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:
Feb. 23, 2016
Filed:
Oct. 20, 2014
Insitu, Inc., Bingen, WA (US);
Peter J. Kunz, The Dalles, OR (US);
Insitu, Inc, Bingen, WA (US);
Abstract
A fixed wing flight vehicle has wing, a center-mounted propulsion unit and a pod that is moveable between a center of the wing and a displaced position at or near one end of the wing. When the pod is at or near the center of the wing, that is, having a center of mass at or near a thrust vector of the propulsion unit, the flight vehicle flies with the characteristics of a regular fixed wing aircraft. However, when the pod is translated to the position at or near an end of the wing, an overall center of mass of the flight vehicle is substantially offset from the thrust vector of the propulsion unit. This causes the flight vehicle to spin like a samara, e.g., a maple seed, so that the flight vehicle can take off or land in a very limited space, much like a helicopter.