Aircraft landing gear with pivoting drive transmission

An aircraft landing gear, comprising:

• an axle carrying at least one wheel having a wheel hub;
• a drive transmission having at least one motor and a drive pinion for operably directly engaging with the wheel hub;
• an actuator for lifting the drive transmission into and out of driving engagement with the wheel hub;
• wherein the actuator is arranged to maintain the driving engagement between the pinion and the wheel hub as the landing gear deflects during a ground taxiing operation;
• an articulating mechanism pivotally mounted on a main leg, wherein the articulating mechanism is connected to the actuator at a first point and supports the drive transmission at a second opposing point;
• and,
• wherein the actuator is pivotally received in a first bracket mounted on the main leg above a pivotal mounting point between the first and second points of the articulating mechanism on the main leg.

An aircraft landing gear, comprising:

• an axle carrying at least one wheel having a wheel hub;
• a drive transmission having at least one motor and a drive pinion for operably directly engaging with the wheel hub;
• an actuator for lifting the drive transmission into and out of driving engagement with the wheel hub;
• wherein the actuator is arranged to maintain the driving engagement between the pinion and the wheel hub as the landing gear deflects during a ground taxiing operation;
• an articulating mechanism pivotally mounted on a main leg, wherein the articulating mechanism is connected to the actuator and supports the drive transmission;
• wherein the actuator is pivotally received in a first bracket mounted on the main leg above a pivotal mounting point of the articulating mechanism on the main leg;
• and,
• wherein the articulating mechanism includes an elbow crank, the pivotal mounting point being pivotally received in a second bracket mounted on a sprung part of the main leg and wherein the actuator is pivotally received in the first bracket mounted on the sprung part of the main leg above the pivotal mounting point of the elbow crank.

An aircraft landing gear comprising:

• a shock-absorbing main leg having a sprung part for attachment to an aircraft and an unsprung part including an axle carrying at least one wheel having a tire mounted to a wheel hub;
• a drive transmission mounted externally on the sprung part, or on the un-sprung part, of the main leg, the drive transmission having at least one motor and a drive pinion for operably engaging with the wheel hub away from the tire along the axle;
• and
• an actuator for lifting the drive transmission into and out of driving engagement with the wheel hub and for maintaining the driving engagement as the landing gear deflects during a ground taxiing operation.

An aircraft landing gear comprising:

• a shock-absorbing main leg having a sprung part for attachment to an aircraft and an unsprung part including an axle carrying at least one wheel having a wheel axis of rotation and a tire mounted to a wheel hub;
• a drive transmission mounted externally on the sprung part, or on the un-sprung part, of the main leg, the drive transmission having at least one motor and a drive pinion for operably engaging with the wheel hub to rotate the tire without the drive pinion contacting the tire;
• and
• an actuator for lifting the drive transmission into and out of driving engagement with the wheel hub and for maintaining the driving engagement as the landing gear deflects during a ground taxiing operation.