Monorail Traverse System

Abstract

A system, apparatus and method for traversing a helicopter from a landing area to a hangar area and vice versa with a box beam which is secured between the front wheels of a helicopter, a track extending from the hangar area to the landing area so that a hauled down and secured helicopter straddles the track, a shuttle engaging the track for movement along the track and engaging the box beam for pulling the helicopter along the track, a pawl on the shuttle for engaging a number of the teeth extending along the front of the box beam, and side winches for providing cables for attachment to opposite sides of the rear helicopter wheel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an apparatus for traversing a helicopter on a ship from a landing deck to a hangar area after the helicopter has been hauled down and secured and to a method of such traversal.

Many ships today, particularly naval vessels, are provided with facilities for landing and storing helicopters. Especially on smaller ships such as destroyers, such facilities usually include a small landing deck which is only slightly larger than the helicopter itself and a hangar which is used for storing the helicopter while it is not in use. Landing a helicopter on a small deck, particularly on a small ship, can be a difficult and tricky operation. To minimize accidents, landing is usually accomplished with the aid of a securing system in which a haul-down cable is attached to the hovering helicopter, usually after being obtained from the deck by a messenger cable lowered by the helicopter. A deck mounted winch is then used to haul down the helicopter to the landing deck level and to secure it. The patent to Ring, U.S. Pat. No. 2,471,544, illustrates a securing system of this general type.

A patent application entitled HELICOPTER HAUL-DOWN SYSTEM AND SECURING SYSTEM, Ser. No. 335,110, filed Feb. 23, 1973 describes a simple and improved haul-down and securing system in which a cable loop is employed to haul down the helicopter, the loop passing through the deck at two separated locations and attaching to a winch below deck level. The disclosure of this application is incorporated herein by reference.

After the helicopter is safely hauled down to the deck, it must be traversed to a hangar area where it is stored. Since there is considerable resulting variation of the hauled down helicopter position on the landing deck, pulling and aligning the helicopter for traversal is a difficult and time-consuming chore. Accordingly, many techniques have been developed using tracks and shuttles to effect traversal. The patent to Stewart U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,807 typifies such arrangements. The present invention relates to a particularly simple and effective method and apparatus for traversing the helicopter from the landing deck, after it has been hauled down and secured, to an adjacent hangar area without scrubbing the landing gear.

As discussed in detail below, the apparatus and system of this invention includes a box beam provided on one side thereof with a plurality of teeth and adapted for connection between the two front wheels of the helicopter. A shuttle, movable in a track extending between the hangar area and the landing deck, attaches to the box beam and includes a pawl which is preferably operated by a solenoid to engage ratchet teeth on the forward side of the beam. This shuttle pulls the helicopter from the landing deck to the hangar area after it has been aligned with the track. To assist in alignment, a pair of winches located on either side of the landing area attach cables respectively to opposite sides of the tail wheel of the helicopter.

After the helicopter has been pulled down and secured onto the landing area, for example, by the two wire system described in the above-mentioned application Ser. No. 335,110, with its wheels straddling the track, the box beam is attached between the two front wheels and the wires from the side winches attached respectively to opposite sides of the rear wheel. The helicopter is then pivoted by the side winches until its center line converges with the track. Next, the shuttle and the attached box beam pull the helicopter over with the pawl disengaged so that the shuttle slides along the box beam as the helicopter is moved toward the hangar area. When the helicopter center axis is aligned with the track, the solenoid is actuated to engage the pawl with the teeth of the box beam. The wires attaching the side winches to the rear wheel are now removed and the helicopter is traversed into the hangar area by the shuttle. The process is reversed to bring the helicopter from the hangar area to the landing deck for take off.

This particular technique has been found to be especially simple and effective. Since the box beam is attached along the actual line of the helicopter, the helicopter can be rotated without scrubbing the landing gear. By sequentially moving the helicopter as described above, it can be very quickly and simply moved into the desired position for movement to the hangar area.

Many other objects and purposes of the invention will become clear from the following detailed description of the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a landing area and hangar area on a ship for receiving a helicopter.

FIG. 2 shows a helicopter pulled down and secured on the landing area.

FIG. 3 shows the helicopter after being pulled by a side winch into a position with its center axis converging on the track.

FIG. 4 shows a helicopter on the landing deck with the helicopter center line and box beam centered over the track.

FIG. 5 shows the helicopter moving along the track toward the hangar area.

FIG. 6 shows the helicopter fully in the hangar area.

FIG. 7 shows a front view of the box beam fastened between the helicopter front wheels.

FIG. 8 shows a detailed front view of the shuttle track and box beam.

