US1563934A - Gyroscopic inclinometer for aeroplanes - Google Patents

Description

E. A. SPERRY GYROSCOPIC INCLINOMETER FOR A Dec. 1 1925- EROPLANES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 15 91 v A770 IVE! Dec. 1, 1925. 1,563,934

E. A. SPERRY GYROSCOPIC INCLINOMETER FOR AEROPLANEIS Filed Jan. 15 I 91 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 0 v T 9 5 19!] l 68 E/MR/QSPERRY.

ATTORNEY 4 being removed.

Patented Dec. 1, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATE NT oFF1cE'.-7

ELMER A. SPERRY, F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR To THE SPERRY GYROSCOPE COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

GYRosOor-Ic IINCLINOMETERF FOR AEROPLANES;

To all whom, it may concern." I 3 Be it knownthat I, ELMER A.-SPERRY, a citizenrof the United States of America, residing at 1 505 Alber'marle Road, Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of. New

York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gyroscopic Inclinom'eters for Aeroplanes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to gyroscopic appliances for use on aeroplanes. One of the objects of the invention is to provide a simple and compact gyroscopic device of light weight and'operated without employing anymotor or other machinerequiring a source of power on the aeroplane.

. Further objects of the invention are .to improve upon the construction of gyroscopic I apparatus of this character, by providing means for suppressing 'or overcoming the effect 'of acceleratio'n pressures thereon, and by improving upona fluid pressure form of driving means by which no disturbingtorques on the gyroscope are produced.

Referring to'the drawingsin which, what I now'consider to be the preferred form of my invention is shown c i 'Fig' 1 is a plan 'view of the device constructed in accordance with my invention, th cover of one of the gyroscopes being removed. r 1

Fig 2 is .a cross section of one of the gyro; scopic units takenon line 22 "of Fig. 1.

-Fig. 3 is crossgsection on approximately line 3-3 of 2. v k

' Fig. 4 is an elevation of the rotor of the gyroscope which may be referred-to as a top,

since its characteristicsresemble in several respects the ordinary top.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the supporting postand sleeve for the top with its assoeiated-partsthereto attached. a

Fig. 6 is a correspondingyiew" of the sleeve only, the

Fig.7 Fig. 2'.

;'Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic View; on a smaller scale, of my invention-showing the means used to continuously withdraw air from the interior of the casing. F'g. 9 is a plan view showing the'gradua- .tions oncover 8.

is a section on broken line 77 of .in structure at least, is the ordinary top pendulum and other parts Application filed "January 15, 1918. Serial in). 211,989:

10 is a detail. Fig. 11 is an enlarged longitudinal section on the inner portion of the Venturi tube. Fig. 1 is a plan View of'a rotor provided with a'modified form of buckets or vanes,

Fig. 1 is "avertical section-of the same.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of P- thesupporting post for the tog. i

v Perhaps the simplest form of gyroscope,

which, as is known, comprises arotor that rotatesor spins about and is supported on a 55 slightly rounded point; said point acting also as an axis for supporting the top for oscillation about both horizontal axes.

.WVhile in the ordinary top the-center ofi gravity is locatedabove the point of sup- Q port, accordingto my invention, the center of gravity, is not necessarily so situated. Preferably it is located very close to and .slightly below-the pointiof support so that the top stands substantially inneutral or indifferent equilibrium'when at rest where-- L by along period of oscillation is secured. The center of gravity maybe shifted slightly without materially affectlng the operation of the gyroscope, since the physical effect, 30 which, causes it to straighten itself up, when spinning, lies in' the friction 'between the 'pointof support and the supporting surface.

This causes a torque, about substantially ver tical axes, causing precession of the top 35 about a horizontal axis to a vertical position.

The top is shown as comprising-a rotor or fly-wheel 1, :having a heavy ring 2 and a cut-out under portion 3. In the'center of the top is a point 4 which supportstjhe top for rotation about a normally vertical axis and at the same time allows the top free-- dom movement about both horizontalaxes' intersecting atv said point.

