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Automatically actuated cargo and personnel snatching apparatus with distance sensos, magnets and pivot pins for assistance

  • US 5,826,825 A
  • Filed: 09/13/1996
  • Issued: 10/27/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/12/1994
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A lightweight load-lifting apparatus for suspension from a helicopter, in the hover mode, for accommodating a load, such as a person, an inanimate cargo having a surface, and the like, consisting of two elongated halves each with an unbendable knee, each elongated half being held together by a main pivot pin, each elongated half including an upper portion and a lower portion, said knee existing in said lower portion, each upper portion being configured for use with at least one hoist cable;

  • the lower portion of each elongated half having an inwardly projecting extension at its bottom, each inwardly projecting extension having an end, and each elongated half having an inside wall surface;

    at least one cushion being attached along each of said inside wall surface;

    each said upper portion having a bar inwardly extending from an inside surface, each bar having a hammerhead, with a face, extending toward the other, the hammerheads when abutting, receiving the major structural compressive stresses imposed by the horizontal components of said hoist cables, when supporting said cargo;

    a remotely-controlled means for selectively controlling the lower portions of said halves between a closed position and a fully spread apart position;

    securing means for helping to keep said load in place on each of said extension, thus helping to provide positive secure retention, for the load being either retrieved or rescued;

    each said upper portion having a weight on top, and each said upper portion having considerably less width than said lower portion, each said weight assisting in said lower portion'"'"'s separation at said apparatus'"'"' touchdown;

    the improvement being that each hammerhead includes a face which swivels about a pivot pin automatically by the force of gravity, such that no matter what the separation between the upper portions, the hammerhead face is always perpendicular to the horizontal, in order that the two faces of the hammerheads have a maximum attraction or repulsion to each other, said repulsion needed to separate the lower portions as much as possible when about to scoop up a load.

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