FIG. 9 shows a partial section view of the box beam and pawl mechanism for latching the box beam to the shuttle.

FIG. 10 shows a perspective view of the shuttle with a portion of the track removed.

FIG. 11 shows a partially cut-away view showing the attachment of the box beam to the front wheel of the helicopter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference is made first to FIGS. 7-10 which illustrate a portion of the unique traverse system of this invention. As indicated above, the system includes a box beam 20 which is attached between the front wheels 22 and 24 of the helicopter as can be seen in FIG. 7. Box beam 20 which is preferably square in cross-section and hollow, includes a number of teeth extending along the front side thereof between the two front wheels 22 and 24. As can be seen best in FIGS. 10 and 11, box beam 20 includes at both ends an extension bar 26 which is urged outward by spring 28. A handle pin 30 moving in groove 32 in the top of box beam 20 permits extension bar 26 to be manually pushed into box beam 20 against spring 28.

Extension bar 26 is further provided with eye 34 with a central recess 36 for receiving a lug 38 on wheel 22. This lug is normally provided with a tie-down ring bolted to the lug. For use with the system of this invention the tie-down ring is removed. To fasten box beam 20 to the helicopter, extension bar 26 is manually drawn into beam 20 by means of handle pin 30. Extension bar 26 is then slipped over lug 30 and pip pin 40 inserted through eye 34 to securely fasten box beam 20 to front wheel 22. Similar structure is provided in conjunction with wheel 24 at the opposite end of box beam 20.

The system of this invention further includes a shuttle 50 which is mounted for movement within and along a track 54 having an A shaped cross-section which extends from the hangar area into the landing area to a position adjacent the haul-down mechanism so that the helicopter will land with track 54 extending between the two front wheels 22 and 24. Shuttle 50 includes a bar catch 52 through which box beam 20 extends as can be seen in FIG. 10. An electrically operated solenoid mechanism 56 operates a pawl 58 comprising a number of teeth which engage a plurality of ratchet teeth of the box beam as can be seen in FIG. 9 for preventing movement of bar catch 52 and box beam 20 with respect to each other.

Bar catch 52 is coupled to a small car 60 which is mounted within track 54 for movement along track 54 as can be seen in FIG. 10. Bar catch 52 is coupled to car 60 in a fashion permitting at least limited rotation with respect to car 60 about the axes indicated by arrows 62 and 64.

Car 60 includes four vertical and four horizontal wheels. Horizontal wheels 66 and 68 and vertical wheels 70, 72 and 74 can be seen in the perspective of FIG. 10. These wheels are mounted within a frame 75 which may be constructed and assembled in any suitable fashion. Car 60 is attached at one end to a line 76 which is connected to a winch (not shown) for pulling car 60, bar catch 52, box beam 20 and the helicopter along track 54 as discussed in detail below.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 1-6 which illustrate how the mechanism shown in FIGS. 7-10, together with the two side winches 80 and 82, can be employed to very simply and easily align and traverse a helicopter which has been pulled down and secured on landing area 84 into hangar area 86. As indicated above, track 54 extends from hangar area 86 into landing area 84 adjacent haul-down mechanism 88 which is preferably of the type disclosed in Ser. No. 335,110 discussed above so that the helicopter as it is pulled down will land with track 54 extending between wheels 22 and 24 as illustrated in FIG. 2. At this point, box beam 20 is attached between two front wheels 24 and 26 as can be seen in FIGS. 7-10, with bar catch 52 securing box beam 20 to car 60. The haul-down and securing system can now be released since the helicopter will be secured by box beam 20 and associated shuttle 50.

Next, the wire cables from side winches 80 and 82 are attached to opposite sides of the rear wheel of the helicopter, and, the helicopter pivoted by means of side winches 80 and 82 to a position, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 with the center line 90 of the helicopter converging with the track. The winch (not shown) connected to line 76 can now be operated to move car 60 and box beam 20 coupled to it toward hangar area 86, pulling the helicopter along with it, without, however, engaging the ratchet teeth of box beam 20 so that box beam 20 slides along bar catch 52 until the center line 90 of the helicopter is over track 54 as illustrated in FIG. 4. At this time the helicopter is again pivoted using side winches 80 and 82 until the center line 90 of the helicopter coincides exactly with the direction of the extention of track 54. The wires to the rear wheel from side winches 80 and 82 can now be released and the helicopter traversed into hangar area 86 to the position shown in FIG. 6. The above procedure is simply reversed to bring the helicopter back to the landing deck for take off.

