US2237693A - Toy airplane and method of making the same - Google Patents

Description

April 8, 1941. T. D. WILDON TOY AIRPLANE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Aug. 15, 1939 Patented Apr. 8, 1941 TOY AIRPLANE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Thomas D. Wilden, Reading, Mass., assigncr to Paul K. Guillow,

Wakefield, Mass.

Application August 15, 1939, Serial No. 290,227

(Cl. iii-78) 15 Claims.

The present invention is concerned with toy airplanes and its object is to produce such a toy simulating airplanes of the enclosed body type. A further object is to make such toy airplanes with adequate strength and rigidity out of a minimum number of parts and with efficiency and economy of manufacture.

The invention comprises both a method or procedure in the fabricationof toy airplanes and novel features of construction and combination of parts of such an airplane.

In the drawing illustrating the invention- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form or embodiment thereof;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a out of which the bodies of the toy airplanes are made, illustrating one step of the procedure of making them;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the members of the toy airplane step of producing their lateral contours Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the power plant of one embodiment of the invention, including also the expander by which the molded formation of the body is achieved;

Fig. 5 is a perspective View containing the invention and illustrating the step of expanding it to molded form;

Fig. 6 is a cross section taken on line 6-4: of Fi 5 and shown on a larger scale;

Fig. 7 is a horizontal longitudinal section through the body of a toy airplane containing theinvention and showing a form of power plant alternative to that shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a cross section taken on line 3-8 of Fig. '7 on a scale similar to that of Fig. 6.

The body a of the airplane is constructed of two sheets of material having suitable stiffness and elasticity, which is also capable of being treated so as to become pliable and of setting into the form imparted to it while in the pliable state. Balsa wood veneer has these properties, becoming very pliable when heated and wetted by steam and returning to its normal state of stifiness and elasticity after cooling and drying. Hence I prefer to use sheets of balsa wood veneer of a thickness proportional to the other dimensions of the body. For toys in which the body length is in the order of from 9" to 1, a thickness of veneer approximating .045" to .050" is suitable; and other thicknesses in proportion are usable for planes of other dimensions. However, I wish it to be understood that this statement is not a limitation of the invention either as to the material or as to its relative thickness, and

stack of pieces body connected together prior to the :2:

that I may use other known materials having like properties which are capable of being formed in the manner described, and are sufiiciently light in weight when formed in sheets thick enough to have requisite strength.

In carrying out the method of molding the body, a pair of duplicate parts, each constituting one side of the body, are provided and are laid against one another with their edges coinciding. But preferably, in quantity production, a number of such pairs, identical in dimensions and outline, are laid together in a stack as represented in Fig. 2. The edges of the pieces so laid together in pairs, or stacked, are then united by a strongly adhesive and cohesive flexible connecting agent. Preferably a fluid cement capable'oi drying or setting into solid and water-insoluble condition is used. Cellulose acetate dissolved in a volatile solvent, and other cellulose compounds in their known solvents, (together with a known emollient, such as castor oil, if necessary to prevent them from becoming brittle when dry) are suitable for this purpose. Such I compositions, after drying, are exceedingly tough and are at 1.". the same time sufficiently flexible for my purposes of an airplane body when spread in films having the thickness of a single coating, such as are used here.

After drying of the cement, and after separation of the pairs of body sides from one another, when a number of pairs have been cemented in a stack, the members of each pair, as represented at b and c in Fig. 3, are connected by films d and e of cement adhering to their edges and crossing the cleavage plane between them. These connected parts are then steamed until thoroughly heated and moistened. This treatment makes them pliable and capable of being widely bent either with the grain or across the grain without breaking or splitting.

While in the pliable state'the connected side sheets b and c are spread apart by a wedge piece f (Fig. 55) inserted between them at the forward end of the body and pushed toward the rear or tail end. The wedge piece or spreader may have a straight continuous taper as shown in the drawing, or a convex or concave taper. Its entering end is reduced nearly or quite to a line edge and its butt end is given they width prescribed for the forward end of the body, which may approximate the height of the body at that end.

Insertion of the Wedge or spreader bulges out the sides of the body in approximately their mid height, giving the body a molded shape with convex external contours. It is allowed to remain in the body while the saturated woodis dried.

When the body dries, it becomes set in its molded form which is preserved by the stiffness of the material even though the spreader be removed.

