Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to an apparatus for storing
aircraft in hangars or on hangar aprons.
The apparatus is of the type by which the aircraft
is raised for storage on a level above the hangar floor or the
apron, so that the wings of the aircraft can overlap the wings of
adjacent aircraft stored on the floor or the apron.
Storing aircraft in hangars, hangar aprons and the like
is very space-demanding when the aircraft are positioned on the
floor of the hangar or on the hangar apron, because the distance
between aircraft stored one beside the other is determined by the
wingspan of the aircraft. Therefore, devices of various types have
been proposed for raising every second aircraft in a row of air-
craft to be stored one beside the other so that the raised aircraft
can be stored at a higher level than the aircraft located at the
sides thereof, with the wings extending over the wings of the
adjacent aircraft. By this overlapping of the wings, a substantial
saving of space is attained.
Amongst the aforesaid proposals are devices according
to the British patent specification 1,186,689 and the German laid-
open specifications 1,908,321 and 2,514,847. The devices accord-
ing to theSepublications generally require heavy investment on the
one hand and allow aircraft to be raised only at the specific
location where the device is installed, on the other hand. There
is no possibility of utilizing at reasonable cost these prior art
devices in existing hangars or on existing hangar aprons in order
to increase existing storir.g space, because the devices require
extensive fixed installation at or below ground level.
A device which is not confined to stationary install-
ations such as those mentioned above is disclosed and described
in the British patent specification 1,366,578. The device referred
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to therein is of a simple kind and can be applied to the forks
of a common fork-lift truck. With the storage device lowered,
the aircraft is moved onto the apparatus and then it is lifted
to the desired level by means of the fork-lift truck, - the truck
lifting the apparatus with the aircraft therein. An arrangement
such as that described in this sritish patent specification is
well suited for relatively small and light sports aircraft but
hardly for larger types of aircraft which are used in general
aviation. It is completely unsuitable for big commercial aircraft,
due to the risk of the lifting apparatus tilting with the aircraft
standing thereon.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a
new and improved aircraft storing apparatus which is not confined
to use in only one location and which does not involve a complex
stationary installation.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a
new and improved aircraft storing apparatus which can be used on
any hangar floor or apron.
A still further object of the invention is to provide
a new and improved aircraft storing apparatus which is of a simple
construction including a minumum of operating elements.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a new
and improved apparatus for storîng aircraft, which is well suited
for storing aircraft of different sizes and which is a self-con-
tained mobile unit.
Thus, according to the present inventionl there is
provided apparatus for storing aircraft comprising a mobile chassis,
supporting means on said chassis for receiving the landing gear of
an aircraftl means for retaining the landing gear on said support-
ing means, and means for displacing said supporting means betweena lowered position close to a surface supporting said chassis
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allowing the aircraft to be rolled onto the supporting means, and
a raised position spaced above said surface, said chassis form-
ing a mobile undercarriage for the aircraft supported in a raised
position on said supporting means, for moving the aircraft on
said surface.
The invention will now be described further, by way of
example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
FIG. 1 is a plan view of the aircraft storing apparatus
according to the invention in one embodiment thereof;
FIG. 2 is a side view of the storing apparatus of
FIG. l;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary end view of one end of the
storing apparatus in FIGS. 1 and 2;
FIG. 4 illustrates diagrammatically the storing of
aircraft by using the apparatus of FIGS. 1 to 3;
FIG. 5 is a side view of a second embodiment of the
aircraft storing apparatus of the invention;
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of the apparatus in
FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a side view of the apparatus according to
FIGS. 5 and 6 in the position in which the supporting plates are
in the lowered position to receive an aircraft;
FIG. 8 is a side view of the apparatus according to
FIGS.5 and 6 with an aircraft supported on the supporting plates
in a raised position;
FIG. 9 is a side view of a third embodiment of the air-
craft storing apparatus of the invention;
FIG. 10 is a plan view of the apparatus in FIG. 9.
