Load suspension equalizing thimble
AssigneeRaven Industries, Inc.
InventorRoger D. Wood
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hot air airship including an elongate aerodynamic shaped gas envelope carrying a hot air pressure generating device to pressurize the envelope with heated air, tail members at the aft end and a gondola below the envelope and including a load equalizing suspension system for the gondola with a plurality of suspension cables secured within the gas envelope at distributed fore and aft points at each side thereof and decreasing to a fewer number of cables with each cable finally looped beneath the envelope and having a thimble slidable thereon to equally distribute the load to each side of the envelope and the thimble having a securing portion for attaching it to the gondola with a propeller mounted on the gondola.
Claims9
A thermal hot air airship comprising in combination:
- an elongate aerodynamic shaped hot air retaining envelope of a flexible material;
- hot air pressure generating means carried on the envelope for pressurizing the envelope with heated air for supplying substantially the entire lift force during flight;
- tail members at the aft end of the envelope;
- a gondola carried beneath the envelope;
- a power operated propeller means on the gondola for driving the airship in horizontal flight;
- a plurality of suspension cables each cable having ends secured to the gas envelope on each side adjacent the top of the envelope, the suspension cables being spaced from each other from the fore to the aft end of the airship and each cable being looped laterally in free hanging fashion downwardly beneath the envelope;
- a thimble means on each of the cables beneath the envelope for sliding on each cable at the bottom thereof for equally distributing the vertical load through the suspension cables to each side of the envelope;
- and means securing the gondola to the thimble means to be suspended therebeneath.
A thermal airship comprising in combination:
- an elongate aerodynamic shaped gas envelope of a flexible material;
- hot air pressure generating means carried on the envelope for pressurizing the envelope with heated air during flight;
- tail members at the aft end of the envelope;
- a gondola carried beneath the envelope;
- a power operated propeller means on the gondola for driving the airship in horizontal flight;
- a plurality of suspension cables, each cable having ends secured to the gas envelope on each side, the suspension cables being spaced from each other from the fore to the aft end of the airship and each cable being looped laterally downwardly beneath the envelope;
- a thimble means on each of the cables beneath the envelope slidable thereon for equally distributing the vertical load through the suspension cables to each side of the envelope;
- means securing the gondola to the thimble means to be suspended therebeneath;
- and
- each of the thimble means being a hollow curved tube with an interconnecting plate means extending across the ends of the tube reinforcing the curvature thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.