US1728404A - Flying machine - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 17, 1929. 'r. M. FINLEY FLYING MACHINE Filed April 30.1928 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. .TZYFWZ Zay ATTORNE Sept. 17, 1929.

T. M. FINLEY FLYING MACHINE Filed. April 50. 1928 2 Sheets -Sheet ;2

. INVENTOR. ZYYFZQEZW 50 Ward. 7

Patented Sept. 17, 1929 i 1,728,404

v UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE, g, i I Ti M FIN'LEY, Or s r. routs li issouar I FLYING MACHINE Application filed April 1928? S al N6. 273,998,

The invention relates to improvements in The presentinvention is designed to obflying machines. viate all of the foregoing disadvantages by The primary object of the invention is to eliminating thehead pack and bytransferimprove the construction flying machines ringthe'vacuum suck from the back of the of the lighter than ,air cigar shaped type by machine to the' front thereof, and thereby eliminating head resistance and vacuum reconvert What has heretofore been anobstacle sistance and. to replace thehead resistance orto the forward progress'of the machine into dinarily encountered by ffng machines of a means of assisting theforward movement this type with avacuum sucl; at thefront end or flight of the machine. I i p 10 and a siphon vacuum eliminating effect at the Another object of the invention is to elim- 60 o rear d 1 inate the stream-line 'evil found in all cigar- Large lighter than air dirigible machines shaped or stream-line shaped machine's,v The I of the present type have two main resistances stream-line is used in the regulation type ma to which may be attributed their lack of succhine in an attempt toreduce the evilof the r c ssful or completely satisfactory operation, vacuun'i suck at the rear of tl ie'jlmachines 65 especially their failure to attain high speeds body, and doubtlessdoes reduce it, but by no and the dil'liculties encountered in their 0011- means eliminates it and such stream-line re-' troL I I duces the machines gas capacity andthereby lVhat is meant by headresistance is the air increases the ratio of its body weight to its that banks at the front of the machines gas contents. 7 Q v i 1 body in resistance to flight. Thebody, being Another object of the invention is to innecessarily very thick, naturally, in action crease the strength of the body of the machine will collect tremendous,volumes of air, which and reduce the weight thereof and provide a will bank at the front endand whichcreates body of the cigar-shaped type having greater 25 great resistance and causes themachine to be strength and less weight than those now in 75 slow. Further, its resistance, in opposition use. I p i c I to the propelling power, throws an enormous With these and otherobjccts in view, the strain on the framework ofthe body ofthe invention consists in the construction and machine. It also causes the body of the ma novel combination and arrangement of parts chine to pivot at the front or contact end hereinafterfully described,illustrated in the so which gives an ineflicient action to the means accompanying, drawings and pointed out in of control makingthe machine, very slow in the claims hereto appended, it being, underits movement under the opcration of its constood that various changes in the form, protrolling means. portion and; minor details of. construction,

This heavy bank air packed at the conwithinthe scope of the claims, maybe resorttact end of the machine causes a swift flow of ed to without departing from the spirit or air back over the shoulders of the machine, sacrificing any of the advantages of the and at thatpoint the air leaves the machines invention h 5 body, flying outwardly away from the body In the drawingsk I 40 of the machine and creating apartial vacuum Figure 1: is afront elevation of allying from that point on to the rear end of the body. machine embodying the improvements of the This partial vacuum has a strong suck effect present invention. i 1 upon the machines body, in direct opposition Fig. 2 is a plan View of the same. to its forward. progress. Therefore, we find Fig. 3 is ahorizontal sectional View.

in this described action of the air two/tre- In the accompanying drawing in which 90 mendous resistances tofiight, to Wit, head re is illustrated the preferred embodiment of sistance by virtue of the air pack' f rom the the invention, the flying machinecomprises shoulders forward, and suck resistance by infits construction a body 1 provided with a virtue of the vacuum from theshoulders rearcentrally arranged vertical elongated tunnel 2 having a substantially flaring mouth or en.

trance and extending entirely through the body 1 from the front end to the rear end thereof. Although the tunnel is shown Vertically elongated it may be elongated horizontally with substantially the same results so far as the movement of the air is concerned, so long as the body of the machine is made to conform correctly to the form of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The body 1 is composed of inner and outer walls 3 and 4: connected at their ends with each other as clearly illustrated inFig. 3 of the drawings, the inner wall defining the vertical elongated tunnel and the outer wall the exterior of the body of the machine.

tervening' space 5 between the inner and outer walls constitutes the gas chamber and will in practice contain'the supporting framework and as any desired construction of supporting framework maybe employed illustration thereof in the present application is deemed unnecessary. The space 5 at the sides and bottom of the body between the inner and outerwalls will per mit ofa framework composed of substantially vertical side frames and approximately hori zontal top and bottom frames of any suitable truss formation and the arrangement will result in a lighter and stronger framework formation than the framework of the ordinary flying machine of the cigar-shaped type.