If desired, the shuttle mechanism may also include a second car also movable along the track and means for attachment of the second car to the rear wheels to prevent yaw during movement of the helicopter. Many other changes and modifications in the above described embodiment of the invention can, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, that scope is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for traversing a helicopter on a ship comprising:

a box beam member having means at each end for securing said beam member to a front wheel of a helicopter and a plurality of teeth extending along one side from one end to the other,

a track for extending from a hangar area to a deck area on a ship and

a shuttle including means for engaging said track for movement along said track, means coupling said engaging means to said beam member for permitting movement of said beam member along the length thereof and for exerting a force on said beam member to urge said beam member along said track and latching means for engaging said teeth and permitting relative movement of said beam member along the length thereof.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said engaging means includes a car having a plurality of wheels with a vertical axis and a plurality of wheels with a horizontal axis extending transverse to the direction of extension of said truck for permitting movement of said car along said track and means at one end of said car for attaching said car to a winch.

3. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said coupling means includes means for receiving said box beam member so as to permit movement of said box beam member along its length when said latching means is not engaging said teeth and means for permitting said box beam member to pivot about a vertical axis.

4. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said securing means includes an extension bar mounted in an end of said beam member, a spring mounted in said end for urging said bar outwards, a pin handle connected to said bar, and movable in a groove extending along the length of said beam member at said end, for manually pushing said bar inwards against said spring and an eye at the end of said bar extending from said beam member for attaching said extension bar to a lug on a helicopter front wheel.

5. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said beam member is hollow and square in cross section.

6. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said latching means includes a pawl for engaging a plurality of teeth of said beam member and solenoid means for operating said pawl.

7. Apparatus as in claim 1 further including a pair of side winches for each providing a cable for attachment to either side of the helicopter tail wheel.

8. A system for traversing a helicopter on a ship comprising:

means defining a landing area,

adjacent means defining a hangar area,

a track extending from said hangar area into said landing area,

means associated with said landing area for hauling down and securing a helicopter with the front wheels thereof straddling said track,

winch means on either sides of said landing area, for providing a cable to be attached to respective sides of a rear helicopter wheel,

a box beam member having means for securing said beam member between the front wheels of a helicopter and

shuttle means engaging said track and said beam member for pulling said helicopter along said track from landing to said hangar area.

9. A system as in claim 8 wherein said shuttle means includes means for engaging said track for movement along said track, means coupling said engaging means to said beam member for permitting movement of said beam member along the length thereof and for exerting a force on said beam member to urge said beam member along said track and latching means for engaging said beam member and permitting relative movement of said beam member along the length thereof.

10. A system as in claim 9 wherein said box beam member has a plurality of teeth extending along one side from one end to the other and said latching means engages a plurality of said teeth.

11. A system as in claim 10 wherein said engaging means includes a car having a plurality of wheels with a vertical axis and a plurality of wheels with a horizontal axis extending transverse to the direction of extension of said track for permitting movement of said car along said track and means at one end of said car for attaching said car to a winch.

12. Apparatus as in claim 10 wherein said coupling means includes means for receiving said box beam member so as to permit movement of said box beam member along its length when said latching means is not engaging said teeth and means for permitting said box beam member to pivot about a vertical axis.

13. Apparatus as in claim 10 wherein said securing means includes an extension bar mounted in an end of said beam member, a spring mounted on said end for urging said bar outwards, a pin handle connected to said bar, and movable in a groove extending along the length of said beam member at said end, for manually pushing said bar inwards against said spring and an eye at the end of said bar extending from said beam member for attaching said extension bar to a lug on a helicopter front wheel.

14. Apparatus as in claim 10 wherein said beam member is hollow and square in cross section.

15. Apparatus as in claim 10 wherein said latching means includes a pawl for engaging a plurality of teeth of said beam member and solenoid means for operating said pawl.

16. A method for traversing a helicopter from a landing to a hangar area comprising the steps of:

hauling down and securing said helicopter onto said deck area so that the front wheels straddle a track extending from the hangar area,

attaching a box beam member having a plurality of teeth extending along one side thereof between said front wheels,

attaching cables from side winches to opposing sides of said helicopter at the rear,

pivoting the helicopter with the side winches until the helicopter center line converges with the direction of extent of the track,

applying a force to a shuttle having a bar catch connected to said box beam member to permit movement along the length thereof so as to pull said helicopter toward said hangar area and permit said box beam member to slide along said bar catch,

engaging the teeth of said box beam member with a pawl, to prevent further relative movement between said box beam member and said bar catch, when said center line is over said track,

removing said cables from said side winches and

pulling said helicopter to said hangar area with said shuttle.