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. 20, 1998
Filed:
May. 15, 1995
Richard B Odell, Kirkland, WA (US);
Stephen J Fox, Kirkland, WA (US);
Huw J Salmon, Renton, WA (US);
John A Ennes, Redmond, WA (US);
The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA (US);
Abstract
A latch-lock mechanism for an airplane cargo door (34) is disclosed. The latch-lock mechanism includes straight-through drive shafts rotated by a common powered drive unit (61). Affixed to the outer ends of the drive shafts are pull-in hooks (67) that co-act with pull-in pins affixed to the fuselage of the airplane adjacent to the sides of the cargo door opening. The co-action between the pull-in hooks and the pull-in pins pulls the cargo door into a closed position against a distorted fuselage cargo door opening. During opening, the co-action between the pull-in hooks and the pull-in pins force the door open against ice jams. After being pulled into a closed position, latch cams (89) rotated by the drive shafts are closed around latch pins (131). Thereafter, lock pawls (159) are moved into a closed position. The latch-lock mechanism also includes witness ports (193) located in the cargo door (34) that enable a mechanic to verify that the lock pawls (159) are in the closed position. The lock pawls (159) are prevented from closing unless they 'feel' that the associated latch cam (89) is closed. The latch-lock handle mechanism also includes a lock handle housing (141) that must be opened in order to access a manual drive 90.degree. gear box (71) used to manually operate the power drive unit (61) and, thus, rotate the drive shafts. Further, mechanical fusing is provided to prevent the application of excessive manual force to the latch-lock mechanism. The lock handle housing (141) is closed by a lock handle (203) having latch whose holding force must be overcome by a pull force, which eliminates the possibility of the door being opened by hydrodynamic water pressure.