USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Dale A Sowell

Eugene C Fischer

John P Wehrle

Vincent J Castelli

Anh H Le

Erick O Satchell

Albert G Holder

Peter J Sarman

Peter O Cervenka

A slip resistance measuring device features a magnetic actuator pivotally mounted on a portable frame positioned on a test surface to apply a linear force to a test specimen for engagement with the test surface at a preselected inclination angle thereto. The linear force is applied to the test specimen through a strain gauge plate which thereby undergoes stress sensed by a load cell mounted thereon from which strain stress signals are delivered under automatic testing operation to provide slip resistance measurement data for the test surface.

Slip meter for determination of surface slip resistance

The aircraft landing arrest cable has wear resisting sleeves positioned thereon in spaced relation to each other to thereby hold the cable out of contact with a non-skid landing surface in a lowered position of the cable. Stresses imposed on the cable when engaged by a tail hook suspended from aircraft during landing, are absorbed by the wear resisting sleeves which are held clamped in positions on the cables by fluid adhesive previously injected into the sleeves. The wear resisting sleeves are respectively formed from pivotally connected sleeve sections made of an impact shatter-proof and durable material such as polyurethane with abutting edges held in contact with each other under a clamped condition of the sleeves on the cable, established by the injected adhesive.

Wear resisting sleeve system for aircraft landing arresting cables

A configuration of grooves provided in a nonskid coating on an aircraft carrier flight deck promotes the lateral and backward drainage of slippery liquids. A straight longitudinal middle groove extending fore and aft intersects multiple &ldquo;W&rdquo;-shaped grooves each extending athwartship. Each W-shaped groove includes a pair of &ldquo;V&rdquo;-shaped groove sections located on opposite sides of the middle groove. Each V-shaped groove section aims vertex-forward and includes a pair of straight groove segments defining an interior angle in the approximate range between 60&deg; and 120&deg;. Abrasive entities may be included in the coating for nonskid purposes. The coating's inclusion of metal-polymer nanolaminate entities along with other pigment entities may serve to reduce or minimize solar heat absorption, particularly in terms of increasing solar reflectance and decreasing thermal emittance. The provision of pyramidal texturing in the coating may provide additional nonskid and/or solar heat absorptive benefits.

Low solar absorbing nonskid composition and applied configuration for a flight deck

Many embodiments of the present invention are imbued with both sight-facilitative and touch-facilitative characteristics. The invention's unitary resinous matrix configuration encompasses, in the form of small discrete bodies, three genres (luminescent, reflective, retroreflective) of visually enhancing material along with tactilely enhancing material. The retroreflective and abrasive bodies partially project at a light-exposable surface of the resinous matrix material; the luminescent and reflective (diffuse and/or specular) bodies lie beneath the light-exposable surface. The luminescent, reflective and retroreflective bodies are complementarily and cumulatively effective; in particular, they versatilely afford increased visibility at practically all angular lines of sight as well as under practically all deficient illuminative conditions. The abrasive bodies afford vehicular skid prevention, surefootedness and the capability to manually and/or pedally &ldquo;feel one's way&rdquo; to safety.

Visual-tactile signage

Jet blast deflector panels hinged to the deck of an aircraft carrier are pivotally displaced through mechanical actuators to raised angular positions for deflecting exhaust plumes from jet propelled aircraft during take-off to protect closely spaced approaching aircraft which are to take-off thereafter in front of the deflector panels. The underside surface of each deflector panel is formed from a thermal insulating material to provide thermal protection from heating by impinging jet exhaust plumes, and is subsequently cooled by blasts of fluid or air beneath the deck when the deflector panel is in its lowered retracted position.

Cooled jet blast deflectors for aircraft carrier flight decks

Robotic cladding of an underlying substrate with a composite metallic surface layer on a prepatterned interface with the substrate, is performed by a laser induced surface improvement process whereby a particulate ceramic additive introduced into a matrix mixture forms the surface layer with a permanent non-skid property bonded by intermixing of molten portions of such matrix mixture and the substrate at the interface, enhanced by prepatterning of such interface.

Growing community of inventors

Alexandria, VA, United States of America

Dale A Sowell