Westland Helicopters Limited

Andrew Martin Cave

David Edward Painter

Philip M Hyde

Keith Bryden Fitzsimons

Michael John Locke

A compliant spacer which, in use, is located between planar surfaces of two machine elements which are, in use, clamped together in an assembly, the spacer having a first generally planar face and a second oppositely facing generally planar face which is generally parallel to the first generally planar face, each of the first and second generally planar faces having a plurality of raised regions, the raised regions of the first face being offset with respect to the raised regions of the second face, so that as the two machine elements are clamped together with the spacer therebetween, the spacer deforms out of plane to maintain the clamping load in use, and each raised region including a bearing surface and edge regions where the raised region joins the respective planar face of the spacer, the bearing surface being generally planar and parallel to the first and second planar faces, and the edge regions of the raised regions melding smoothly into the respective planar face of the spacer without any sharp discontinuity.

Compliant spacer

A bearing assembly for a rotating shaft includes a plurality of frangible bolts located concentrically of an axis of rotation for attaching a bearing housing radial flange portion to a support structure, each having a frangible portion located between axially spaced-apart radial flanges whereby the bearing housing flange portion is spaced-apart axially from the support structure.

Growing community of inventors

Yeovil, United Kingdom

Andrew Martin Cave