The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 02, 1988
Filed:
Mar. 06, 1987
George W Peppel, Arlington, TX (US);
Paul E Sullivan, Bedford, TX (US);
Lockheed Corporation, Calabasas, CA (US);
Abstract
A novel rope tension damper device is adapted to be installed, for example, at a location between a winch and the fairlead that guides the rope. The device comprises a co-planar pair of sheaves respectively mounted at opposite ends of a rotatable arm. The two sheaves are oriented with their respective rotational axes parallel to the rotational axis of the arm such that with the rope entering the device tangential to a point on the periphery of the first sheave and exiting the device tangential to a second point on the periphery of the second sheave, and with the arm's longitudinal axis more or less perpendicular to the orientation of the rope as it enters and exits from the device prior to the application of any tension, the rope within the device will be guided by the two sheaves into a generally S-shaped configuration which will be gradually distorted into a relatively straight configuration as the tension in the rope applies a torque couple to the arm and thereby causes it to rotate to an orientation more parallel to that of the rope outside the device. Preferably, a pair of such elastomeric torsional members are provided, one on either side of the rotatable arm and concentric with its rotational axis. Shearing forces within the elastomer serve to generate a counter-torque on the rotating inner arm, thereby causing a variable damping force to be applied to the rope as the arm and sheave assembly is rotated from its zero load position.