The flaring mouth or entrance of the Vertical elongated tunnel'forms a'front or outer shoulder 6, an inner or rear shoulder 7 and an V lntermediate longitudinal connecting portion 8 extending from the inner edge of the outer shoulder to the outer edge of the inner shoulder. The flaring mouth or entrance is rounded slightly vat 9 at thejuncture of the outer shoulder and the intermediatelongitudinal connecting portion 8 to present a convexexterior surface at the mouth or entrance and the saidmouth or entrance is curved at 10 at the juncture of the longitudinal portion 8 and the inner shoulder 7 to present an exterior the direct path ofthe air drawn into the mouth or entrance of the tunnel by front propellers 11. These front and rear shoulders by receding from the line a 7) form suction'pockets to create the suction hereinafter fully explained for assisting theforward movement or flight ofthe body. The front or outer shoulder 6 is arranged at substantially an obtuse angle to I the longitudinal connecting portion 8 to-providea flaring end to the mouth and the inner or rear shoulder extendsinwardly transverse- 1y to form the pronounced pocket.

The in- The body is equipped with a pair of front propellers 11 located at the upper and lower portions of the tunnel at the front thereof at the inner reduced end of the substantially flaring mouth or entrance and it has a pair of upper and lower rear propellers 12 located within the tunnel at the rear portion of the body, but any desired number of pairs of propellers may, of course, be provided and arranged similar to the front and rear propellers. The vertical distance between the top and bottom of the vertical elongated tunnel is greater than or in excess of the combined diameters of the propellers 11 to provide an expansion space for the air to prevent the airfrom packing in the tunnel and weighting the machine at the rear end thereof and interfering with the forward progress of the machine. This result is effected by providing the said expansion space between the upper and lower propellers which operate in close proximity to the walls of the tunnel at the top and bottom thereof, the curvature of the walls at the top and bottom being concentric with the circle in which the tips of the blades of the propellers move.

The vertical elongated tunnel is the means employed to transfer the displaced air from the contact end of the machine and cause the said displaced air to move through the body of the machine and out at the rear end thereof. The forward propellers draw the air from the frontof the body of the machine into the tunnel, and in doing so, they draw the air around the shoulders 6 and 7 of the front or contact end of the machine, thereby forming vacuums ahead of the shoulders.

- The propellers being stationed in rear of the shoulders will draw the air in a straight at both of the shoulders 6 and 7 which form a stepped or corrugated surface from the outer end of the mouth or entrance to the front propellers which are located at the front end of the tunnel proper as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The reason for two such shoulders is that in case the machine in action should be opposed by a wind so. violent that it should overcome the power of the propellers sufficiently to reach the outer or front contact shoulder 6 and thereby destroy or materially reduce the vacuum effect there, it would then slip inwardly and backwardly around the inner or second shoulder 7 and still produce a power Vacuum ahead of the second shoulder 7 which would be of great assistance to the machine under these adverse conditions. The

air passing through the tunnel not only produces a vacuum effect at the front end of the body, but also produces a siphon effect at the rear end of the body.

The reverse siphon effect at the rear end of the body is of great importance and benefit, first, because it makes it possible to shorten very materially the slope or taper of the machine at the rear end over what is considered necessary with the stream-line of the ordinary flying machine of the cigar-shaped type, and thereby gives much larger gas space for a given length over that of the ordinary stream-line bodies.

This is caused by virtue of the fact that the siphon moving body of air expelled at the rear of the tunnel draws the air from around the body of the machine over the comparatively short slope'or tapered portion 13 to the tunnel air, thereby effectively preventing a vacuum in the immediate wake of the machine and at the same time obviating the necessity of a long tapering gas space reducing stream-line, which has a vacuum of great proportions. The siphon effect at the rear is no less important to successful flight than is the vacuum effect at the contact end and the combined effect of the two make a powerful machine, compact in size, strong of body, swift in flight and easy in. control because of the fact that such a machine will pivot at its center rather than at the contact end as is thecase with all cigar or stream-line shapes.

The reason for a transversely or vertical elongated tunnel is that experiments have shown that a round tunnel which is filled with the propeller gives no room for the expansion of the air behind the propeller, and this expansion of air after leaving the propeller is natural and if prevented by the walls of the tunnel will cause high frictional resistance along those walls. This in turn, holds the air back and the further along the walls of the tunnel it goes, the slower its action. This soon creates an air pack, which grows heavier and heavier the further it progresses along the walls, until it has created a tremendous weight at the rear end of the machine, adding to the weight of the whole machine and cutting down the power of buoyancy of the machine.

