Helicopter
OwnerReggald Emory Isleyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A helicopter has a power unit supported on an arch support member above an airframe. The power unit may be moved forward and rearward by a trim actuator to trim the helicopter and tilted about pitch and roll axes by control actuators for directional control. The control actuators may form a parallelogram linkage with the arms of the arch support member. Each control actuator may comprise a hydraulic cylinder having two cavities and a pair of pistons which further divide each cavity into a pair of volumes. The arch support member and landing gear assemblies may connect to transversely extending struts. The landing gear assemblies may be designed to progressively deform in case of a high impact landing.
Claims29
A helicopter comprising:
- a power unit comprising at least one rotor and an engine coupled to drive the rotor;
- an airframe suspended from the power unit, the airframe pivotally coupled to the power unit for pivoting about pitch and roll axes relative to the power unit;
- and,
- a plurality of control actuators coupled between the airframe and the power unit, the control actuators adjustable to set pitch and roll angles of the airframe relative to the power unit;
- wherein the plurality of control actuators comprises left and right control actuators positioned symmetrically on either side of the roll axis at locations spaced rearwardly from a location at which the pitch and roll axes intersect.
A helicopter comprising:
- a power unit comprising at least one rotor and an engine coupled to drive the rotor;
- an airframe suspended from the power unit, the airframe pivotally coupled to the power unit for pivoting about pitch and roll axes relative to the power unit;
- and,
- a plurality of control actuators coupled between the airframe and the power unit, the control actuators adjustable to set pitch and roll angles of the airframe relative to the power unit;
- wherein the airframe is coupled to the power unit by a support member, the airframe is pivotally mounted to the support member for rotation about a trim axis parallel to the pitch axis, and the helicopter comprises a trim actuator connected between the airframe and the support member, the trim actuator operable to move the power unit forward and rearward relative to the airframe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.