Apparatus for shortening the strut of a pivotally retractable aircraft landing gear during gear retraction

In a retractable aircraft landing gear assembly, including a landing gear supporting structure;

• an elongate shock strut that is pivotally mounted to said supporting structure for pivotal movement between a generally downwardly extending position and an out-of-the-way retracted position, said strut including telescopically reciprocatively coacting cylinder and piston members;
• torque linkage means interconnecting said cylinder and piston members and having first and second angular configurations corresponding to telescopically extended and compressed conditions of said strut, respectively;
• collar means coaxially mounted on one of said members intermediate the ends of said strut for rotation about a longitudinal centerline of said strut;
• a foldable, sectional brace means having opposed ends, separately, pivotally connected to said collar means and to said supporting structure, respectively, and having a straightened, strut bracing configuration when said strut is in said downwardly extending position and having a folded, non-bracing configuration when said strut has been moved to its retracted position, the pivotal connection of the end of said brace means to said supporting structure being disposed out of the plane of rotation that is defined by said strut when it is pivotally moved between said downwardly extending and retracted positions so that said brace means effects rotation of said collar means in reaction to said pivotal movement of said strut, wherein the improvement comprises:
• reactive linkage means connected between said collar means and said torque linkage means and being responsive to rotation of said collar means effected by said brace means when said strut is pivotally moved from said downwardly extending position toward said retracted position for displacing said torque linkage means from said first angular configuration toward said second configuration, whereby said piston and cylinder members are inwardly telescoped to shorten said strut during its retraction.

A retractable aircraft landing gear assembly for use with an airplane comprising:

• a strut having a longitudinal dimension and having first and second telescopically engaged members, said first member being mounted to a strut support on said aircraft for swinging movement between a generally downwardly extending position and a retracted position;
• rotatable means mounted on said first member for rotation about an axis extending longitudinally of said strut, said rotatable means being rotatable between a first position and a second position;
• linkage means coupling said second member to said rotatable means for inwardly telescoping said second member into said first member in reaction to rotation of said rotatable means from said first position to said second position;
• and
• rotation effecting means cooperating with said rotatable means for rotating said rotatable means between said first and second positions in response to movement of said strut between said downwardly extending and retracted positions, said rotation effecting means positioning said rotatable means in said second position when said strut is in said retracted position.