US1894057A - Aeronautic equipment - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 10, 1933.

W. RAHN AERONAUTIC EQUIPMENT Filed July 1'7. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 10, 1933. w. RAHN 1,894,057

AERONAUTIC EQUIPMENT Filed July 17, 1929 A 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fly. ,s

Patented Jan. 10, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM RAHN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 RAHN AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE AERONAUTIC EQUIPMENT Application filed July 1 7,

This invention relates to aeronautical apparatus and more particularly to an improved type of flying machine which is especially adapted to rise vertically, orto move or to travel horizontally without the use of propellers which are usually employed for either vertical or horizontal movement.

It is anobject of my invention to provide an improved arrangement whereby the flying machine may rise vertically or travel hcrizontally or descend vertically to the ground and be operated in a simple manner to effect either or both of these conditions.

A further object is to provide improved and novel means for varying the inclination of the plane while in motion and to provide improved and efficient wings for effecting the necessary motion of the piane.

Other objects and advant-ages will be seen from the following description of the accompanying drawings, in which,

ig. 1 is a plan view,

F ig. 2 is a side elevation, F ig. 3 is a front view, Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional detail of the mechanism for operating the combined propelling and lifting wings. F ig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5 5 of TEig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a plan View of one of the improved wings.

- Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are sectional views taken on their respective lines in Fig. 6, and

' Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of the gear mechanism for changing the inclination of the wings and the plane.

The illustrated specific embodiment of the invention comprises a fuselage 1 having at the front a passenger cabin 2, while the motor compartment 3 is disposed to the rear thereof. Thetail 4 comprises spaced suitably braced side members 5 vand 6 carrying the usual rudder 7 and elevators 8. Suitable landing gear 9 is provided and due to the fact that my improved arrangement of operating parts permits the plane to rise or descend vertically the tail skid is not necessary.

The combined wing and propelling mechanism comprises a shaft 10 driven by a suitable engine 11 through a chain and sprocket con- 1929. Serial No. 3'?8,841.

nection 12. This shaft extends to the outerf most ends of the wing constructions 13 and 14. As the wing constructions 13 and 14 are identical, it will suffice to describe only one in detail.

A frame 15 is rigidly secured as at 16 to the shaft 10 as is likewise with an outer arm 17 so that the member 15 and arm 17 rotate at all times with shaft 10. Supported at the outer ends and between the members l5 and 17 are combined lifting and propelling wings 18 and 19.

In operation the wing 18 while travelling downwardly will be in a horizontal position such as shown in F ig. 2 while the wing 19 will be travelling upwardly in a vertical position. As the arms 15 and 17 rotate, suitable mechanism is provided for simultaneously rotating the wings 18 and 19 around their own axes, so that when the wing 18 reaches the position of wing 19 as shown in Fig. 2, the wing 18 will be in a vertical position at which time the wing 19 will now be in the positionV of wing 18. This cycle is then repeated and to effect the same there is provided a bevel sun gear 20 normally non-rotatably held upon the inner end of sleeve 21 which is held against rotation by worm and worm gear 22 and 23, the worm being supported on the framework of the fuselage l. Meshing with the sun gear 2O are gears 24 and 25 mounted respectively on shafts 26 and 27. The outer ends of these shafts carry bevel gears 28 and 29, which in turn mesh with gears 30 and 31,

these latter gears being liXed to the shafts 32 and 33 which carry the wings 18 and 19.

It is seen that as shaft 10 rotates, the frame 15 rotates and causes the gears 24 and 25 to travel around the normally stationary sun gear, thus rotating the shafts 26 and 27 and in turn rotating the wings 18 and 19 on their respective axes. It is thus possible to cause the wings 18 and 19 to travel in the paths previously described, so that the upwardly moving wing creates very little if any resistance, while the downwardly moving wing causes a lifting force to be created sufricient to lift the plane.

