US1307155A - Antenna construction fob aebial vessels - Google Patents

Description

A. W. SCHRAMM.

ANTENNA CONSTRUCTION FOR AERIA'L VESSELS. APPLLCATION FILED APR. 9, 1918. T 1,307,155. Patented June 17, 1919.

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APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, my.

Patented J 11116 17, 1919.

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rl'lJs 162 A. W.-SCHRAMM. ANTENNA CONSTRUCTION FOR AIERIA'L VE'SSELS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9. 191B.

Pnronrvd June 17, 1919.

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Ewen/2 0)",- qya yomfsCAm @Svfirwe a M QM A. W-. SCHRAMM.

ANTENNA CONSTRUCTION FOR AERIAL VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1918.

Patented June 17, 1919.

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ANTENNA CONSTRUCTION FOR AERIAL VESSELS.

' APPLICATION FILED APR-9| I9l8.

' Patented June .17, I919.

5 SHEETSSHEET 5- specification.

ADOLPH W. SC, 01E RIVERTON, NEW JERSEY.

ANTENNA CONSTRUCTION FOR AERIAL Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 17, 1919,

Application filed April 9, 1918. Serial No. 227,529.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ADoLPH W. SormAMM, a citizen of the United States, residing in Riverton, New Jersey, have invented'certain Improvements in Antenna Construction for Aerial Vessels, of which the following is a The wireless telegraph apparatus for use on the various forms of aircraft usually includes a device for paying out and reeling in a long wire or cable constituting an antenna and, as customarily constructed, this has I been found to be seriously defective owing to the frequent breakage of the wire due to the sudden pull exerted upon it by its weight and the weight on its free end when all of said wire has been paid out. While braking devices have been employed for enabling the operator to' regulate the speed at which the wire was delivered from the reel on which it was wound, these at best were uncertain in operation and unsatisfactory because of the attention they required.

One object of my invention therefore, is to provide a novel combination of apparatus including a reel particularly designed for the reception of the antenna wire of a wireless telegraph outfit such as is carried by an aeroplane for example, which shall possess means for automatically regulating the.

speed at which the weighted wire is delivered after having been released, so that the shock or tension exerted upon the wire by its weight and by the weight on its free end after it has been fully paid "out while the aeroplane is flying shall be so reduced as to be insuflicient to cause breakage-of said wire even though this possesses but relatively low tensile strength, as is required.

These ob]ects and other advantageous ends Lattain as hereinafter set forth, ref erence being had to'the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevatlon of a reel constructed according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22, Fig. 1;

Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical sections on'the lines 33 and 44 Fig. 2, the spool-being omitted;

' Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section showing the operating handle in its two extreme positions.

Fig. 6 is an elevation, to some extentoiagrammatic, showing the parts constituting my invention; and

Fig. 7 is an elevation of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 6, illustrating it on an enlarged scale.

In the above drawings, 1 represents a flat metal plate having a generally circular form and provided with a suitable number of projecting lugs 2 formed with holes for the reception of bolts or screws whereby the device may be fixed to a supporting structure, such as the aeroplane 52, Figs. 6 and'7.

'Riveted or otherwise rigidly and permanently secured to this plate 1 is a fiat drum 3 preferably made of relativelythin, strong, pressed metal having in its flat face a number of struck up teeth 4 constituting a ratchet. fixed in the plate 1 is a relatively heavy, substantial stud 01' short spindle 5 constituting a journal on which is rotatably mounteda sleeve or collar 6, projecting from and centrally mounted in a second metal plate 7 Centrally mounted and rigidly which with it is held on said journal 5 by a I flat washer 8 retained on the outer end of the spindle by a screw 9.

The plate 7 which extends over and closes the open face of the drum 3, has mounted upon its inner-face a pair of fiat segmental weights 10 movably connected to said plate by pivots 11 and normally drawn toward the central sleeve 6 by coil springs 12, each of which extends between a pin 13 projecting inwardly from the face of the plate 7 and an eye 14 on theweight. Each of the latter has set in its outer and preferably circularly curved edge a shoe 15 of leather or other suitable-material having a highcoeilicient of friction and designed to coaet with the inner cylindrical surface of the drum 3 when the weight has swung outwardly to a predetermined extent against the action of the spring 12. I

The plate 7 also carries a dog in the shape 1 sleeve 17 so as to permit rotation of the plate 7 in one direction, but it may be forcibly drawn out against the action of this spring by means of a lifting device provided by a rotatable disk 19 having an operating arm 20 and provided with a raising cam 21 placed on its edge in such a position as to extend under a collar 22 pinned to the outer end of said plunger 16 so as to constitute its second or outer head. The arrangement of these parts is such that when the operating arm- 20 occupies the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the spring 18 holds the plunger in engagement with the ratchet teeth 4, while the act of moving said arm into the position shown in full lines Fig. 1, turns the disk 19 sufficiently to cause its edge cam 21 to so act on the outer head 22 of the plunger 16 as to move it outwardly, free of the ratchet teeth 4. The disk 19 is pivotally held to the plate 7 by a rivet 24, between whose head and said disk is confined a spring washer 25 which exerts suflicient friction on the latter to retain it in any given position.