Reference will now be made in detail to the present
preferredembodiments of the invention, examples of which are
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illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
The aircraft storing apparatus disclosed in FIGS. 1
to 3 comprises a chassis including a front wheel unit assembly
10 having two wheels 11. Two rear wheel unit assemblies 12
are also provided, each having a wheel 13. Preferably, the wheels
11 of the front wheel unit are steerable. The wheel unit assem-
blies 10 and 12 are interconnected by means of beams 14 diverging
from each end of the assembly 10, such beams preferably being
constructed so that they can be swung about vertical axes on the
10 assembly 10, the wheel units 12 being movable towards and away
from one other so that the distance between them can be adjusted
whilst maintaining the wheels 13 in parallel relationship. More-
over, the length of the beams 14 preferably can be adjusted
telescopically so that the distance between the wheel unit 10
and the wheel units 12 can be adjusted.
Each wheel unit assembly 12 comprises a substantially
Z-shaped element 16 supported thereby, one flange 17 of said
element forming a supporting plate and the other flange 18 there-
of connected to a hydraulic or similar ram 19 located in the re-
20 lated wheel unit 12. The flange 17 has a sloping edge portion 20
and a depression 21 and, when it is located in the position shown
in the drawings, the portion 20 is close to the floor surface 22
on which the apparatus is supported by the wheels 11 and 13, so
that an aircraft can easily be rolled onto the supporting plate
until the aircraft wheel drops into the depression 21 in order to
retain the aircraft on the apparatus. Each element 16 can then
be displaced to a raised position 16' by means of its associated
ram 19 as is shown in FIG. 3 in order to lift each supporting
plate 17 and the aircraft located therein to a desired higher
30 level.
On wheel unit 10 there is provided a supporting plate
23 as part of a U-formed element 24, the web of which is formed
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by the supporting plate 23 and the limbs of which extend from the
web to terminate at their upper ends in two flanges 25 which are
turned away from one other, said flanges being supported by
hydraulic or similar rams in the wheel unit 10 in a manner anal-
ogous to that shown in FIG. 3 for supporting the plate 17. The
supporting plate 23 can accordingly be lifted from a position
close to the surface 22 to a position at a desired higher level
in precisely the same manner as the supporting plates 17.
The element 24 is provided with a hydraulic or similar
ram 26 having a suitable tow hook 27 which can be displaced out-
wardly by means of the hydraulic ram towards the end of the
apparatus where the wheel units 12 are located. Coupled to the
nose landing gear of an aircraft, the tow hook can pull the air-
craft forward when the supporting plates 17 and 23 are in their
lowered positions so that the aircraft can be moved with the
main landing gear thereof onto the plates 17 while the nose land-
ing gear is moved onto the plate 23 - provided, of course that the
length and angle of the beams 14 have been properly adjusted to
fit the aircraft in question. When the aircraft has been pulled
onto the three supporting plates in this manner, these plates can
be lifted by their associated hydraulic rams to the desired higher
level, thus raising the aircraft. The aircraft can then be
transported to a suitable storing place in the hangar or on the
hangar apron by rolling the apparatus across the surface 22.
As shown in FIG. 4, the raised aircraft, indicated at 28, can then
be located between two aircraft 29 standing directly on the surface
22 so that the wings thereof extend over the wings of the air-
craft 29 in overlapping relationship therewith, which means a
saving of space measuring twice the distance A indicated in FIG. 4.
The apparatus described can be arranged such that it
can be connected to a suitable tractor through a flange 30,
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extending from assembly 10, but it is also possible to combine
the apparatus with a suitable drive unit having a driver's place
arranged thereon, from which the apparatus can be controlled. A
hydraulic system including a tank and a pump for hydraulic fluid
can be included in the wheel unit 10 or in a separate drive unit,
and this hydraulic system should, of course, be arranged so that
the rams are driven synchronously in order to avoid tilting of
the aircraft. From an investment viewpoint, it is most advant-
ageous to arrange the drive unit such that it can temporarily
be connected to any particular apparatus to be operated, so that
the same drive unit can be used for individually operating several
different lifting apparatuses according to the invention.
Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, the embodiment illus-
trated therein comprises a chassis including a rigid frame 110,
a front wheel 111 and two rear wheels 112. The front wheel 111
is rotatably mounted in a fork 113 which is pivotally mounted in
a pivot bearing 114 so that the wheel can turn about a vertical
axis. The pivot bearing 114 is connected by a lazy tongs arrange-
ment including two upper links 115 and two lower links 116 to a
bracket 117 rigidly connected with and upstanding from the chassis
110 at the front end thereof. The lazy tongs arrangement formed
by the links 115 and 116 positively guides the pivot bearing 114
in such a way that this bearing always is maintained in the
position shown in FIG. 4, i.e. in a position in which the pivot
axis of the wheel 111 is kept in a substantially vertical position.
