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US 4,066,890 AGranted
Rotor tip light control
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
InventorsCharles W. Hamilton, Alfred Kleider
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A control circuit for controlling the intensity of a plurality of lights nted at the ends of the rotor blades of a helicopter. The control circuit is completely self-contained and is powered by a wind-driven generator mounted to the blades. Commands to alter the intensity of the lights or to switch the lights on or off are transmitted by a pulsed light beam mounted on the helicopter tail boom.
Claims8
In combination with a helicopter having a shaft and a plurality of rotor blades fastened at one end to said shaft;
- A rotor tip light mounted to the other end of at least one of said rotor blades;
- means mounted to said one rotor blade for supplying electrical current to said rotor tip light;
- means mounted to said rotor blade for controlling said current to said rotor tip light in a plurality of selective discrete incremental levels to change the intensity of said light;
- and
- means mounted on the main body of said helicopter and synchronized with the rotation of said rotor blades for transmitting coded optical signals to said controlling means to instruct the same to selectively apply said incremental levels of current to said rotor tip light.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.