US1906712A - Seaplane - Google Patents

Description

R. J. NORTON SEAPLANB Filed March 24, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l Ear/mm J A/a/arwv M MW 1 M May 2, 1933- R. J. NORTON 1,906,712

SEAPLANE Filed March 24, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet, 2

IIIIIIIIIA I///A a g vmwtu fame/v0.1 A/azmv WMW i Patented May 1933 claim;

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many;

i Thi's inyent'ion 're1atesto seaplane steering means, .and fa major object this'invention is to provide a rudder for 's'eion or pontoons of theseaplane.

;A "further object of this "invention sip provide means whereby? such a; rudder 'may be withdrawn within the, surface of the pon- Yet a further object of'my invention is to A still further, object of my invention is KtheprovisiOn ofsuitable controls for such a rudder, and the correlationof such j'control's with the other controls of the seaplane.

7 With these "andotherfobjects in yiew,

' whichniay boe inci dent to my improvements, the inventionconsists in the parts anfd*c( )mbin'ations to? be hereinafter set forth. and

cla imed, with the understanding thattheseyenal necessary elements comprising iii-1 ention may be; varied-1n; construction, pro,

portions and arrangement, without depart ing from the spirit and seo'pe of appended In order to. make my inventionmoreclleare 1y understood, I have shown in theaccom- .panying I drawings means for carrying the same into practical effect, without limiting the improvements in their useful. ap-f plieations \to the particular construction,

which, for the purpose of=explanation, have been made the subject of illustration. In the drawings: 1 V -Figure 11s a side elevation of 'a seaplane showing "the invention installed:

t Figure 2 is anenlarged detailshowiug the features of the rudder, and lts operating mechanism; i t

Figure 3. is a detail of the manual con-I 'trols, t

: Figured is a sectional yiew taken on line 'Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional detail of I the mounting ofthe rudder;-

Figure? is a diagrammatic View of the controls for the air and water ruddersLj As shownin' the drawingsthe invention .-m.ay.be applied to any type of seaplane orv t PQ Q F a o 4 tron" surfaces-2, propelling means'3 and em flying boat having a fuselage 1, air sustentatratedin this-instancebythe pontoons, 5.

I E if Q 1 more J. non'rolm or wisiimeroninrsrii remor coLu vnam,rnss iqnon roi-nrznm'x 3 nvrarxo'n conromrron, 0 scum rennrnn-rAnA e conrorm'rron'or nming These-floatjmembersfare attached to the fuse- I lage in any suitable manner, as by theffioat struts"6,;7; and 58;

' Thepontbons maybe of any suitablefcon-t stru'c't-ion'suchas wood orflight weight, high strength alloys of thefduralumin type; Pref erably'the pontoon'bottom'i's of steppedfconstruction shown-at 9. Mounted on the pontoon for erticalandangularlmovement' with respec't thereto is theru dder10. This I "member may be "constructed of anysuitable aerial-and of "any desired shape-and size tependingfupon the steering eflt'ect desired,

the ruggedness-ofthe supporting structure,

the size; of. the plane and so forth.

As shown more particularly in Figure 2,

the pontoon is providedwithl a recess 11, of the same" generalshape asf-the rudder, whereinthe rudder may be retracted, when; not in 7 use, I VVhen so retracted, the bottom surface ofth'e rudder forms practicallya continua- -ti'on'ofthe bottom surface ofthe pontoon, 1 thereby reducing} to a minimum the fluid resistance caused by 'the rudder. a f The frneans'for mounting the rudder are shown in Figure 5. A bea ringIQ issecured to'a'suita'ble rigid portion 13 of the pontoon.

Mounted in bearing 12 is a sleeve 14, pro- Vided with'ayoke composed of arms 15, and '-having!aglongitudin'al squared recess Tex tending 'throughout its" length. 1 Extending through the squared recess is a squaredzrude der -post16,-Ifupon the lower" extremity of whichis mounted the rudder. 10. It will be 1 I postis .receiv ejdinla similarly squared recess '17 inthe rudder, and has a threaded extension notedtliatlin the illustrated form, the rudder d tegral therewith, is-a' circular member 20, having a circumferent al groove 21 therem;

Cooperating with this groove are the pins 22,

mountedv in the socket member 23. At'the top of this socket member ears 24 are formed, and a pin 25 extending therethrough connects the ears to a slot in the bell crank lever 26.