Wings g, h of monoplane type are assembled with the body by being passed through slots i in the side pieces, and a horizontal stabilizer vane k is set into a slot Z opening from the tail end of the body. These slots are preferably cut simultaneously in a stack of blanks which have been assembled as above described; although they may be made at any stage of the procedure. A vertical guide vane or rudder m is made fast to the upper side of the body at the tail end. It may be thus united by cement applied to its lower edge, which is applied to the joined edges of the body members.

Wings and guide vanes may likewise be made of balsa wood veneer, as is common in this art, but they may likewise be made of other suitable material and structure. When made of wood, the two wings may be cut from a single sheet and bent in the middle to form a dihedral angle. The slot i is suitably located and made long enough to permit adjustment of the wings forward and aft as may be necessary to give flying stability to the plane.

The spreader I may be retained as a permanent brace for the molded body and also as a bed plate for the power plant and holder for the ground carriage struts, and in such cases, the slots i and l are located so that the wings and stabilizer will not interfere with the spreader. Figs. 1 and 4 show a form of spreader adapted for that purpose. This is a slender wedge of balsa wood, substantially thicker and stiffer than the other parts described. At the forward end there is secured to it a lug 11 having a bearing aperture through which the propeller shaft 0 passes. A hook p mounted on the spreader near its rear end serves as an anchorage for the motor spring, preferably constituted by one or more rubber bands q, which is also engaged with a hook on the inner end of the propeller shaft. The propeller r is secured to the outer end of the shaft.

In an alternative construction, shown in Fig. '7, the spreader is dispensed with after it has served its purpose in molding the body. A head block 12 is secured over the forward end of the body across the opening between the spread apart side pieces.

A thimble to which forms a bearing for the propeller shaft is removably set into a central hole in the head block, and the motor band is led throughout the whole length of the body and passed over the stabilizer vane it. Both the stabilizer vane and the thimbl-e w, with the propeller shaft, may be withdrawn outwardly when necessary to substitute a new band for a broken one. In the case where the spreader supports the power plant, it can be removed when renewal of power bands is needed.

These planes are provided with a landing gear, two forms of which are here shown. That of Figs. 1 and 4 consists of wire struts s of which the inner end is bent sharply at right angles and clamped between the end of the spreader and a block u, which is secured to the under side of the spreader. Their outer ends are bent outward to form bearings for the wheels .1: and sharply upward outside of the wheels at u to retain the latter on such bearings. shown in Figs. 5 and 8, landing gear struts s of thin strips of balsa wood are passed through forward extensions of the wing slots 1' and cemented to the inner wall of the body above such slots. They reinforce those portions of the body to In the alternative form which they are thus secured; and their attachment to the body holds them at the proper forward inclination and outward flare. A wheel axle is passed through their outer ends, on which Wheels are mounted in a known manner.

The alternative constructions above described are not mutually exclusive of one another in all particulars, but some of the features of each may be used conjointly with features of the other. Thus it is not essential that the spreader be removed from the construction shown in Fig. 7. It may be retained permanently as in the case first described provided only that the wings and rear stabilizing vane k are located over or under it, or it is short enough to extend back only to the forward end of the stabilizing vane. Also the rear anchorage of the motor band q shown in Fig. '7 may be used as well if the spreader is retained permanently as if it is removed. So also the landing gear struts of the type which extend through the wing slots may be used with or without a permanently retained spreader, and in substitution for the wire struts shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

If desired, the various members of the plane may be reinforced by sheets of thin tough paper, etc. cemented on one surface, or by stays or gussets applied to either the inner or the outer surface, at the ends of the slots or elsewhere that reinforcement may be desirable, these, however, being optional features previously known and not a part of the present invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of making a toy airplane body which consists in providing two body blanks or side pieces, securing said side pieces together side by side at their edges, treating them to make them pliable, spreading them apart longitudinally between their connected edges to give the body a convex hollow molded formation, and causing the body to become set in such formation.

2. The method of making a toy airplane body which consists in providing two body blanks or side pieces, securing said side pieces together side by side at their edges, treating them to make them pliable, inserting a tapered spreader between the connected pieces at one end and passing the same lengthwise between them, thereby expanding the body into molded formation, and causing the material of the body members to become firm and nonpliable while the spreader remains in place between them.

3. The method of making a toy airplane body of the enclosed body type which comprises providing two like side pieces of wood veneer, placing said pieces side by side with their edges flush with one another, applying a cement solution to the adjacent longitudinal edges of the pieces and across their cleavage plane, steaming the united pieces after the cement has set, inserting a tapered spreader into one end of the connected pieces and passing it toward the other end, and leaving the spreader in place While the pieces dry.

