US1501530A

US1501530A - Airplane

Info

Publication number: US1501530A
Application number: US514468A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ivan H Driggs
Original assignee: DAYTON WRIGHT Co
Current assignee: DAYTON WRIGHT Co; DAYTON-WRIGHT Co
Priority date: 1921-11-12
Filing date: 1921-11-12
Publication date: 1924-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 1941-07-15

Description

"July 15. 1924 I. H. Dances AIRPLANE 4 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 12

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L'H. DRIGGS AIRPLANE Filed Nov. 12 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet El July 15 1924.

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I. H. DRIGGS AIRPLANE Filed Nov. 12. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet .WlnESS Itlvenlur. M B i flLllUlInu I luv Patented July 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVAN H. BRIGGS, 0F DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR T0 DAYTON-WRIGHT COMPANY, OF DAYTON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

AIRPLANE.

Application filed November 12, 1921.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVAN H. DRIGGS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Dayton, county of Montgomery, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Airplanes (Docket #25), of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to aircraft and more particularly to a type which is capable of alighting on either land or water, a preferred form of which has been chosen as convenient for the purposes of description and explanation.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide that the structure necessary for alighting on water should be ordinarily out of the way so as not to interfere with alighting on land or shipboard. and to greatly reduce air resistance during flight. The float is therefore carried below the fuselage and extended when it is desired to alight on the water. In the illustrated design the float is extended by means of cables attached to the lower end of the rear float struts, carried around strongly anchored pulleys at the upper end of the front struts and attached to a drum at the rear of the observers cockpit. The float is normally held in place by catches which may be released by the observer. The weight of the float will be suflicient to start it swinging down into position and a light spring in the drum is provided to take up the slack in the cable. Near the bottom of its path the air drag on the float will be greater than the component of its weight and it becomes necessary for the observer to wind up the cables on the drum by means of the hand lever shown, in order to draw the float forward to its extended position under the propeller. In the meantime he will have opened the valves of the air tanks fastened under the fuselage. Each tank is connected by air hose to a section of the air bag on the top of the float. The injector in each line makes it possible to fill the bag in a short time. In its extended position the float is braced laterally and longitudinally by cables. The cables from the lower end of the front struts to the upper end of the rear struts are attached rigidly to the shaft of a drum. This drum by means of a light spring takes up the slack in the cables when the float is retracted.

Serial No. 514,468.

The area and range of adjustment of the horizontal stabilizer is suflicient to balance the airplane for flight with the float extended.

Another object of the invention is to rovide folding wings having the landing c assis carried thereon and foldable therewith. The landing chassis thus does not interfere with the operation of the retractile float means.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein preferred forms of embodiment of the present invention are clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation showing the relation between the retractile float and the airplane fuselage in both the fully extended and inflated position and fully retracted deflated position of the float.

Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the float and its operating mechanism in retracted position, the fuselage being shown in dotted mes.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the airplane with float extended, the folded position of the wings and attached landing chassis being shown in dotted lines,

Fig. 4 is a view on a larger scale showing part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 4, and showing in dotted lines the other position of the rear strut and attached air hose.

Fig. 6 is a plan view showing the folded position of the wings in dotted lines.

Fig. 7 is a composite view, the left side showing a section through the airplane immediately in rear of the rear strut and looking forward, while the right side shows a section immediately in front of the front strut and looking backward.

Fig. 8 is a section through the float with the bag inflated.

In the drawings like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

Numeral 10 designates the body or fuselage of the airplane and 11 the propeller. The retractile float means comprises a rigid bottom float member 12 having the water planing surface and well known step thereon, and the inflatable air bag 9 attached thereto in order to increase the displacement of the shallow rigid float to give the proper buoyancy. The rigid float is preferably built up of spruce and plywood in a manner well known in the art except that it is made much more shallow so that it will offer only small air resistance when in its retracted position. The float 12 is supported by the fuselage 10 by means of the front struts 13 and rear struts 14 pivoted upon the

float fittings

15 and 16 and fuselage fittings 17 and 18 respectively. In its extended position the float 12 is braced laterally by the cross brace wires 20 between the front struts 13 and by the wires 21 between the rear struts 14 (see Figs. 2 and 3). The float is braced longitudinally by the operatingcables 25 which are fastened at the fittings 16 at the lower rear strut points and pass over the strongly anchored pulleys 26 at the upper front strut points and thence backward to the operating drums 27 which will be later more fully described. These cables 25 are wound upon drums 27 until the cables 30 extending from the lower front strut fittings 15 to the drums 31 are fully unwound, at which time the cables 30 will prevent any further forward motion of float 12 and hence will act as the opposing cross brace wires to the cables 25.