If the tunnel be enlarged in all directions, that is, if a tunnel circular in cross section of materially greater diameter than the propeller be employed, then the current of air from the propeller moving swiftly through the centerof the tunnel will not reach the outer walls of the tunnel and will draw the air away from the outer walls leaving in place thereof a vacuum and this vacuum makes the machine slow. Besides this effect, the propeller must be long enough so that the ends of its blades may extend close to the tunnel walls immediately in rear of the shoulders at the stepped contact end of the body; otherwise,-they will not create the vacuum there. Therefore, the reason for the vertically elongated tunnel with two propellers spaced apart so as to leave room between them is to take care of the natural expansion of the air, and at the same time create the vacuum at the front of the machine by virtue of the propellers being properly located with relation to the shoulders thereof of the corrugated or stepped contact end of the body.

The body is designed to be equipped with a suitable cabin 1a which is preferably arranged at the bottom of the body and which preferably extends partly within and partly exterior of the body, but a cabin orcabins of any preferred construction may be employed as will be readily understood.

What is claimed is 1. A flying machine body of the cigarshaped type provided with a longitudinal tunnel and having propellers operating at opposite walls thereof, said tunnel being elongated cross sectionally in one direction to space the saidopposite walls a distance greater than the combined diametersof thepropellers to provide a central air expansion space between the propellers to prevent air from packing in the tunnel.

2. A flying machine'bodyof the cigarshaped type provided with a Verticallyelongated tunnel and upper and lower propellers operating in the tunnel adjacent the top and bottom walls thereof, the vertical distance or height of the tunnel being greater than the combined diameters of the propellers to, provide an air expansion space to prevent the air from packing in the tunnel and weighting the body at the rear end thereof.

8. A flying machine body having a longitudinal tunnel provided with opposite transversely curved concave walls and substantially straight connecting walls, and propellers operating in the tunnel adjacent the curved walls, the said tunnel being elongated cross sectionally in one direction to space the curved walls a distance in excess of the combined diameters of the propellers to provide an air expansion space to prevent the air from packing in the tunnel. I V

4. A flying machine body having a longitudinal tunnel provided at the top and bottom with transversely curved walls and having straight vertical. side walls and elongated vertically, and upper and lower propellers operating in the tunnel adjacent the curved walls, the vertical distance or height of the tunnel being in excess of the combined dian'ieerating in the tunnel in rear of the said shoulders for drawing the air in the tunnel to elim- V tunnel having a mouth or entrance of stepliketormation consisting of inner and outer shoulders, and anintcrmediate longitudinal connecting portion, the outer shoulder extending outwardly from the intermediate connecting portion and the inner shoulder eX- tending inwardly therefrom, and propellers arranged in the tunnel in rear of the said shoulders and spaced apart by the said elongation of the tunnel to provide an air expansion space, said propellers being adapted to draw the air into the tunnel to prevent a front pack and to produce vacuum sucks at the said shoulders.

7. A flying machine body of the cigarshaped type provided with a longitudinal tunnel having a flaringentrance of step-like formation consisting oi inner and outer shoulders and an intermediate longitudinal connecting portion, the outer shoulder bein) arranged at an obtuse angle to the longitudinal connecting portion and extending outwardly therefrom to form a flaring end portion, and the inner shoulder extending inwardly in a transverse direction from the longitudinal connecting portion to provide a pronounced pocket, and propellers operating in the timnel in rear of the saidshoulders.

8. A flying machine body of the cigarshaped type provided with a longitudinal tunnel having a flaring entrance of step-like formation consisting of inner and outer shoulders and an intermediate longitudinal connecting portion, the outer shoulder being arranged at an obtuse angle to the longitudinal connecting portion and extending outwardly therefrom to form a flaring end portion, and the inner shoulder extending inwardly in a transverse direction from the longitudinal CODIIBClBlIlg portion to provide a pronounced pocket, and propellers operating in the tunnel in rear of the said shoulders, and located acent the upper and lower walls of thetunnel, the latter being vertically elongated and the vertical distance or height of the tunnel being in excess of the combined diameters of the propellers toprovide an air expansion space to prevent the air from packing in the tunnel and weighting the rear end of the body.

SJA flying machine body of the cigarshaped type provided with a longitudinal tunnel having a mouth of step-like formation consisting of inner and outer shoulders and an intermediate longitudinal connecting portion, the outer shoulder being disposed at an obtuse angle to the interi'nediate portion to provide a flaring end, and an inner shoulder extending inwardly transversely from the rear endof the intermediate portion to form a pronounced pocket, and upper and lower propellers located in the tunnel in rear of the said shoulders and arranged adjacent the top and bottom walls thereof, the tunnel being THOMAS M. FINLEY.

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