US1401934A - Hovering airplane - Google Patents

Description

A. F. ZAHM.

HOVERING AIRPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1919.

1,401,934, Patented Dec. 27, 1921;

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

54 al wenroz ALBERT F. ZAH M.

A. F. ZAHM. HOVERING AIRPLANE. APPLICATION FILED MN; 22, WW.

Patented Dec. 27, 1921.

ALBERT E ZAHM.

his 6H I g C L I nmrs n starts RQTENT 'QFFECE.

ALBEB'I'I. ZL-HH, WASHINGTON, DISllBIO'l' OF conmm.

aovsnmc mrnann I spehifleation of Letters Patent Patented Dec. 2'7, 1921.

Application Med January 22, 1919'. Serial R0. 272,558.

To all whom c'tmay concem:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F.' ZAEM, a

citizen of the United States, residing at rect vertical lift from propellers operating deflection of the propeller ainblast in an apopposite sides of the longitudinalaxis of in a true horizontal plane, as in a helicopter, such lift is derived through the reaction of the air (deflected frdm its course as defined by the propellers) upon a wing section especially adapted to that purpose-the pro pellers meanwhile rotating about substantially horizontal axes or in an approximate vertical plane. This downward reaction of the air may be secured in several ways. The leading edge of the airplane wings, for instance, may be pivoted and the wings in consequence given-a very large angle of incidence, or, if desired, the wings may be given a flexible or pivotal trailing edge por tion and heavily cambered. The result in each instance is identical, i. 6., the propelling force realized from the propeller or propellers is converted into vertical lift by the proximate downward direction through its reaction onthe biased or deeply-cambered wings. 1 u

Another characteristic of the invention is the mounting of the airplane wings in superposed relation and one aft or slightly to the rear of the other as they progress rearwing. This arrangement increases or enhances the aero-dynamical efliciency of the by eliminating the blanketing tendency apparent when the wings are forwardly staggered or directly superposed with the result that there is no interference whatsoever between the superposed "wings.

The". wings (referring to the opposed groups rather than the individual wing) at the craft are independently movable and may be shifted sufliciently to laterally balance the machine by increasing or decreasing the lift on either side. The use of ailerons is thus avoided. Moreover, as a result of such adjustment the angle of incidence of the wings can be lessened to three degrees positive or even less and lift obtained by reaction of air thereon in the usual manner;

the machine under such. circumstances operated as an airplane of the convention made to climb vertically or nearly so, the

thrust efi'ont realized from the. propellers being suflicient to secure the required lift. As a military craft i-t posesses both the advantages of a helicopter and the advantages of an-airplane, although helicopters,

up to this time have been impractical due to. a lack of horse power per unit of weight. To hover or remain stationary while in mid-air it is but necessary that the motor be throttled down until the force of gravity and the lift force are equilibrated and the wings manipulated until the angle thereof satisfies the above conditions. Hoveringaction is possible in either of its positions of flight for the reason that the lift force is sufiicient, whether flown as an airplane (keelhorizontal) or as a helioo ter, to counter-act the gravitational force. ngitudinal trim, while climbing verticallyor at a steep angle, with thev fore and aft axial line of the selage horizontal, is through manipulation of the rear controls, 2'. e., the elevator flaps; as it is proposed to position the rear control surfaces that the wardly and upwardly from the lowermost slip stream or air-blastffrom the propellers acts or rather reacts directly upon them regardless of the position or attitude of the" machine. 7 The structural advantages derived as a result of the relative arrangement of the airplane parts and in consequence of its . My invention in the novel features and combinations of parts herein described by way of exarnple inv their preferred em bodiments, andthe invention is more particularly pointed out in the appended: cla ms. Further objects and advantages of-the invention will more fully appear from the following description taken with the accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings, wherein like characters of reference designate like or corresponding Figure 1 is a side elevation. of the imlproved machine 'illust ted diagrammatica y. r r

Fig. 2 is a front end elevation.

Fig. 3 is a plan view. 7

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing the wing control.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross sectional view of one of the wings (flattened out).

Fig. 6 is a similar view, the position of the trailing edge ortion of the wing, when biased, being indicated in dotted lines, andv Fig. 7 is' a further cross sectional view illustrating a modified form of'wing. The .fuselageor body'of the craft, designated as 10 is streamlined throughout and at its tail end is equipped with an empennage of more or less conventional form. The

empennage consists ofa vertical fin 11, main rudder 12,'auxiliary rudder 13, main horizontal stabilizer "14, auxiliary horizontal stabilizer 15, main elevator flap 16 and auxiliary elevator flap 17 the stabilizer surfaces 14 and 15 being negatively staggered and superposed. The main rudder 12 is mounted in direct rearward continuation of the form (normally) thewings,

. centrally propellers driven by a sing e stabilizer fin 11 and the auxiliary stabilizers 15 respectivelyfat opposite sides thereof.

