Improvements in Releasing Mechanism for Parachutes and other Apparatus Carried on Aircraft.

Abstract

Abstract 129,017. Brewer, G. Sept. 21, 1917. Dropping articles from a height.-A releasing-device for parachutes and other apparatus carried on aircraft is adapted to be automatically operated at a predetermined height by means of a diaphragm subjected to the pressure of t h e atmosphere. The device may be used to sound a warning or give some other signal to indicate the approach of the aircraft to sea-level. A diaphragm 2, subjected to the pressure of the outside atmosphere and to that within a chamber 1, is connected by a rod 3x to a lever 4 pivoted at 5 and formed with an extension 14 arranged to engage a bolt 11, which is normally urged by a spring 12 into position to retain a rod 10 to be released. When the aircraft, in ascending, reaches the predetermined height, a cock 3 communicating with the chamber 1 is closed, so that as the aircraft rises to more rarefied air, the diaphragm 2 is moved outwards and forces the bolt 11 out of engagement with the rod 10, the bolt 11 being then held by a spring catch 16. The rod 10 is, however, still retained by the extension 14 and is not released until the apparatus descends again to the predetermined level. Instead of operating the cock 3 during ascent, the chamber 1 may, before the ascent, be partly exhausted to correspond to the pressure at the predetermined height. The apparatus may be used for releasing a large parachute to effect a safe landing of a body, the descent of which from an aircraft to the given height has been effected by a small parachute. According to one Provisional Specification, the lever 4 may be formed with two teeth to replace the extension 14 and the bolt 11.

Inventors

• 👤 Griffith Brewer

Bibliographic Details