"The top .is preferably provided with-la es .spindle- 5 which acts as a pointer. or inch-- cator, and cooperates with radial graduationslfi and with circular graduations 7 and 7 on the transparent cover 8 to indicate both the angle. and direction of inclination of the :vehicle' on which the instrument is mounted. Said cover is secured within a cap 9 threaded into the top of the casing proper 10. the joint being tightly packed. I Illuminating means such as lamps 70 and 71 maybe provided, if desired. Said casresting on washers 16 or'the likel Prefer,

' surrounds the rotor and supports the sameon a post ll-secured to' the, bottom of the casing. Said casing, together with a.

companion case 10' is shown as resiliently 5 supported from a ring or frame 12 by means of a plurality of\rods-13, 13" and 13 which are adjustably threaded to said ring and locked thereto-by loclt nuts 14, the casing being supported on said rods .by springs 15 ably a downwardly acting spring 17 is placed above said ring and acts between the cap 18. and the ring so that jars .will not affect the apparatus. Preferably three such sup- 1'5 porting rods are provided for the gyroscopic vide .means for continuouslywithdrawing 2' a valve or other opening 18' through which air fromthe interior of said casing, relying upon the entrance of air into the casing in a proper direction and location to revolve the rotor. For this purposeI have provided the air is exhausted from the casing 111 any manner, preferably in 'the manner hereinafter described. a

One or more-openmgs' shaped 1n the form of approximately tangential nozzles 19, 20,

21 and 22, are provided in the casing in the plane of the rotor 1. The rotor is provided with buckets or vanes 23 located in the plane of said nozzles and adapted-to receive the jets ofa-ir'issuing therefrom.

Preferably. said vanes are. formed by incisions in t e periphery of the rotor.- I find it important not -to makesaid incisions of materially greater breadth in the direction'of the axis of the rotor than the breadth of the jets and they are preferably substantially less than one-fourth the width of 'the periphery ofthe rotor as shown in the drawings. While certain advantages such as increased driving power result from cutting .the vanes entirely across the face of the rotor, such construction I find isof great disadvantage, in that when. the .rotor be comes tilted somewhat the jets striking against the buckets orlvanes in their inclined positions cause an unbalanced couple on the gyroscope about one of the horizontal axes and hence precession thereof about the other horizontal axis. Said couple may be caused in part by the fact that the bottoms of the buckets are not parallel to the jets in the; inclined position and that the walls of the buckets ofler. resistance to the jet in an inclined plane. This action, of course, throwsthe gyroscope or top on and interferes with its accuracy. When said vanes are of limited extent' however such' trouble is eliminated or reduced to a minimum for all ordinary.

conditions 'of the gyroscope, since the pewill perform this .riphery thereof may be made .spherical and highly polished.

0 o o u 1 Stud post 11 1s shown as comprlsmg a central supporting stem 20 having. an axial bore 21' in which is located 'a' spring 22' supporting a rod 23. Said rod is provided adjacent its top with a tapered or concave recess 24 in which the point 4 attachedto. the top 1 rests.

Preferably said recess. is

flat at the bottom portion at which point a the wall 81 is substantially perpendicular for a short distance. On, the exterior of said post a slidable sleeve. 25 is mounted. Said sleeve, normallystan'ds in the lower position as indicated inFigs; '2 and 5, bu-t may beraised to an elevated position. to lift ,the pointof support of the top off the rod 24. This may be accomplished by meansof handle 26 secured to a rod 27 journaled adjacentthe bottom of the casing 10 and provided at its .innerportion with an inwardly extending arm 28. Said arm' engages between flanges 29-30 located nearthe lower portion of the sleeve 25. It-will be readily apparent that byrbtation of the handle 26 sleeve 25 maybe raised to lift the rotor ofl" the'deli cate bearing or point of support. The handle 26 may be made of resilient material so as tospring past and catch OVEI a lug 3O hold the sleevein the raised position at will.

the extent of inclination of the gyroscope with respect to thecasing. IVhile the rod 'unction by striking against the inner edge 32 of'.the top 9, I prefer to provide anti-friction means for this purpose so asnotto retard the rotation of the top more than necessary. is shown as a series of balls 33 mounted for rotation adjacent the top of sleeve 25 so that when the gyroscope tilts over a predetermined amount, the bottom ofthe top will strike againstQthe balls and preventfurther in clination as in Fig. 2.

