The Boeing Company

Tomio Hamatani

Eddie D Banks

Richard B Odell

Michael P Conner

Sun Gil Kim

David J Brockmeyer

Donald K Franklin

Chung-Wah F Wong

John A Meisch

Takayoshi Urasawa

Hisao Kondo

Katsuya Ikeda

Hajime Kishi

David Brockmeyer

A mechanism(10) arms, disarms, and activates an airplane emergency evacuation system having a slide with one end connected to a girt bar (16). The mechanism includes floor fittings (18) mountable below and at each edge of the airplane door (14). Each floor fitting includes a base (32) defining a notch (40) for receiving the girt bar and a pawl (42) mounted to the base. The pawl rotates relative to the base from a locked position preventing removal of the girt bar from the notch, and to an unlocked position permitting removal of the girt bar. Support fittings (20) mountable to the door, engages the floor fittings when the door is closed and locked. A first jaw (58) extends downwardly to one side of the notch, and faces generally towards the notch from the support fitting. First and second linkage members (60) and (70) connect to one another and rotatably mount to the support fitting. A second jaw (94) extends from the second linkage member and faces generally towards the first jaw. The mechanism operates to rotate the second jaw towards the first jaw to capture the girt bar therebetween, and to rotate the pawl to the unlocked position to disarm the system and allow normal use of the door. To arm the system, the second jaw is rotated in the opposite direction which releases the girt bar and causes the pawl to securely lock the girt bar to the floor of the airplane.

Mechanism for arming, disarming and activating airplane emergency slide

A snubber is disclosed for use on an airplane translating door hinge arm (13) comprising a hydraulic device (41) and a flow regulation system (40). The hinge arm (13) includes sprockets (25, 27) placed at the ends (15, 17) of the hinge arm (13). Roller chain pieces (31) rotate partially about the sprockets (25, 27). A pneumatic actuator (33) having a through-rod (37) and housing (35) is located on one side of the hinge arm (13). The actuator housing (35) is supported by a support member (23) integral with the hinge arm (13). The ends of the actuator through-rod (43) are each coupled to first ends of each of the roller chain pieces (31). The hydraulic device (41) comprising a housing (47), a through-rod (43), a piston 45, a first compartment (49), a second compartment (51), and hydraulic fluid, is also supported by the support member (23). The ends of the hydraulic device through-rod (43) are each coupled to second ends of each of the roller chain pieces (31). The hydraulic device (41) is located on the side of the hinge arm (13) opposite the side having the actuator (33). Also provided is a snubber fluid flow regulation system (40) comprising first and second flow regulators (59, 65) and first and second high pressure relief valves (61, 67), one each for use during door opening and door closing. A compensator (71) is also provided in the fluid flow regulation system (40) to hydraulically compensate the snubber (41) during temperature changes and to supply make-up fluid in case there is external leakage.

Hydraulic snubber for aircraft

A hinge assembly (14) for attaching a translating-motion-type aircraft door (10) to an aircraft fuselage (12) is disclosed. The hinge assembly (14) includes a fitting (28) that is pivotally attached to the portion of the aircraft fuselage (14) adjacent the door opening (16) in the fuselage in which the door (10) is normally seated. The door is attached to the hinge fitting (28) by way of a universal shaft (30) that is rotatably attached to the free end of the hinge fitting (28). A drivebelt (32) is anchored at one end to the aircraft fuselage (12) and is attached at the opposed end to the universal shaft (30) so as to move in unison with the shaft. When the hinge assembly (14) of this invention is opened, the hinge fitting (28) pulls on the drivebelt (32) so as to cause its movement and the subsequent movement of the universal shaft (30). The universal shaft (30) is rotated about the hinge fitting (28) so as to maintain the door (10) attached thereto in a constant angular relationship relative to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft fuselage (12).

Aircraft door hinge mechanism

A self-aligning aircraft door stop pin assembly, which minimizes galling and compensates for misalignment problems. The assembly consists of a base pad containing a concave spherical recess, which is swaged onto the convex spherical head at one end of a threaded stop pin. The base pad is free to align, so as to make full face contact with the structural stop pad. The sperical interface between stop pin and base pad is provided with lubrication, on one or both parts.