The arms 15 and 17 or corresponding meinbers in the other wings are made preferably of tubular metal which is tapered at the ends Y as shown in side elevation in Fig. 2, and this tubular construction is suitably covered with fabric 34, or other suitable material.

The rear wing construction 35 is similar to that of the other wings, except that the shaft 36 is driven from the outside by a chain and sprocket connection 37, while the worm and worm gear construction 38 has for convenience been placed on the outside.

After the plane has ascended it may be propelled forwardly by adjusting the worm gears 22 and 38 thereby rotating the sun gear. Upon such adjustment of the worm gear the angular relation between the front and rear wings, 18 and 19 say, will be changed so that instead of the wing 18 being horizontal for the particular position of the arm 17, shown in Fig. 2, it will be in a horizontal position at some point above the position shown in Fig. 2, thus causing the wing to assume a vertical position on its backward movement prior to reaching its rearmost position. Hence, the `wing will travel rearwardly for some predetermined distance in a more or less vertical position and thus will impart a horizontal component of force to the machine, thereby tending to propel the machine forwardly. In addition, a forward pressure component will be received as the wing travels downwardly from its horizontal position. With this Vmode of operation applied to each of the sets of wings 13, 14 and 35, the plane may be given a high degree of horizontal impetus, and at the same time be sustained in the air due to the downward movement of the wings when in their horizontal position somewhere around the axis of the driving shafts 10 or 36. The worm gears while herein shown as independently operable by hand for instance, may be either independently or simultaneously actuated by power through suitable clutch and shaft yconnections to, forinstance, the engine 11. If desired, a further degree of control may be had through use of the elevators 8 which might be operated through any suitable and usual type of control and also the rudder 7 which provides the necessary means of steering the plane.

An improved feature of the wing construction resides in the provision of concave surfaces 40 and convex surfaces 41. The concave surfaces being ivided as at 42, Fig. 8 thereby causing the air to divide and flow outwardly in opposite directions and with equal and opposite forces which will add further stability to the operation of the plane. The convex surfaces 41 instead of having a ridge 42 are provided with a central depression 43, this also producing the same effect of creating opposite flow of air and equal pressure forces as does ridge 42.

It is thus seen that by the use of the three sets of wings; two at the side and one at the center in the rear, a three point pressure support is provided for the plane thereby imparting to it a high degree of stability and also a simplicity of construction and operation is presented which entirely eliminates the need of any propellers such as is usually used in helicopters.

Various changes may be made in the constructions without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. An aeroplane having a body and wings movably supported thereby, said wings comprising an undersurface having a plurality of concave portions with a ridge therebetween, whereby the air fiow over said wings is in substantially equal and opposite directions. f

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that said ridge extends in a direction longitudinally of the aeroplane.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that means are provided for rotating said wings around axes disposed transversely of the body.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that said ridge extends lengthwise of the body and means are provided for rotating said wings continuously in one direction around an axis diS- posed transversely of the body.

5. The combination set forth in claim 1 further characterized in that said wings are convex on their upper surface.

6. An aeroplane comprising, in combination, a fuselage, and wing mechanism having a frame rotatably supported by said fuselage and a wing element rotatably supported on said frame, said wing element being providi ed onV one of its sides at one end with aconcave portion and on the other side of its other end with another concave portion.

7. An aeroplane comprising, in combination, a fusela frame rotatab y supported by said fuselage and a wing element rotatably supported on said frame, said wing element being provided on one of its sides atone end with a concave portion and on the other side of its other end with another concave portion, and means for rotating said wing frame and wing element whereby the concave portions of the wing element alternately effect a lifting action.

8. The combination set forth in claim 7 further characterized in that the wing frame is provided with two wing elements such as described in claim-7, said win elements being disposed on each side of t e axis about which said wing frame rotates, and means whereby said wing elements are alternately brought into operative lifting position.

WM. RAHN.

e, wing mechanism having a 'l

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