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US 4,838,503 AGranted
Mechanism for supporting and extending a high lift device for aircraft wings
AssigneeBritish Aerospace PLC
InventorGeorge H. Williams
Life of this patent
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AssigneeBritish Aerospace PLC
InventorGeorge H. Williams
Estimating the term…
A mechanism for supporting and extending a high lift device relative to an aerofoil, comprises one or more support beams (10) connected to the aerofoil, a pair of spaced apart chordwise extending wing ribs (20) bounding the support beam, a set of cylindrical rollers (23) mounted between the wing ribs for supporting the support beam (10) with their rotational axes aligned transversely with respect to the support beam (10), the support beam (10) including a gear rack (12) with gear teeth facing downwardly and a pinion gear (13) lying in meshing engagement with the gear rack (12), and an actuator (14) in driving engagement with the pinion gear (13) to extend and retract the high lift device (2-6) relative to the aerofoil (1). Bearings (45, 47) are provided for rotatably supporting the pinion gear (13) between the wing ribs (20) about a generally transverse axis of rotation, and there are splined engaging means (42, 43) between the actuator (14) and the pinion gear (13).
A mechanism for supporting and extending a high lift device relative to an aerofoil, comprising one or more carrier beams adapted to be connected to said aerofoil, a pair of spaced apart chordwise extending wing ribs bounding said carrier beam(s), supporting means mounted between said wing ribs for supporting said carrier beam(s), said carrier beam(s) carrying a gear rack with gear teeth facing downwardly and a pinion gear in meshing engagement with said gear rack, and an actuator in driving engagement with said pinion gear to extend and retract the high lift device relative to said aerofoil, the improvement comprising means for rotatably supporting said pinion gear between said wing ribs about a generally transverse axis of rotation independently of said actuator, and said means for rotatably supporting said pinion gear includes self-aligning bearings with inner bearing sleeves mounted fast in rotation with the pinion gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.