [Also in Groups IX and XXXIII] Aircraft structures of the kind having a skeleton framework covered with material capable of withstanding external air pressures and of transmitting forces due thereto to said framework are constructed by covering the framework with an airtight web or sheet incorporating integrally within itself a system of closely spaced "warp" elements of steel or other substance of high tensile strength and elasticity and such that when said web or sheet is in the flat said "warp" elements are uniformly straight and coplavar throughout their length, the web or sheet being stretched longitudinally over the frame members to form a developable surface with said warp elements constituting the generators thereof. The covering may be woven from stainless high tensile steel warps or other high tensile elements and cotton or other textile wefts and may be coated with polyvinyl chloride &c. to render it airtight. The covering may also consist entirely of the steel &c., elements of warplike form being embedded in a matrix of polyvinyl chloride &c. Strengthening strips of tape or plastic film may be secured to the under surface. The covering F may be tensioned and held secured to transeverse rails 24 superposed on the basal structures of the wing, fuselage &c. by clamping battens 242 screwed into recesses 241. Pure rubber latex and synthetic rubber solutions may also be used for coating. Specifications 21604/12 and 1909/13, [both in Class 4], are referred to.