US1084068A - Lifting-surface for flying-machines. - Google Patents

Description

G. H. BURLEIGH.

LIFTING SURFACE FOR FLYING MACHINES.

APPLIGATION FILED APR. 27, 1911.

Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

, Ema/17%? MAW wild Cab/w W y h I 47 xiFfi i/ izjr till CHARLES H. BURLEIGH, OF SOUTH BERWICK, MAINE.

LIFTING-SURFAGE FOR FLYING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

llateni ed Jan. l3, NW4.

Application filed April 27, 1911. Serial No. 623,557.

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. Bun- LEIGH, a citizen of the United States. residing at South Berwick, county of York, State of Maine, have invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in Lifting-Surfaces for Flying-Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

.My invention has for its object a lifting surface for flying machines, especially of the heavier than air type, but which shall be applicable to any form of flying machine which is supported in whole or in part as aresult of movement through the air.

The invention is a very broad one, and may be embodied in a great variety of forms. I have therefore shown only my preferred form, but I do not limit myself to the particular form shown.

As is well known, when a solid object moves rapidly through the air there is produced at the rear of the object a rarefaction of the air which is dependent in intensity on the rapidity of movement of the object and the shape of the rear end. in the case of a jacketed bullet, a substantial yacuum is formed directly behind the bullet. if the steel jacket of the bullet be cut away on one side, and if the bullet be shot through the air without being caused to revolve about its longitudinal axis, it will be found that the bullet will follow a curved path through the air by reason of the fact that there is an uncompensated pressure on the outside of the steel jacket resulting from the partial vacuum formed behind the end of the bullet. My present invention utilizes this principle for the purpose of supporting the lifting surface of an aeroplane in the air.

ll accomplish my object by providing a surface of the. flying machine with 'a series of vacuum-forming depressions, each of which hasa substantially vertical or sloping front wall and a gently sloping rear wall. The movement of the lifting surface through theair causes a rarefaction of the air in the pocket or hollow. back of the substantial vertical rear wall so that there is an unbalanced force operating upon the under side of the plane and tending to lift it.

The plane embodying my invention and having the vacuum depressions therein may be made in a variety of ways, a convenient method being to form a light frame of paral lel bars properly stayed, and passing suitable fabric over the parallel rods in the manner shown in the drawings, thus making a light and eflicie it lifting surface.

The invention will be fully understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the novel features thereof are pointed out and clearly defined in the claim at the close of the specification.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of the plane embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section thereof.

The lifting surface in the form shown in the drawings consists of a'frame made up of a series of parallel rods A, A, which may be secured together and braced as desired. its the method of securing the parts of the frame together, and properly bracing the same forms no part of my invention it is not shown in the drawings and l will not describe it here. The under side of the plane is covered with a piece of properly stretched smooth fabric of some suitable kind, which is flat or substantially flat. In the upper surface there are formed a series of transverse grooves or depressions 03 by passing asuitable web of cloth over and under the transverse rods it A of the frame.

it will be seen that when the lifting plane progresses through the air in the direction of the large arrows in Figs. land 2 a partial vacuum or rarefaction of the air is formed in each of the depressions (i, lhe air on the upper surface of the plane may be considered as traveling in the direction of the small arrows a and the particles of air in the depressions (Z tend to be left behind by the movement of the surface through the air and are carried away by the rush of air thus forming a rarefaction of the air in the depressions 05,. a3. After the vacuum or rare faction has been formed in the depressions cl, at there is an uncompensated upward pressure on the under surface of the plane,

as indicated by the small arrows 5, b. This uncompensated pressure on-the under surface of the plane tends to lift the aeroplane. It will be seen that with a large surface a very slight rarefaction in the depressions will give the plane a large lifting power.

The grooves or "depressions may probably be made with the frontv wall of the depression at a considerable angle from the vertical and sloping in either direction, and this angle may be varied according to the speed at which the lifting surface moves through 5 the air, but this is a matter of design as my invention covers any vacuum forming depression located in any portion of any part of a flying machine. While I have shown the vacuum forming depressions as applied to the upper surface of a plane for a flying machine I conceive it possible to use vacuum forming depressions in other parts of a flying machine as for instance the floor.

What I claim is? The surface for flying machines having a fiat undersurface and Vacuum forming depressions in the upper surface, said vacuum forming depression being formed by stretching cloth over parallel bars.

In testimony whereof I afiix' my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

CHARLES BURLEIGH.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM F. HoncDoN, JOHN M. BURLEIGH.

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