Fire protection system for airplanes
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsPaul R. Shine, Dana L. Young
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for protecting the strut and wing structure of an airplane from high temperatures proximate the exhaust nozzle end of a jet engine employs a set of outer spring metal fingers attached to the exhaust nozzle outer sleeve and which bear against the strut structure, and a second set of inner spring metal fingers, interleaved with the first, which close off interfinger slots in the first or outer set whereby to maintain firewall integrity. Hot gases are thereby prevented from passing forwardly into the strut structure and wing area so as to protect the same in the event of an engine fire.
Claims15
A system for protecting the strut means and wing structure of an airplane from high temperature gases present proximate the exhaust nozzle means of a jet engine attached to said wing structure by said strut means, said system comprising:
- a lateral array of metal fingers disposed between said strut means and nozzle means for closing off the flow of hot gases therebetween, said metal fingers being attached to one of said means while being spring biased toward the other of said means,
- said array of metal fingers comprising a first set of spaced fingers for making contact with the said other of said means, wherein ones of said first set of spaced fingers are doubly curved to provide an outer radius for smoothly contacting the said other of said means, and
- a second set of fingers dimensioned and positioned to overlay the spaces between said first set of fingers.
A system for protecting the strut and wing structure of an airplane from high temperature gases proximate the exhaust nozzle end of a jet engine attached below said wing by said strut structure, said strut structure including a lower member, said system comprising:
- a plurality of metal fingers extending from the outer sleeve of said exhaust nozzle and biased toward said lower member,
- said plurality of metal fingers comprising a set of outer fingers in close spaced relation to one another for making contact with said lower member across at least a partial circumferential portion of said engine adjacent said strut structure, said outer fingers defining slots therebetween to provide independent finger flexing, wherein ones of said outer fingers comprise a doubly curved portion to provide an outer radius for smoothly contacting said lower member, and
- a set of inner fingers in close spaced relation to one another and in nested relation with said outer fingers, said inner fingers also defining slots therebetween to provide independent finger flexing,
- wherein said inner fingers are laterally offset with respect to said outer fingers for covering the slots between said outer fingers and closing off the region of said exhaust nozzle from the region of said strut structure longitudinally forward thereof on said airplane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.