4. The method of making a toy airplane body of the enclosed body type which comprises providing two like sheets of balsa wood veneer having outlines simulating the profile of an airplane body, placing said sheets side by side with their corresponding edges flush with one another, applying in fluid solution a cement which on setting is tough, flexible and water-insoluble, to the adjacent longitudinal edges of the pieces and across the cleavage plane between them, allowing the cement solution so applied to dry, steaming the connected pieces to soften them, passing a spreader between the pieces from one end toward the other end, thereby expanding the body into molded formation, and drying the body with the spreader therein.

5. The method of making a toy airplane which comprises connecting fiat body blanks together at their edges, making such connected blanks pliable, inserting a spreader between the blanks and thereby bulging the intermediate portions between their connected edges away from one another, causing the body so formed to become nonpliable, and connecting wings and guiding vanes to said body.

6. The method of making a toy airplane which comprises connecting fiat body blanks together at their edges, making such connected blanks pliable, inserting a spreader between the blanks and thereby bulging the intermediate portions d between their connected edges away from one another, causing the body so formed to become non-pliable, and passing a wing piece through the body through slots provided in the side pieces to receive it.

'7. A toy airplane comprising a body made of two side pieces of balsa wood veneer connected together in a flexibly hinged manner at their upper and lower edges and bulged apart between said edges, a wing passing through contained in slots in the side pieces thereof, and a stabilizing vane secured to the tail end of the body.

8. A toy airplane body of hollow molded formation consisting of side pieces connected together at their longitudinal edges by cement, and a spreader occupying the interior of the body in the widest portion thereof in supporting contact at its lateral edges with the inner surfaces of the body.

9. A toy airplane body consisting of two pieces of balsa wood in cemented connection with each other at their longitudinal edges and being bulged apart from one another between their edges, and

a spreader within said body extending substantially throughout the entire length thereof in the widest part in supporting contact at its lateral edges with the inner surfaces of said side pieces.

10. The combination with an airplane body as set forth in claim 9, of a propeller and propeller shaft rotatably mounted on the forward end of said spreader, and a power spring connected at one end to said propeller shaft and anchored to the spreader at its other end at a point distant from the shaft.

11. A toy airplane consisting of a body constructed of balsa wood pieces connected together at their opposite longitudinal edges in a flexibly hinged manner and bulged apart from one ansaid body and other between their edges, a wing passing through said body in slots formed in the side pieces, a stabilizing vane mounted on the tail end of the body, a propeller and propeller shaft rotatably supported at the forward end of the body, and a power spring coupled at one end to the propeller shaft and in anchored connected with the body at its opposite end distant from the propeller shaft.

12. A toy airplane consisting of a body constructed of two similar side pieces connected together at their longitudinal edges by cement, being bulged outwardly from one another between such edges, said side pieces having longitudinally extending slots, a wing passing through said slots, and landing gear struts passing through the slots and cemented to the inner surfaces of the body pieces above the slots.

13. A toy airplane body of hollow molded formation consisting of two side pieces connected together at their longitudinal edges by cement, a spreader occupying the interior of the body extending in the front to rear dimension thereof in the widest part, in supporting contact at its edgeswith the inner surface of the body, landing gear struts passing through slots in the said side pieces each cemented to the inner surface of the adjacent side member above the slots, and a wing secured to said body.

14. A toy airplane consisting of a hollow molded body having outwardly bulged sides, a spreader within said body extending substantially throughout the entire length thereof in supporting contact at its lateral edges with the inner surfaces of said bulged sides, a propeller shaft rot-atably supported on the forward end of said spreader and protruding from the forward end of the body, a propeller secured to the protruding portion of the shaft, a motor spring connected at one end to the propeller shaft and in anchored connection with the spreader at a point distant from the propeller shaft, a wing connected to the body intermediate its ends, and stabilizing members connected to the body at the rear end thereof.

15. A toy airplane consisting of a hollow body having outwardly bulged sides, wings and stabilizer vanes connected to said body, a spreader occupying the interior of the body in the widest portion thereof and in supporting contact at its lateral edges with the inner surfaces of the body, and a power plant consisting of a propeller shaft, a propeller secured to the shaft, and a motor spring all mounted on said spreader, the propeller being located outside of the forward end of the body and the spreader being removable with the power plant from the body, whereby to permit repairs of the power plant.

THOMAS D. WILDON.

Images