From Figure 5, the parts of which have just been described, it will be realized that operation of the bell crank lever 26 will cause the rudder port 16 to move upwardly and downwardly through the squared recess in sleeve 14, and consequently will retract or extend the rudder 10. Operation of arms 15 will turn the sleeve 14, and such angular motion will be transmitted to the post 16 and the rudder 10 through the squared connec-- tion, while the pins 22 move in groove 21.

A suitable system of controls is shown in Figure 7. Bell crank levers 26 are operated by cables 27, passing over suitably placed pulleys and connected to crank arms 28 lo? cated at the end of shaft 29, operated by a hand lever 30, located adjacent the pilot. Return springs 31 are provided for the bell crank levers and lever 30 may be provided with a pawl and ratchet or tooth and sector device, such as is commonly used on the hand braking levers of automobiles, for retaining the rudders in their retracted position. 7

The inner arms 15 of the. rudder yokes are connected together by cable 32, led over suitably placed pulleys. The outer arms 15 are connected by cables 33, led over suitably placed pulleys, to crank arms 34- on the ends of shafts 35, operated by pedals 36. Mounted on shafts 35 are sleeves 37.; On the inner ends of these sleeves are mounted pedals 38 and at the outer ends, crank arms 39. The ends of yoke 40 of the air rudder 41 are connected to crank arms 39 by cables 42, led over suitably placed pulleys.

Secured in shafts 35 are pins l3, cooperating with slots 44 in sleeves37. By'this arrangement, it will be seen from Figures3, 4 and 7, that pedals38 may be operated to con trol the air rudder without affecting the water rudders. VVhen' pedals 36 are operated to control the water rudders, however, the pins l3 will move sleeves 37 with shafts 35,

and the air rudder will be operated conj ointly with the water rudder. 1 I

If desired, the pin and slot arrangement 4:3, 44;, may be dispensed with, and the adjacent lugs 45 removed from the pedals 36 and 38 (see Figure The pilot may then operate The greatest utility of the water rudders is, of course, in steering the seaplane as it taxies over the water. These rudders, as previously stated may be retracted when the plane is on the water or in the air to reduce fluid resistance. If desired, the rudder may be left exposed in the air to serve as a vertical fin or as an aid to the other controls. course the water rudders are susceptible of various well known uses for a rudder, such as reducing speed by fishtailing the rudder back and forth.

Wh1le two pontoons and two rudders have been shown, varlous other arrangements and modifications are within the scope of the invention.

Two similar rudders maybe used on the single float of certain types of seaplanes, or a single rudder, with suitable changes as to size, etc., may be used on such a single float seaplane. In this latter case, cable 32 and its pulleys would not be necessary and the two cables 33 could be attached to the two arms 15 of the single rudder.

Vhile there is shown and described a spe cific mechanism, it is to be understood that this is given merely as one embodiment which typifies the other equivalent mechanical structures by which the functions herein described may be secured and/or the desired results achieved.

I claim:

In a seaplane, an air rudder, a water rud der, means for operating said air rudder in dependently of the water rudder, and means for operating the water rudder, said water rudder operating means automatically coacting with the air rudder operating means to actuate the air rudder; and means to retract the water rudder within the stream line contour of the seaplane. r

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

RAYMOND J. NORTON.

theairrudder independently by placing his v feet on pedals 38oonly; he may operate the water rudder independently by placing his feet on pedals 36 only; and he may operate the rudders conjointly by placing each foot so it rests half on a pedal 36 and half on a pedal 38.

It is to be noted that the control cables 27, 32 and 33, leading to the water rudders, pass, from the fuselage to the pontoons through the struts 7,thereby protecting the cables and reducing the air resistance of the plane, 7

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