IL30676A - Parachutes having wings detachable from the crown - Google Patents

Description

30676/2 irisna ϊηηοπν n'irt θ'*ί!ΐϊ> * a omasa Parachutes having ^lnge detachable from the crown <* Q* PARACHUTE CO^jPAOT I.IMITED Ci-28908 The invention is described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings of which Figure 1 shows one form of parachute according to the invention, Figure 2 shows the construction of the crown section of the canopy of the parachute shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 shows the construction of one of the wing sections of the same canopy, Figure 4 is a plan of the canopy shown in Figure 1, Figures 5, 6, 7 show some canopies according to the invention, Figure 8 illustrates the airflow within the canopy shown in Figure 1, Figures 9? 10, 11 illustrate the construction of parts of the canopy, and Figure 12 illustrates the canopy of a parachute according to the invention having a hexagonal crown0 The parachute illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 comprises a crown section 18 which is connected by wing sections 13, 14, 15 and 16 and rigging lines 17 to a load 19» The canopy can be made of any suitable porous or imporous material 9 We prefer to use material woven from polypropylene ribbon; That is strips of polypropylene about l/l6th inch or so in width cut from sheets of polypropylene which strips are woven into material. The material is cut to the sizes required and preferably the edges are sealed to prevent fraying and disintegration of the fabric o The desired porosity for the fabric is obtained by variation as required of the width of the strips from which the material is woven and " weave. The porosity of the fabric is not critical so long as it is low, the porosity of the canopy as a whole being controlled automatically by the airflow through the open corners between the wings of the canopy. For the canopy illustrated the material was cut into pieces each about 40 inches wide and about 13 feet long for the crown and wing sections and about 10 inches wide for the skirt panels referred to hereinafter0 The wing and crown sections (excluding the skirt panels) are squares'with sides of about 13 feet.

The material for the crown and wing sections is re-inforced by tape, which could be made of terylene about ¾· inch in width, stitched or otherwise joined to the material,. The crown and wing sections shown are made from a number of pieces of material stitched or otherwise joined together, as shown in Figure 9 the edges of the pieces of material are placed together and the re-inforcing tape 30 is stitched to the material as the seam is made0 As the material has a fold 32 at the centre, a re-inforcing tape 31 is stiched along the foldo The edge tapes 29? and the tapes 24 running at right angles to the joins in the material are sewn flat onto the fabric 0 The tapes on the crown section 18 of the canopy terminate in loops 25.

The crown 18 is provided with four skirt panels 20, 21, 22 and 23o These are additional strips of material which are stitched onto the edges of the crown material. The skirt panels have their ends turned back as shown at 42 so that they are of the same length as the edges of the crown,, The skirts around the crown could be formed by extensions of the material making the crown. In this case the re-inforcing tapes end about 10 inches from the edges of the crown.

The re-inforcing tapes 26 on the wing sections are carried beyond the ends of the fabric to form extensions 27, 28. The upper extensions 27 can be tied to the loops 25 at the ends of the tapes 24 on the crown section 18 to connect the wing sections to the crown section, and the lower extension 28 can be tied to the rigging lines 17 to connect the canopy to the load 19o The lower ends 28 of the tapes can be formed into loops if desiredo When the wing sections 13, 14, 15 and 16 are tied to the crown section 18, the skirt panels 20,21,22 and 23 lie on the inside of the canopy, as shown in Figure 8, to close the gaps between the wing sections and the crown section. These skirt panels are of sufficient width to extend under the wing sections as shown in Figure 8 so that the air flow beneath the canopy crown is directed down the wing sections as shown by the arrows .

The loops and extensions on the wings and crown tapes can be made from double tapen Figure 11 illustrates such an arrangement, an extra length of tape 33 being attached to the re-inforcing tape 31. In the figure the re-inforcing tape 31 is that at a fold 32 of the only along the canopy fabric „ The rigging lines 17 can be tied to the loops or extensions 28 at the lower ends of the wings, suitable knots being reef knots or sheet bends „ Such a tie is shown in Figure 10 where the rigging line 17 is shown tied to the extension tapes 31 and 33 from a point on one of the wings „ The rigging line can be made of any suitable material, such as for example string made from fibrillated polypropylene. The lower ends of the rigging lines are connected to webbing strops 43 and a hook 44 from which the load.19 is suspended,. These webbing strops 43 are not an essential feature.

The canopy described above would be suitable for use with loads of about 500 lbs weight β The crown and wing sections can however be assembled in different ways to make parachutes for carrying loads of other weights. Some such arrangements are illustrated by Figures 5, 6 and 7. In Figure 5 two crown sections 34 and 35 are connected together and are combined with six wing sections 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 Such a combination would carry loads of up to about 800 lbs0 In Figure 6 four crown sections are shown connected to eight wing sections to give a parachute capable of carrying a load of about 1200 lbs weight 0 In Figure 7 four crown sections are shown combined with sixteen wing sections to give a canopy suitable for loads of up to about 2000 lbs weight. In this last arrangement the upper wing sections are provided at their lower ends ί with skirt panels which extend under the lower wing sections,, 'V panels come together at the joins in the crowns - One of these skirt panels could "be removed if desired, but if both are left they cause no trouble to the operation of the parachute.

In Figures 2 and 3» nine tapes are shown crossing the crown section of the canopy, and along the wing sections and nine rigging lines are provided to each winge More or less tapes and rigging lines can be provided if desired „ The parachutes described above have canopies with rectangular crowns „ The crowns can be of other shapes, and a canopy having a crown of hexagonal ^hape is shown in Figure 12 „ Crowns having more or less sides can be used if desired, for example the crown could be the shape of any regular polygon such as an equilateral triangle or a regular pentagon It will be appreciated that the parachute can be made of materials other than polypropylene, and that the canopy need not all be made from the same material, for example the crown and wings could be made of one type of material and the skirt sections of a different material, or the crown of one material and the wings of a different material „ The tapes on the crown need not terminate in loops o Extensions can be left which can be tied to the extensions of the wing tapes, or both crown and wing tapes can end in loops which can be connected together by tying or by toggles or hooks or in any suitable way„ The invention is not restricted to parachutes in re-inforcing tapes _ With some materials these tapes may not be required . Neither is the invention restricted to canopies having the wings tied to the crownj the wings can be connected to the crown by any suitable connecting means, for example, they could be laced together or connected by rings or pins passing through eyelets, or apertures in studs, carried by the parts of the canopy.

Claims (1)

1. A parachute as claimed in any preceding claim in which at leas som part of the rigging lines is made flhrillated A parachute in claims 7 or the tapes are extended to loops or extensions which are used for connecting the parts of the parachute A parachute as claimed in 8 or which the rigging lines are connected to the reinforcing A parachute substantially herein described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying insufficientOCRQuality