\Vhile the structure so far described opcrates with a fair degree of accuracy, I preventing or equalizing the disturbing effects of acceleration .forces.of the-top. Said This means indicated in the dotted lines '(Fig. 10) on the exterior of the casing to v '05 Preferably means are provided to limit means isshown as comprlsmg a plurality of nozzles 34 and 35 -to whlch air-1s introduced by means of a common pipe 36 leading to the exterior of the casinglO. The entrance l tov said pipe is shown as covered by "fine wire auze 38 to n'eventthe entrance. of

dust. In nnediately over but spaced is located a baffle plate or disk 39 having an inner slot: or slots 40 and 40 extending at greater or less distance from saidnozzles around a predetermined portion'of the disk. I Normally the slots are positioned so thatthe jet issuing from either nozzle will not strike the under surface of the top. Upon a slight rotation in one direction, however, one .jet

prises a pendulum 44 pivoted at45 on stem 20. The pendulum is provided with annupstanding pin 46 which engages a hole or slot in the disk 39 so that as the endulum is swung in one direction it wil revolve the dlskm' the. opposlte dlrectlon. Said pendulum 1s, of course, responslveto ac- ,celeration forces exerted thereon so that .if

the axis of the pendulumus fore andaft of the aircraft and if the aircraft is turned in the direction indicated by the arrow A at the bottom of Fig. 5, the pendulum willbe movedin the direction indicated by the arrow 13 in Fig. 5 and thereby rotate disk 39 .in atlockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3. This, 1t Wlll be seen, Wlll uncover the nozzle 34, and cause an upward pressureot {air to be maintained against the under sur face 3 of top 1 thereby exerting a force which is opposed to the acceleration forceacting" on the gyroscope at the time, assuming that the gyroscope 1s pendulous or in other words support-L While the axis of the pendulum may be placed in. any position on the aircraft, I prefer to place it in such position that the pendulum will ,be affected by the most frequent and persistent accelerationforces occurring in said vehicle. It is, of. course, obvious that a pendulum may-be provided about each axisif desired,'but a position allowing transverse oscillation is preferred. j

As above stated, I prefer to employ a plu-' rality of such tops 1, and 1' which are driven in; opposite directions as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. The reason for preferring two oppositelys rotating tops is to insure having at least'one ofthe tops'correct at all times. For instance, if the aeroplane on whichthe apparatus was n'iounted was turning in the direction of. arrow C Fig. 1) top 1, which is shown as rotating 1n the oppo site direction, would have a tendency to flop over, as indicated, while to 1 would remain unaffected. Similarly, i the aeroplane were turning 1n the other direction,

' top 1 would straighten up, 1 while top 1;. would tend to turn over. The casings 10 and l0 enclosing the two tops may be formed as one-or con'nected bv nine 50. Each casing may be provided with an outlet, valve 18 and 18, each or either of which may be connected to the air exhausting device. Preferably a valve or other obstructing device '51 is employed between the-two casings, so

that if desired one gyroscope only may be operated the full force of the exhausting "extends to such use.

device being exerted on said gyroscope.- It.

will be readily apparent that said valvemay .from the other.

For exhaustin the air from the. casings,

I prefer to emp oy a device somewhat similar to a Venturi tube. Said device may comprise a tubular member witha restr cted passage 56 therein, each end of the member tapering outwardly, Fig. 8. If the aircraft is flying in the direction indicated by the arrow a/ in said figui'e, the air will flow with great speed through the said tube and restricted passage, therebyreducing the pressure to a marked extent adjacent said passage. ,At or adjacent said restricted passage is located a second smalltube 57 which is connected to either or both of the valves 18 and 18' by means of a pipe 58 having a branch pipe 59. Pipe 58 is shown as tapped into tube 57 adjacent arestricted passage 60 therein as indicated in Fig. 11,

.Whereby' a double rarifaction of air, 'so to speak, is produced. p Inaccordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herin described the principle of operation of my invention, to-

L I y getherwiththe apparatus, which I now con-, has its centerof gravity below itspolnt of,

elder to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by \other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various "features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined. and the invention Thus the buckets on the rotor may be formedby providing the rotor 111 with an annular flange (Figs. 1 and 1) 112 and cutting. or forming vanesthercin sirnilarto sawteeth. It should be noted thatthe damping action of jets 84 and 35 is rendered effective not only when pendulum 44 becomes inclined, due to acceleration forces and the like, but also when-the casing 10, becomes inclined :with .respect to the pendulum, or in other words when. the

aeroplane is on an uneven keel. This action is advantageous rather than otherwise since whatever disturbing effect is in troduced bv Having described my invention, what I I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

\ '1. In gyroscopic apparatus, the combina-i tion with a top, means .for blowing air on sa1d top in such direction as to exert a couple thereon, a pendulous device, and 'means responsive to inclination of said device for rendering effective said blowing means.

