Stirrup assembly for securing a cargo having upper and lower pairs of

Abstract

A stirrup assembly for securing a cargo having upper and lower pairs of opposed, ball headed studs, extending laterally from each side of a cylindrical, securing stud, has a side member for attachment of a cargo to, for example, the side wall of a cargo bay of a space shuttle. Two upper U-shaped stirrups are attached to an upper portion of the side member. The upper U-shaped of the stirrups have flared entries for receiving the ball heads of the upper studs and have fixed resilient seats, as well as a carriage spring like contact for the ball stud shaft. Two lower U-shaped stirrups are spaced across, and attached to, a lower portion of the side members. The U-shapes of the lower stirrups also have flared entries for receiving the ball heads of the lower studs. Each lower U-shaped stirrup has a spring loaded ball head retaining lever pivotally attached to that stirrup so as to be depressed by, and swung around, that ball head from the undepressed position. A split bearing is provided attached to the side member for downward urging of the cylindrical stud on the cargo so that the upper and lower ball heads are pushed into their stirrups and the levers are actuated. The cargo is buffered against vibrational loads and the ball heads are held against reverberating in the stirrups. The stirrups and balls accommodate thermal distortions of the cargo. The split bearing, when opened, releases the cylindrical stud and allows the cargo to move and distort from its nominal geometric shape. This relieves contact loads between the balls and stirrups which will allow a low friction force removal of the cargo from the stirrup assembly.