GB993992A - Improvements in or relating to aerial target towing installations - Google Patents

Abstract

993,992. Winches. FLIGHT REFUELLING Ltd. May 5, 1964 [May 14, 1963], No. 19122/63. Heading B8B. [Also in Division B7] Winch mechanism forming an aerial target towing installation comprises a reel drivable in opposite directions for paying out and winding in a towing cable attached to a target, the towing cable being led over one or more capstans coupled to an airscrew or air turbine and to the said reel, the capstan supporting the tension load applied to the cable by the drag of the target and the reel being connected to the airscrew or air turbine and to the capstan or capstans through a variable speed drive mechanism. The apparatus shown is housed in a fairing attached to the aircraft and provided with an external releasable attachment for a towed target trailed from a cable 16. The cable passes successively over capstans 15, 14 round pulleys 36, 37, 38 and on to a reel 11, on to which it is guided by a travelling carriage 12 driven by a screwed shaft 13. The capstans, which carry the drag loads from the target, are connected by chain gearing 24 and are driven through bevel gearing 21, 22 from an air turbine 17 which drives also the reel 11 through variable speed belt drive 25, 27, 28 and gearing 31, 32. Pulley 37 is carried by an arm 41 spring loaded to tension the cable, movement of the arm operating a potentiometer 48. Two coils 45, 46 are energized from a reference voltage and unbalanced by the current from the potentiometer to actuate a valve 43 which controls a fluid pressure motor 29 to vary the spacing between the flanges of pulley 27. This varies the speed of the reel 11 in response to tension in the length of cable between the reel and the winches.