GB647642A - Landing gear enabling an aircraft to land on and take off from unprepared ground - Google Patents

Abstract

647,642. Aircraft landing gear. SAPORTA, A. April 24, 1946, No. 12335. Convention date, Feb. 23, 1940. [Class 4] An aircraft landing gear comprises three or more skids which may be provided with wheels and may each consist of two parts pivoted together and provided with a spring at the pivot, the skids being independently mounted at their upper ends on a common axis movement about which is constrained by a spring. In the construction of Fig. 2, three or more skids such as 4 are independently mounted about an axis 5 and are each constrained by a blade spring 7 anchored at 8 and bearing against a cam 6 at the upper end of the corresponding skid. A compression spring 10 further constrains the blade spring 7. A stop 8a limits the movement of the skid and wheels 12, 13, 14 may be provided. The lower part of the skid may be pivoted to the upper part, a torsion spring being provided at the pivot. The skids may be capable of lateral play to permit them to deflect when they meet an obstacle. Skids may be placed under the nose and wing tips of an aircraft and a flying boat may be rendered amphibious by the attachment of skids to the hull. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also several modified constructions of skid, some of which may be mounted on members which are retracted during flight. It describes also the use of two or four feelers pivoted to the aircraft and longer than the landing skids ; when the feelers engage the ground their angular disposition indicates the height of the aircraft and the degree of irregularity of the ground. The disposition of the feelers may be indicated by lamps in circuits completed by contacts on the upper ends of the feelers and electrodes on the lower ends of the feelers may bo used to determine the conductivity, and thus the wetness, of the ground. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.