The upper contour of the float 12 and the lower contour of the fuselage 10 are mutually formed to fit snugly together so that when the float is in its retracted position as shown at 12 (see Fig. 1) the fuselage and float together form a stream lined shape which will have greatly reduced air resistance. Of course the air bag 9 will be entirely deflated when float 12 is in its retracted position. The float is normaly held in its retracted position by a catch (not shown) on drum 31.

l/Vhen it is desired to extend the float in order to alight on the water, the observer releases the catch on drum 31 and the weight of the float carries it downward and forward until the air resistance counterbalances the component of the weight carrying it forward. A light spring in drum 31 is provided to take up the slack in cable 30 and yet allow it to unwind until a certain limit is reached which determines the furthermost osition to which cable 25 can extend the oat. Near the bottom of its path it is neces sary to draw the float forward by winding up cables 25 on the drums 27 These drums 27 are keyed to a transverse shaft 28. The shaft 28 is operated by the handle 29 which is operably connected to shaft 28 by some means such as the pawl and ratchet wheel arrangement 24 shown in Fig. 5. Thus by operating the handle 29 the observer may draw the float forward until the cable 30 limits its forward motion. The drums 27 are then locked in position to retain the proper tension on the cables 25.

The gas bag 9 is divided into three

compartments

41, 42 and 43 extending longitudinaly of the float. Three compressed air tanks 44, 45 and 46are strapped .to the bottom part of the fuselage for supplying air to the three

compartments

41, 42 and 43 respectively through the flexible hose members 47, 48 and 49. Each may be provided with an injector 50 by which means a smaller amount of highly compressed air may inject a much larger volume of air at the pressure required in the air bag 9. The outlet valves 51 of the three tanks are preferably simultaneously operated by a single means 52 and the flexible cable 53 leading to the operating handle 54 in convenient reach of the operator of handle 29. Now when the float is released and is bein drawn forward by the operation of han le 29 the valves 51 may be opened so that the air bag 9 will be filled in a very short time. The air hose are preferably strapped to the rear struts 14 and being flexible they easily follow the movement of the struts when rotated, as shown in dotted lines at 47 in Fig. 5.

in the design illustrated in the drawings no provision has been made for retracting the float while in flight, the idea in this de sign being that after an emergency landing it will be left in the extended position and 9 the air plane will be hoisted aboard the carrier ship.

If the float 12 is designed with sufficient dimensions to enable the plane to take off from the water the drums 31 may be provided with cranking means similar to the cranking means of drums 27, by which means the float could be retracted during flight by winding up cables 30 on drums 31 and allowing cables 25 to unwind from drums 27.

The change in the center of gravity of the machine due to the change in position of the float is neutralized by adjusting the horizontal stabilizer. Since adjustable horizontal stabilizers are well known in the aviation art it has not been deemed necessary to illustrate or describe the same in this application.

When the fioat 12 is in retracted position the front struts 13 and the cross wires 20 interfere with the bottom skin of the fuse lage 10 (see Figs. 1 and 2). To overcome this difficulty the bottom skin is out along the lines as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and the sections of the skin, marked A, are hinged at the outer edge and provided with springs to hold the sections A in closed up position. Now when the float is extended the struts 13 press the sections A downward causing said sections to swing about the are 61 (see Fig. 7) until, when the float 12 is in fully extended position, the sections A extend substantially vertically downward as shown in Figs. 7 and 1. Of course when the float is being retracted the spring hinges of sections A cause them to follow up against struts 13 and close up the bottom skin of the fuselage up to the position of the float 12 when fully retracted.

The airplane is provided with

wings

70 and 71 which are hinged at their rear inner strut points so that they may fold back alongside the fuselage 10 as shown in dotted lines at 70 and 71 in Figs. 3 and 6 for the purpose of reducing the space required for storing. In the design illustrated, the landing wheels 72 are mounted on the foldable wings so that there will be no possibility of the landing wheels interfering with the retractile float means. Since the wheels 72 fold with the wings it will be necessary to place the wheels on a dolly to move the airplane forward when in folded position. If it is considered objectionable to have the wheels foldable with the wings, the wheel chassis may be mounted on the center section and fuselage so it does not fold with the wing and still be clear of the retractile float.

While the forms of mechanism herein shown and described constitute preferred forms of embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What I claim is as follows:

1. In an airplane having a fuselage, a center section and wings attached to said center section, in combination, a single float means located centrally of the airplane and attached to the fuselage for landing on water, means for folding the wings back alongside the fuselage, and rolling means located on each side of said float means for landing on a solid surface, said rolling means being at tached to and foldable with said wings.

2. In an amphibian airplane having afuselage and short wing panels rigidly attached thereto, in combination, retractable float means located centrally of the airplane for landing on water, main wings attached to said short wing panels and foldable there with, wheel means for landing on land attached to said main wings, and means for folding the main wings together with the attached wheels means back alongside the fuselage.

3. In an amphibian airplane having a fuselage and main wings, in combination, retractable float means for landing on water attached to said fuselage, wheel means for landing on land attached to said main wings and being independent of said float means, and means for folding the main wings together with said wheel means back alongside the fuselage.

4:. In an airplane having a fuselage, a center section, and wings attached to said center section, in combination, retractable float means located centrally of the airplane for landing on water, means for folding the wings back alongside the fuselage, and rolling means located on each side of said float means for landing on a solid surface, said rolling means being attached to and foldable with said wings.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my signature.

IVAN H. BRIGGS.

Witnesses:

R. K. LEE, L. H. EMRICK.