The spool 26 for the antenna wire consists of two annular flanged pieces of sheet material 27 having parallel, radially extending vwebs 28 riveted, spot welded, or otherwise permanently connected to form a receptacle for said wire and including any desired number of inwardly projecting portions 29 formed with side notches for the reception of the bodies of a similar number of rivets or other headed members 30 which project from the outer face of the plate 7 ;--the arrangement being such that the web por tions 28 of the spool may be laid parallel and in contact with the outer face of said plate 7 concentrically with the spindle 5 and thereafter given a small rotary movement, causing the side recesses of the projections 29 to receive the rivets 30 whose heads then act to hold the spool to said plate against sidewise removal. In order to removably retain said spool in this position I mount a spring-pressed locking plunger 32 in a sleeve or bushing 32 mounted in the plate 7 in such positlon that when the lugs or projections 29 engage the headed members 30 as shown in Fig. 1, said plunger is free to be automatically projected behind one of said extensions and is thereby causedto retain the spool attached to the plate 7 with no possibility of becoming accidentally separated therefrom.

F or turning the plate 7 with the spool on the spindle 5, I provide a handle 36 pivoted to said plate at 37 so that it may move in a planeat right angles to the plate and to one side of the center line thereof. The stem of this handle is preferably provided with a right angle extension 39 formed by bending it upon itself so that when it is turned on its pivot 37 into an inactive position practically within the cylindrical recess provided by the spool 26, this projection will extend outwardly where it may be easily struck by the hand of the operator when it is desired to quickly move the main handle from its folded to its extended position. This secondary handle or projection 39 is so placed as to strike the side of the spool and limit the outward swing of the handle stem. A flat spring 40, fixed at one end to the plate 7, extends over a knife edge or tapered pin 41 fixed to the pivot 37 in such position that it tends to move the handle from a mid or neutral position into either of its extreme positions shown in Fig. 5.

Under conditions of use a length of wire 50 constituting an antenna has one end permanently fixed to the spool 26 in any desired manner and is wound within the cavity thereof with a suitable weight 51 attached to its outer end. The filled spool may be attached to the plate 7 by placing it over the same with its inward extensions 29 adjacent the headed members 30 and thereafter giving it a slight turning motion suflicient to bring the walls of the side recesses of its extensions 29 into engagement with the bodies of said members, whereupon the spring plunger 32 automatically locks it in place.

Normally the plate 7 With its attached spool and regulating weights is held from turning on the spindle'5 by the dog 16 which engages the teeth 4 of thefixed drum and when it is desired to pay out the antenna wire, the disk 19 is turned from the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 to that shown in full lines so that its cam 21 raises the plunger 16 out of the path of the ratchet teeth 4 and retains it in this raised position. Under the action of the weight 51 on the end of the wire 50, this is now drawn ofi' of the spool which, with the plate 7 and weights.

that the friction between the drum and shoes tends to swing said weights outwardly and therefore aids the centrifugal force in applying a braking force to the rotating plate 7 and its attached spool.

By reason of the construction described and shown, this braking force is gradually applied so that the rate of delivery of the weighted wire is limited to such a point that when all of said wire has been finally paid out, there is no such sudden tensile stress due to the inertia of said Wire and weight as would cause the wire to break, even though it be made of comparatively weak material in order to prevent injury to the aeroplane 52 in ease of its becoming accidentally entangled with some fixed structure.

'When it is desired to draw inthe wire, the handle may be moved from its folded position shown in Fig. 5 by the operator striking its projecting portion 39in a line parallel with the plane of the plate 7, as a result of which the handle movesfrom the position shown in full linesin Fig. 5 to that shown in dotted lines. Its main portion may now be grasped by the operator and the plate 7, with the spool, turned to wind up the antenna wire.

- plate 1 into the that as the spool isturned said lunger Under ordinary conditions the arm 20 of the disk 19 is so turned as to permit the plunger or dog 16'moving toward the fixed path'of the ratchet teeth, so

rid s successively over .said teeth. 11 case thehandle should be released at anytime the lunger is at once engaged by one of the rate et teeth as the spool tends to turn un- '.der the action of the weighted wire so that u'liwindingof the latter is prevented. I

With the arrangement of parts shown, a spool and its wire may with the utmost ease be removed from the plate 7 and replaced by another-spool with its associated antenna, since for this purpose it is merely necessailiiy to depress the locking plungeror pin su ciently to rmit such slight turning of the spool as w11l allow of the inward projections 29 moving free of the headed members 30,

whereupon sald spool may be moved later-v ally away from said plate.

I claim: I 1. The combination of an aerial vessel; a

reel mounted thereon; a flexible member having one end connected to the reel; a

weight on the otherend of said member; and means for automatically limitingthe speed] of delivery of the flexible member from the reel tovan amount insuflicient to cause break moving ina generally horizontal direction;

and means for automaticall preventing the force of inertia of the member exceeding its breaking strength at the time it has all been paid out. e a

3. The combination of an aerial vessel;

a reel mounted thereon; a flexible weighted. member having one end connected to the reel and free to assume a curved outline when delivered therefrom while the vessel is being moved in a generally horizontal direc-v tion; and a centrifugal braking device set to automatically'limit the speed of delivery of the member to an amount which will prevent the force of its inertia exceeding its breaking strength at the time it has all been paid'out from the reel.

4. The combination-in an aerial vessel including a member havinga series of ratchet teeth; a structure including a spool rotatably mounted on'said member; a flexible weighted member connected to said spool at one end and free to assume a curved outline when delivered therefrom while the vessel is moving in agenerally horizontal direction; means for automatically preventing the force of inertia of the member exceeding its breaking strength when it has all been paid out from. the spool; a dog mounted on the the ratchet teeth; and means also carried by rotatable structure in position to coact with the rotatable structure for controlling the operation of the dog.

In witness whereof I aflix my signature. 1 ADOLPH W SCHRAMM.

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