Landing gear shrink link mechanism

An aircraft comprising:

• a frame;
• and
• a landing gear coupled to the frame, the landing gear including
• an outer cylinder rotatably coupled to a frame of the aircraft about a trunnion axis of rotation;
• a shock strut assembly movably coupled to the outer cylinder so as to reciprocate along a longitudinal axis of the outer cylinder;
• and
• a passive shrink mechanism including
• a first shrink link member pivotally coupled to the outer cylinder,
• a second shrink link member coupling the first shrink link member to the shock strut assembly,
• a crank member pivotally coupled to the outer cylinder,
• a first connecting link coupling the crank member to a walking beam of a landing gear retract mechanism, and
• a second connecting link coupling the crank member to the first shrink link member;
• wherein the passive shrink mechanism is passively extended and shortened through actuation of the landing gear retract mechanism with deployment and retraction of the landing gear.

A method of operating a landing gear of an aircraft, the method comprising:

• rotating the landing gear about a trunnion axis of rotation, where the trunnion axis of rotation is defined by an outer cylinder of the landing gear;
• and
• moving a shock strut assembly relative to the outer cylinder with a passive shrink link mechanism, where the outer cylinder at least partially surrounds the shock strut assembly and the shrink link mechanism includes:
• a first shrink link member pivotally coupled to the outer cylinder,
• a second shrink link member coupling the first shrink link member to the shock strut assembly,
• a crank member pivotally coupled to the outer cylinder,
• a first connecting link coupling the crank member to a walking beam of a landing gear retract mechanism, and
• a second connecting link coupling the crank member to the first shrink link member;
• wherein the passive shrink mechanism is passively extended and shortened with the rotation of the landing gear about the trunnion axis of rotation.