Month in the Patent Office

Abstract

A device for steering an aircraft having a jet propulsion nozzle is characterized by a tubular member 4 having a longitudinal slot 2, mounted at the nozzle outlet and rotable relatively thereto about its axis, the latter being perpendicular to the nozzle axis, the slot opening into the jet at an angle depending on the position of member 4, the latter being connected to a source of gas under pressure. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, a rectangular section nozzle 1 is provided with a curved smooth extension 3 along one of its longer sides, and has on its opposite side a cylinder 4, provided with a slot 2, rotatable in a part cylindrical housing 5 secured to the nozzle. A servo‐operated toothed rack may rotate a pinion fast to the cylinder. The interior of the cylinder is connected through a valve to a source of pressure, e.g. the compressor or combustion chambers of a turbo‐jet unit, so that a transverse jet of variable direction issues from slot 2. Variation of the direction of the transverse jet varies the direction of the main jet to control the aircraft, In a modification, the housing 5 comprises a wide slot, and a wide slot is provided in the cylinder 2, so that rotation thereof causes the slots more or less to overlap, controlling the quantity of flow in the directing jet. In this case the valve in the pressure supply line, which may be of the simple full on or full off type, may be omitted.

Citation

(1958), "Month in the Patent Office", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 29-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb032922