Aircraft folding airfoil system
First Claim
1. A foldable airfoil comprisinga plurality of elongated channels each having one end forming a portion of the root area of the airfoil and an outer end opposite said root end,means for pivotally mounting said root end of each of said plurality of channels on a support base at spaced intervals along the root dimension of said airfoil for pivotal motion of each channel in the plane of the airfoil,each said channel having a cross sectional shape nestably containable within the cross sectional envelope of the next adjacent of the pivotally mounted channels, andmeans interconnecting the outer ends of each of said plurality of channels for rotational movement of said plurality of channels about their respective root end pivots between (1) an extended position in which the lengthwise dimension of each said channel extends spanwise of the airfoil with portions of adjacent channels overlying and (2) a retracted position in which said plurality of channels are colinear in alignment with the channel root end pivots and the cross sectional area of each of said channels is nestably contained within the envelope of the cross section of an adjaent channel, said interconnecting means including means nestingly containing said outer end of each of said plurality of channels within the envelope of the next adjacent channel in said extended position and during movement between said extended and retracted positions.
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Abstract
A folding airfoil for an aircraft in which the wing or stabilizer airfoil n be folded and contained entirely within the fuselage of the aircraft. The airfoil comprises a series of elongated sheet metal channel sections of generally C-shaped cross section with the cross sectional dimension of successive channels decreasing so that each can nest entirely within an adjacent channel. The channels are each pivotally connected at the root end to the aircraft fuselage structure at spaced intervals along the chord line of the extended airfoil and the end sections of the channels are pivotally connected to each other such that the channels are pivotable between (1) an extended position extending spanwise of the extended airfoil to lie in tandem one behind the other, with adjacent channels partially overlapping and (2) a retracted or folded position in which the channels are nested within the leading edge channel section and lie along the chord line of the extended airfoil along the line of channel root end pivotal connections.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A foldable airfoil comprising
a plurality of elongated channels each having one end forming a portion of the root area of the airfoil and an outer end opposite said root end, means for pivotally mounting said root end of each of said plurality of channels on a support base at spaced intervals along the root dimension of said airfoil for pivotal motion of each channel in the plane of the airfoil, each said channel having a cross sectional shape nestably containable within the cross sectional envelope of the next adjacent of the pivotally mounted channels, and means interconnecting the outer ends of each of said plurality of channels for rotational movement of said plurality of channels about their respective root end pivots between (1) an extended position in which the lengthwise dimension of each said channel extends spanwise of the airfoil with portions of adjacent channels overlying and (2) a retracted position in which said plurality of channels are colinear in alignment with the channel root end pivots and the cross sectional area of each of said channels is nestably contained within the envelope of the cross section of an adjaent channel, said interconnecting means including means nestingly containing said outer end of each of said plurality of channels within the envelope of the next adjacent channel in said extended position and during movement between said extended and retracted positions.
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10. An aircraft with foldable airfoil surfaces comprising
a fuselage having airfoil support beams extending chordwise of the respective airfoils and contained within the fuselage, said airfoil surfaces each comprising a set of plurality of elongated channels each having one end forming a portion of the root area of the airfoil surface and an outer end opposite said root end, means for pivotally mounting said root end of each of said plurality of channels to an airfoil support beam at spaced intervals along the root dimension of said airfoil surface for pivotal motion of each channel in the plane of the airfoil surface, each said channel having a cross sectional shape nestably containable within the cross sectional envelope of the next adjacent of the pivotally mounted channels, means interconnecting the outer ends of each of said plurality of channels for rotational movement of said plurality of channels about their respective root end pivots between (1) an extended position in which the lengthwise dimension of each said channel extends spanwise of the airfoil surface with portions of adjacent channels overlying and (2) a retracted position in which said plurality of channels are colinear in alignment with the channel root pivots within the envelope of said fuselage and the cross sectional area of each of said channels is nestably contained within the envelope of the cross section of an adjacent channel, said interconnecting means including means nestingly containing said outer end of each of said plurality of channels within the envelope of the next adjacent channel in said extended position and during movement between said extended and retracted positions, the skin of each of said channel sets in its retracted position and through which said set of channels extends in the extended position, means locking each said channel sets in a retracted position, and means unlocking each said channel sets for movement of said channels of each set to the extended position and locking them therein.
Specification