Self-aligning aircraft door stop pin assembly

A cam actuator (12) for rapidly opening an aircraft door (14) that is attached to an aircraft fuselage (18) by a hinge assembly (26). The actuator includes a piston (40), a piston rod (42) that is secured to the piston and rotating sleeve (44) that is fitted over the piston rod that functions as the hinge pin between a hinge clevis (26) on the aircraft and a hinge arm lug (54) on the hinge assembly. The piston is contained within a housing (38) adapted to receive a pressurized pneumatic gas. An annular cam (50) through which the piston rod travels and that is formed with an outer surface (104) having a helical profile is attached to the hinge clevis. A cam follower (46) is attached for the sleeve so as to rotate in unison therewith. The hinge arm lug (54) is also secured to the sleeve (44) for rotation. When the actuator of this invention is triggered, the piston rod (42) urges the cam follower (46 ) against the cam (50) so as to cause the cam follower to rotate. The cam follower (46) in turn rotates the sleeve (44) so as to simultaneously rotate the hinge arm lug (54). As a result of this rotation, the hinge is pivoted away from the hinge clevis so as to urge the aircraft door open.

Aircraft door hinge mechanism with selectively triggerable actuator

An inward/outward movable plug-type aircraft passenger door (50) including: (i) a hinge assembly (56) and programming control mechanism (100, 114, 116 and 105, 114, 119) therefor; (ii) a latch/unlatch mechanism (58, 70, 82, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94 and 95) therefor; (iii) a pressure lock gate (69) and actuating mechanism (58, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 and 84) therefor; and (iv), a deployable emergency evacuation system (59) and actuating linkage (60, 132, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142 and 144); wherein the aircraft door (50) is of the type adapted to be translated between a first fully closed and latched position and a second fully opened position while being maintained essentially parallel to the plane containing the ingress/egress cutout opening (51) in the fuselage (52) at all intermediate door positions--i.e., the aircraft door (51) is not pivoted or rotated about the hinge axis (104 and/or 109) to, in effect, turn the door (51) inside-out, but, rather, is moved with translatory motion outward of the ingress/egress cutout opening (51) in the fuselage (52) to a fully open position where the door's inner skin (66) is in facing relation to the fuselage (52) outer skin.

Translatable outward opening plug-type aircraft door and actuating

An outward opening plug-type cargo door for an aircraft is movable between a closed position in which the door blocks an entry opening into the aircraft and an open position in which the door is spaced from the entry opening. The door hinges are directly driven by irreversible rotary actuators. When the door is positioned adjacent the entry opening, a latch mechanism is operable to move the door between a latched and an unlatched position. In the latched position, the door is secured from outboard movement by a plurality of stop pins spaced about the periphery of the door that are located inboard of a series of stop pads mounted at spaced locations about the periphery of the door opening. When the latch mechanism is operated, the door is lifted to free the stop pins from their location behind the stop pads and permit outboard movement of the door. The movement of the door between the latched and lifted positions is programmed by a guide mechanism comprised of guide channels mounted on first and second edges of the door opening that are cooperably engaged by rollers rotatably mounted on first and second edges of the door. The guide channels have detents formed therein and the guide rollers engage the detents when the door is in the latched position and the pressure within the aircraft is greater than the pressure exterior to the aircraft. The detents resist upward vertical movement of the door to maintain the door securely in the latched position to prevent accidental blowout of the door caused by the pressure differential. A power unit is provided to operate the latch mechanism to move the door between the latched and lifted positions and a second power unit is provided to drive the door between the closed and open position. Sensor switches are positioned about the door and entry opening to sequence application of power to the two power units to open and close and latch and unlatch the door. A primary manual drive mechanism is provided coupled to the latch mechanism and the hinge mechanism to operate the latch mechanism and the hinge mechanism in the case of failure of the power unit. A secondary manual drive system is also provided coupled to the hinge mechanism to open and close the door upon failure of the power unit or the primary manual drive.

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Tomio Hamatani