Aeronautics and astronautics – Landing gear – Retractable
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-03
2002-02-12
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Aeronautics and astronautics
Landing gear
Retractable
C244S10000R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06345786
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to aircraft landing gear, and more particularly to such a landing gear which is particularly adapted to be used with larger aircraft and provide proper ground clearance and also clearance for inspection and maintenance of the landing gear.
b) Background Art
Airplanes commonly have retractable landing gear, where the landing gear has a stowed position within the airplane structure, and an operating position where the landing gear extends from the airplane structure so that the landing gear wheels can properly engage the ground surface. Accordingly, the fuselage of the airplane (or other body carrying the landing gear) is provided with landing gear well doors which remain closed during flight, but are opened before landing to permit the landing gear to be moved to its operating position for ground engagement upon landing of the airplane.
Proper utilization of space is, of course, very important for most all aircraft. Also, it is necessary to provide the various components of the airplane with proper access and clearance for maintenance, repair, etc. With landing gear, for example, it is desirable that when the airplane is on the ground, the landing gear doors and other components are positioned to provide proper clearance to facilitate wheel inspection and maintenance. Also there are minimum clearance requirements on both sides of the body to accommodate wheel change and supporting equipment.
A search of the patent literature has disclosed a number of devices related generally to aircraft or other transportation vehicles, showing various doors and other closure mechanisms for a variety of purposes. These are the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,378,856 (Laddon et al.) illustrates a “sliding closure for aircraft”. In
FIG. 1
, there are shown the closure doors
24
which are flexible and move in tracks from a lower position (on the left side of
FIG. 1
) to an upper position (right side of FIG.
1
). This could be used, for example, for providing a bottom opening for the discharge of bombs.
FIG. 4
shows another embodiment where this could be used as a sliding enclosure for a tail gun compartment or “any other access opening”.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,445,131 shows a door mounting system for an aircraft where the door moves a short distance laterally in the channels
13
-
16
. When the door is moved to the position in
FIG. 3
, the several rollers
26
become aligned with an upper channel
35
and the lower channel
36
and then the doors slip laterally to the position of the
FIG. 5
to its open position.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,281 (McCall et al.) discloses a door structure for a bomb bays in the military aircraft. In
FIG. 3
, there is shown a linkage by which the two bomb bay doors
7
are moved outwardly to the open position. As can be seen in
FIG. 3
, the left door
7
pivots about the location
53
, and is interconnected to the location
53
by a strut
65
. A rod
69
is actuated by the hydraulic actuator
50
to move the arm
66
downwardly to in turn cause the strut
67
to push the door
7
upwardly and outwardly, rotating about the pivot point
73
. The right door
70
is connected to an arm
55
, the lower end of which connects to the right door
7
and the upper end of which connects at
77
to an actuating linkage connected to the hydraulic actuator
50
. When the hydraulic actuator
50
is extended, this moves the upper end of the arm
55
on an arcuate path counterclockwise to open the right door
7
.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,658792 (Scott) illustrates a door which is slid from a closed position parallel to the outside contour of the body to a forward position so that it is within the body of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,670,156 (Clark et al.) shows a catapult hook mechanism and
FIG. 9
shows the door and the hinge mechanism by which the door
81
is moved. There are two L-shaped strips
86
and
87
pivotally connected at a center location, one being pivotally connected at
90
structure, and the other end at
95
to the door panel. The second member is mounted at
94
at a slot and has a pivot connection
92
.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,921,501 (Parot) relates to a system for an aircraft to release a load, such as bombs.
FIG. 5
shows a mechanism for opening the two lower doors
2
. There is provided a pair of arms which are actuated by the member
7
. Each of the doors has two rollers which fit in respective curved tracks
29
and
30
to move the doors out of their closed position, then rotate these upwardly to the position within the fuselage, such as shown in the broken lines at the left of part of FIG.
5
.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,174,712 discloses a hold door for an aircraft. This is designed so that the door can have a circular cross sectional configuration to conform to the contour of the fuselage. The door member
6
and
7
are mounted in sideways so that these can move from the closed position in a circular path upwardly along the outside of the fuselage.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,486,721 (Miczinski) shows a closure flap assembly for a lift drive mechanism in an aircraft. There are two flaps I and
6
. The forward flap is pivotally located at a forward location and is rotated about that pivot location by a link
4
which rotates counterclockwise (see
FIGS. 1-3
) to move the door from the closed position (
FIG. 1
) to the open position (FIG.
3
). The swing end of the link
4
is connected by the link
5
to a member
14
which connects to the rear flap
6
. Movement of the link
5
causes the flap
6
to move linearly in a slot
10
, and it is also connected by a link
12
to cause a rotating motion of the flap
6
so that it is located in its open position (
FIG. 3
) to extend downwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,506,223 (Flemming) discloses an airplane having a lifting drive with two flaps which are moved from a closed position (
FIG. 1
) through an intermediate position (
FIG. 2
) into an open position (FIG.
3
). The member
5
is attached pivotally to two arms
6
and
7
positioned and configured so that the flap
5
swings downwardly and rotates. The forward flap
4
is fixedly connected by the member
12
to a pivot location. The member
12
and the link
6
are interconnected by a link
13
, and are driven by a linear actuator.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,757 (Ritchie et al.) discloses a passenger door for an aircraft which is adapted for use in high altitude flights where the cabin is pressurized. To open the door, the door is moved inwardly and upwardly and travels on tracks that have a non-constant curvature and extend upwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,171 (Goodwin) shows a door for an aircraft, and more particularly for the cargo hold of the aircraft, where the door is made in two sections pivotally connected to one another. The door is hinge mounted at its upper end, and there are intermediate jacks
26
at the location of the hinge connection for the two door sections to provide limited movement of the two door sections relative to one another when the door moves to its open position.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,457,625 (Amiot) discloses a means for controlling the closing and opening of two lower doors P. The two doors are moved from the closed position (
FIG. 1
) to an intermediate position where the outer edges of the door are lifted upwardly by the arms
7
moving vertically, and then the arms
7
move circularly about center axis
11
to rotate the doors to the stowed position of
FIG. 3
within the fuselage.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,731,221 relates to an aircraft door installation for high speed aircraft, particularly the type from which bombs or other loads are dropped in flight. There are right and left door sections, with each section comprising two door panels pivotally mounted to one another at
14
. The outer door section is hinge mounted to the aircraft structure at its upper outer pivot location
13
. An arm
15
extends upwardly to a pivot location, and the lower end is pivotally mounted to the inner door. As each door section is moved outwardly and upwardly, the two panels of each section rotate toward one another and in the ful
Best Christian M.
Hughes Robert B.
Hughes Law Firm PLLC
Jordan Charles T.
The Boeing Company
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