Large clearance fairlead grommet
AssigneeMcDonnell Douglas Corporation
InventorJames W. Downing
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A one piece fairlead grommet for protecting an aircraft control cable where penetrating a bulkhead or cable support panel. The fairlead grommet has a generally cylindrical body with frustro conically shaped flanges and a through-slot, generally, longitudinally oriented. The slot forms an angle with a radius line drawn from the center of the grommet bore to permit the slot surfaces to be readily offset and the grommet collapsed around the control cable for installation with the control cable in place. The slot is further biased on a diagonal with respect to the horizontal axis of the grommet bore to ensure a wearing surface in contact with the cable at the slot.
Claims9
A fairlead grommet for an aircraft control cable comprising:
- a generally cylindrical body with frustro conically shaped flanges disposed longitudinally at the distal ends of said cylindrical body, oriented with the smaller diameter at the distal end and said cylindrical body having a longitudinal through-bore, centrally disposed with respect to the cylindrical body;
- a through-slot generally longitudinally formed through said cylindrical body and extending the length thereof between said distal ends from the outer diameter of said flanges into communication with said bore, said through-slot, when viewed in a plane perpendicular to the horizontal axis of said bore, forms an angle with a radius line drawn from the center of said through-bore and said slot is further oriented to form an angle with the horizontal axis of said through-bore when viewed in a plane parallel to the horizontal axis of said bore;
- and
- said grommet being made from a comparatively stiff, shape retaining material, with sufficient spring and a low coefficient of friction in sliding against itself to permit said cylindrical body to spiral with the application of axial pressure on the frusto-conical surface of said flanges of said grommet and springs back to said cylindrical shape when the pressure is released.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.