The location of the auxiliary rudders is such that the rudders collectively .(also ele-- vator flaps) operate in the direct path of the propellerflslip tral,prop.eller.

N earer' the forward .end of .the' fuselage than the rear end a numberof superposed supporting surfaces or wings are mounted. These wings,

stream as defined by the cengress upwardly from the lowermost wing. lthough of a given profile or cross sectional collectively may be warped or biased to an extent deemed suflicient to deflect the air-blast from the propellers vertically or nearly vertically downward .whereby an u ward force isexerted upon the wings. he propellers of which there are preferably three are, ar-.

ranged symmetrically at opposite sides of the fore and aft axis of the machine end thereof, the field of the several being substantially equal (see Fig. 2) to the total area of theiwing'strueture as measured from top to bottom and tip to tip. In other words, the arrangement. of the propellers is such that the total supporting surface area lies in the slip stream thereof. r r

The several ropellers are preferably power. unit designated as in connection designated respectively 18, .19, '20, 21 and 22 are superposed and located one slightly aft of the otheras they pro- 23 inclosed, for the major part, in the forward end of the'fuselage 10. The central propeller 24 is directly driven by the power that the air-blast of the side propellers is relied upon for the derivation of the vertical lift to a greater extent than the central propeller 24. Accordingly the side propellers are mounted in closer proximity to the leadin% edges of the several wings.

y negatively staggering the supporting surfaces or wings a blanketing of the air is eliminated and each giving made to exert a maximum of lift. The wings, or rather the supporting surfaces (see diagrammatic view, Fig. 4) preferably consist of separate panels, to wit; a central panel (only the 'centen'panel of the lower wing as herein illustrated). and opposed outer panels. The outer panels of each wing or supporting surface are provided with flexible trailing edge portions 26while the trailing edge portions of the central panel or panels are fixed. The wings throughout are founded upon wing beams 27 and 28 of suitable design.' Therear wing beams of the several wings carry the trailing edge portions 26 to which they are pivotally secured as at 29. In the flight of the machine as an airplane the trailing edge portions of the several wings extend rearwardly in substantially streamline prolongation of the main body of the wings or in lateral continuation of the fixed trailing edge portions of the central panels. When it :is desired that the thrust value of the outer propellers or rather v biased or moved to the angular positions in,-

dicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1 with a result that the air stream reacting upon them is deflected downwardly. This deflection of the air-blast of the propellers converts the thrust or at least the greater portion of the izhfrust into direct or substantially vertical To maintain the equilibrium of the ma chine fore and aft while operating under the conditions above outlined the. rear control surfaces are positioned as indicated, z. e., directly to the wing structure characterized" by an absence of adjustable or movable wings. The 'mid section of the wing structure justable obviously the air-blast from the propellers is unaffected whereby the rear. controls are rendered eflective as controlling agents under all conditions other words,

being non-adof flight. In by subjecting the rear controls 1 III rear of that portion of the to the full air-blast of the center propeller at all times their operativeness is assured.

The mechanism for flexing or controlling the angularity of the adjustable wing sections comprises separate control levers 30 and 31 conveniently inclosed within the fusela e, in close proximity to the pilots seat. ach lever is directly connected by a rod 32 and lever 33 with a shaft 34 inclosed in one of the wings of the particular group which the individual levers 30 and 31 control. The shafts 34 are preferably inclosed in the supportin surfaces 21, one in'each wing thereof an extended throughout the greater portion of their length. At intervals throughout the length of each shaft rearwardly extending arms 35 are provided. These arms are rigid with the shafts and connect with trailing edge strips 36 inclosed in the wings 21 at or near their trailing edges. Accordingly in operation the levers 30 and 31 are moved, the shafts 31 turned, the arms 35 swung downwardly, and the wings proportionately biased (see Fig. 6) for simultaneously fiexin all of the wings of the opposed groups. 'fiae several trailing edge sectlons of each group are interconnected as indicated at 37 in Fig. 4. The rigid connection between the superposed wings may be efiected by wing posts 38 and wiring 39 in the ordinary manner.

In order that the vertical field of the propellers 25 may lie in a vertical plane slightly aheadof the wing structure a special form of engine bed mountin is provided. Inverted triangulated \fisupports 38' are erected upon the lower supporting surface 22 at or near the ends of the wing structure. These supports constitute an adequate mounting for the transmission (not shown). To decrease the head resistance in flight as a true airplane the transmission mechanism is inclosed in streamline casings 40 at the forward ends of which the propellers 25 are dis osed.

he landing gear 41 may be of any well known character although it is preferred that the struts be streamlined as a. unit and arranged to diverge downwardly from the fuselage slightly ahead of the center of gravity of the machine. Preferably the center of gravity of the machine is located slightly to the rear of the resultant center of lift whereby in climbing vertically on an .even keel the elevator flaps are given a positive angle to exert sufiicient lift to properly elevate the tail.

