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:
Oct. 08, 1991
Filed:
Apr. 03, 1989
Lawrence W Langley, Christiansburg, VA (US);
Hal L Moses, Newport, VA (US);
Other;
Abstract
The invention is a circular airplane with an oblately spheroidal body which derives lift from a wall or ribbon jet exhausting over its upper surface. The jet is produced by a mixed flow fan driven by an internal combustion or gas turbine engine within the body. A fixed guide van assembly removes the swirl from the outlet flow of the mixed flow fan. The jet exiting from the fixed guide vane assembly follows the curved surface of the body, exhausting downward, and produces lift. The magnitude of lift produced in each quadrant of the airplane may be reduced for thrust vectoring by flow control gates which partially block the flow of air from the fixed guide vane assembly. Rotation control vanes introduce a controlled swirl into the flow of air from the fixed guide vane assembly to effect rotation of the airplane. Actuators for flow control gates and rotation control vanes, and a flight control system, are provided.