4. The combination with a gyroscope mounted for oscillation-about an axis, of apendulous device mounted adjacentthereto, means for applying a torque on, said gyroscope about-said axis, ..and means responsive to inclination of the device about an axis substa'ntiallyparallel to said axis of oscillation for bringing into action said torque applying means. j

5. The combination with a gyroscope mounted for oscillation about a plurality of axes, of a pendulous device pivoted about an axis'and means responsive to inclination of the device for causing a torque 011 the gyroscope about an axis substantially parallelto the axis-of the pendulum.

6. The combination with a gyroscopic top mounted for oscillation about an axis, of a device responsive to acceleration forces mounted adjacent thereto, and means rendered eifective by said device for exerting a torque on the gyroscope in a counter disurfaceof the t rection tothe torque produced thereon by the acceleration force causing actuation of said device.

7. The combination with a gyroscopic top, of a support therefor, and means for limiting the extent of inclination of the top with respect to the support comprising an antifriction bearingmember carried by said support and ada ted to engage the under on inclination thereof. 8. The combinatlon with a gyroscopic top,

pivotal point of support for said rotor locatedclose to its center of gravity and a remeans for lifting said rotor and point ofl said member.

' 12. In combinatioma casing, a gyro rotor mounted therein, means for exerting an upsetting couple on said rotor, said means comprising a nozzle adjacent the side of'said rotor and communicating withthe exterior of said casing, and means for withdrawing air from said'casing to cause an inflow of. air

of a-support therefor. and means for limit-' ving the extent of inclination. of'the top with respect to the support comprising a member adapted to engage the top when its inclina-' tion exceeds a predetermined amount,, and antifriction means between said member and top.

9. The combination with a gyroscopic top,

of a support therefor; and means for limitingthe extent of inclination of the top with respect to the support comprising a member carried by said support and adapted to enthrough said nozzle.

13. Incombination, a casing, a gyro rotor mounted therein, means for exerting an upsettingcouple on said rotor, said means comprising a nozzle'adjacent the 'side of said rotor and communicating with the exterior of said casing, means 'for. withdrawing air from said casing to cause, an inflow of air through said nozzle, means covering said nozzle, and means responsive to tilti ngofsaid casing for uncovering said nozzle.

14. In a gyroscopic apparatus, a supporting post, agyroscopic top adapted to rotate on said post and a plurallty of bearing balls mounted on said post and adapted to 'be engaged by the top when the latter precesses.

I 15. In combination, a'casing,-a gyro rotor mounted therein, means for exerting. a couple on said rotor,.said'means comprising a plurality of nozzles .'adjacent opposite sides of the rotor, means for causing flow of air through said nozzles, means normally covering said nozzles, and means responsive to tilting of the casing for uncovring cer- .tain of saidnozzles. z

16: In combination, a casing, a gyro rotor mounted therein, means for exerting a couple on said rotor. saidmeans 'comprislng a pair of nozzles adjacent opposite-sides of said rotor, means for causing how of a1r through said nozzles, means nornially coveringsaid nozzles, and means responsive to tilting of the casing for uncovering one of said nozzles.

' 17. In combination, a casing, a resilient mounting for said casing, a-rotor-,and a resiliently mounted member upon which said rotor is adapted'to spin.

gage the under surface of the top on inclina tionthereof beyond a'predeterminedamount, and antifriction means between said member and top. Y

.10. In gyroscopic' apparatus, a rotor, a

18. In a gyroscoplc'apparatus, a rotor, a resiliently mounted supporting member, means-whereby said rotor is pivotally mounted on said member, and means for lifting said rotor off said member.

,- 19. In gyroscopic apparatus, a closed casing, means for withdrawing air therefrom, agyro-whe'el said casing, a nozzle for "driving the same adjacent thereto and connected to the outer air, and a second nozzle said casing, a nozzle for driving the same for damping the gyroscope also connected adjacentthereto and conneetedto the outer to the outerair. air, and a second nozzle for damping the 10 20. In gyroscopic apparatus for aeroplanes, gyroscope also connected to the outer air.

a closed casing, means operable by the pas- In testimony whereof Ihave afiixed my sage of the aeroplane through the air for signature. withdrawing air therefrom, a gyro-Wheel in 1 I ELMER A 'SPERRY.

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