GB1277042A - Improvements in and relating to aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

1277042 Aircraft A KLING 12 Aug 1969 [25 Feb 1969 28 July 1969] Headings B7G and B7W An aircraft comprises a stable cabin 8 carried within a rotating and inclinable outer shell 1 by means of gimbal rings 4, 6 and mutually perpendicular pivots 3, 5, 7, lift being provided by aerofoils 2 mounted on shell 1 and connected at their tips by a ring 2<SP>1</SP>. The shell 1, aerofoils 2 and ring 2<SP>1</SP> are rotated by jet propulsion units 9 mounted on the aerofoils, though in an alternative embodiment (Fig. 8, not shown) a gas generator is mounted on top of shell 1 which is formed on its upper hemisphere with a spaced outer shell to form a duct for transmission of gas from the generator through the interiors of the aerofoils to trailing edge propulsion nozzles. Some or all of aerofoils 2 may hang downwardly (Fig. 2), ring 2<SP>1</SP> being flexible for this purpose, and be brought into an operative position by centrifugal force. The craft is supported on the ground by an inverted-cup undercarriage unit 30 provided with shock absorbing mechanism, and after vertical take off the shell 1 and aerofoils 2 are inclined to provide a translational thrust for the craft by means of a hollow circular tube attached to ring 4 and containing a pair of equal weights movable under the influence of a solenoid (Fig. 9, not shown) to exert a force on the system which acts as a gyroscope; the shell is thus caused to precess, so that its rotational axis becomes inclined at an angle to the vertical, whereupon the craft will fly in the direction indicated in Fig. 1 (not shown). A motor generator means 19 (and Fig. 5, not shown), coaxially mounted with the craft's rotational axis, is employed to turn the otherwise stationary cabin 8 to face the direction of flight. To prevent the cabin 8 rotating with shell 1, the undercarriage 30, which is rotatably mounted in shell 1 by bearings (Fig. 6,notshown) and attached to ring 4, carries vanes 31 acted upon by the slipstream from aerofoils 2. In an alternative arrangement, Fig. 3, the shell is formed in its upper part with air inlet holes 32 and at its lower part with air outlet holes 32 on a larger pitch circle than the upper holes, so that air is drawn through the shell over vanes 33 mounted on the ring 4.