In the modification illustrated in. Fig. 7 the wing 4-2 is deeply cambered and made variable by pivoting it as at 43. The wing,

V is supported by struts 44 and controlled by any suitable means. The interconnection between the wings indicated at 45 is for.

the same pu ose as the intersection indicated at 37 in ig. 4. By heavily cambering ned by the propeller with the result that direct or nearly vertical lift; is obtained rather than forward thrust, the thrust being neutralized by the drift.

A machine of this character may be launched from and landed upon the deck of a ship as well as from the roof of a building. It may be launched straight into the air in a confined space so that the value of the machine from a'milita point of view as well as from a commercial aspect is increased. If desired, when once in the air the nose end of the machine may be tilted up by manipulation of the rear controls and the machine flown as a helicopter, sufiicient lift being derived from the separate propellers to obtain this end. The power plant should of course be sufficiently light per unit of horse power to make the machine a practical success and as the. development of such aeronautical motors possessing the above characteristics has already taken place the machine is entirely practical in every respect. I In lieu of ailerons for maintaining lateral equilibrium of the machine the opposed groups of wings are operated to mcrease the lift value on .that side of the machine tilted down. Other mechanism may of course be. installed.- The arrangement of the supporting surfaces one above and to the rear of the other prevents the deflected air from the upper from coming down upon the top surface of the next wing beneath blanket the air. The degree of negative stagger however is immaterial since it is only necessary to remove the superposed wings lon 'tudinally to a slight extent.

While have described my invention in detail in its present preferred embodiment,

it will be obvious to those skilled in the art after understanding my invention, that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. I aim in t e appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes.

What is'claimed is:

a 1. In an airplane, the combination, of a plural number of propellers, the axes of the propellers being horizontal, curved supportlng surfaces including ad'ustable and fixed wing panels, the adjustable win panels being movabl into peller air-blast 1s deflected downwardly with the result that suficient vertical lift obtained to bodily lift the machine into the air without altering its flying attitude and without altering the angular relation of the propeller axis to the horizontal, together with a control surface for maintairng the sitions where y the prolit ' ing machine in longitudinal trim, the location of the control surface relatively to the fixed panel being such that the propeller win airlast successlvely imp' the fixed wing panel and the control surface under all flight conditions.

2. In an airplane, the combination, of a ropeller, a curved win designed to deflect ownwardly the propel er air-blast, the degree of deflection being such that thethrust value of. the propeller operating in a substantially vertical plane is converted into approximate vertical lift, a second propeller, a comparativel flat wing section arranged directly behind said second propeller, and a control surface so arranged relatively to the flat wing section and to'the second propeller that the air-blast from the propeller acts successively upon the flat wing section and the control surface under all conditions of flight. V 3. n airplane including in combination,

a superposed tier of negative staggered supporting surfaces, at least one of the supporting surfaces comprising a rigid wing section and a non-rigid wing section, the non-rigid wing section of each wing being sufliciently elongated transversely of the ma- ;hine to extend substantially throughout the plural number of vertically rotating -propellers so arranged relatively to the supporting surfaces that the major portion of the area of the total number of the surfaces lie in the propeller slip stream, means for rotating'the propellers, and means for adjusttlie angular relation of the non-rigid wing section to deflect the air blast of the cggopeller in a substantially vertically downrd direction.

4. In an airplane, a supporting surface comprising a relatively small rigid and relatively large non-rigid win sections, a propeller arranged to direct its air-blast over the rigid section of the wing, a plurality of propellers arranged to direct their air-blast over the non-rigid section of the wing, and means for biasing the non-rigid wing section to deflect the air-blast of the second length of the supporting surface, a.-

closed in the fuselage, a propeller, a wing structure including a comparatively sma substantially ver- 1 rigid and comparatively large non-rigid wing sections, the rigid wing-section being so related to the propeller that the air-blast thereof bathes its surface,'-directional control surfaces located to the'rear of the rigid wing section, said surfaces being also bathed by th air-blast of the propeller under all conditions of flight and additional propellers arranged out laterall from the fuselage at opposite sides thereofithe arrangement of said last mentioned propellers being'such that the non-rigid wing sections follow in the slip stream, thereof.

6. In an airplane, thecombination, of a plurality of negatively staggered superposed supporting surfaces, one of said supportin surfaces comprising a relatively small xed center panel and comparatively large divided outer panels, the line of divisio-n between the sections constituting said outer panels being extended longitudinally of the wing structure, means for deflecting the trailing sections of the outer panels downwardly, a central propeller, a directional control surface, the relative arrangement of the central propeller and the directional control surface being such that the slip stream of the propeller impinges successively the center panel and the directional control surface under all flight conditions, side propellers, the relative arrangement of the side propellers to the outer wing panels being such that the propeller slip stream impinges successively the forward section and the adjustabl trailing section of said outer panel, means to bias the trailing sections ofsaid outer panels downwardly to such 'an extent as to direct the propeller sli stream substantially vertically downwar ALBERT FJZAHM.

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