The rear wheels 112 are each rotatably mounted in a
fork 118 which is pivotally or fixedly mounted in a rear wheel
mounting sleeve 119 rigidly connected to an arm 120. This arm is
fixedly secured to a shaft 121 rotatably mounted in bearings on
the chassis 110, one of which is shown at 122 and is mounted on a
cross beam 123 projecting horizontally at right angles from the
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rear end of the chassis. A further bearing is provided for
the shaft 121 on the chassis at the inner end of the cross beam
123. On the shaft 121 is also fixedly mounted an arm 124 which
is connected by a link 125 extending in the longitudinal direction
of the chassis to an arm 126 fixedly mounted on the shaft 127
upon which the links 116 are also mounted as may be seen in FIG.
5. From the arm 126 extends a bracing link 128 to the pivot
bearing 114, such bracing link being connected thereto for pivotal
movement about the same axis as the lower links 116.
Thus, it will be seen that the front and rear wheels
111 and 112 are operatively interconnected for simultaneous swing-
ing movement vertically so that the front wheel 111 is swung
forwardly and upwardly when the rear wheels 112 are swung back-
wardly and upwardly and the front wheel is swung backwardly and
downwardly when the rear wheels are swung forwardly and downwardly.
To the arm 124 is pivotally connected the piston rod 129 of a
hydraulic ram, the cylinder 130 of which is pivotally connected
to a bracket 131 on the chassis 110, as shown at 132. The hy-
draulic ram is of the single-stroke type, the cylinder being
filled with pressurized hydraulic fluid in order to extend the
ram and thus swing the wheels downwardly in relation to the chassis,
and fluid being removed from the cylinder in order to allow the
wheels to move upwards.
The hydraulic ram 130 is operated by means of a pump
133 mounted on the pivot bearing 114 and provided with a lever 134
for operating the pump by a vertical reciprocating movement of
the lever, such movement being performed by manual operation of
the lever at the outer end thereof. The pump 133 may be combined
with a reservoir for hydraulic fluid, or a separate reservoir for
such fluid may be provided on the chassis and Connected by
suitable piping with the cylinder 130 of the hydraulic ram in a
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manner that is common practice in hydraulic jacks. By pumping
fluid into the cylinder 130 it is thus possible to raise the
chassis from a lower position, relative to a plane P, as indicated
in FIG. 5 to a raised position relative to a supporting plane P',
which may be a hangar floor,for example, the chassis falling under
gravity to the lower position when hydraulic fluid is being
withdrawn from the ram. A valve is arranged in the pump for
opening a draining connection from the cylinder 130 of the hy-
draulic ram to the reservoir and is operated by pressing down
the lever 134 beyond a predetermined pressure point, such being
common practice with hydraulic jacks.
The chassis 110 is provided with a deck 135 extending
from the front end of the chassis to the rear end thereof and
this deck has downwardly and inwardly sloping marginal side por-
tions 136. The rear end of the flute forms a downwardly sloping
ramp 137 the outer edge of which closely joins the surface sup-
porting the apparatus when the chassis thereof is in the lowered
position.
On each cross beam 123 there is rigidly connected a
supporting plate 138 having vertical side walls 139, and at the
rear end of each supporting plate there is pivotally mounted a
V-shaped rocker 140 which can be tilted on a cross shaft 141 be-
tween a first position in which the rear edge of the rocker abuts
the supporting surface on which the apparatus is positioned when
lowered, and a second position in which the forward end of the
rocker abuts the supporting plate 138.
When the aircraft storing apparatus described with
reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 is in the lowered position (see FIG. 7),
an aircraft 142 can be rolled on the supporting surface, indicated
at 143 in FIGS. 7 and 8 - such surface being a hangar floor or
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apron, for example. The nose landing gear 144 of the aircraft
enters the deck 135 vla the ramp 137. During the continued
movement of the aircraft the nose landing gear 144 arrives at
the front end of the chassis while the main landing gear 145 enters
the supporting plates 138 over the associated rockers 140, the
rockers forming ramps when tilted backwards against the surface
143. Then, when the main landing gear 144 has rolled onto the
supporting plates 138, the rockers 140 tilt fowards and in this
tilted position they serve as means for retaining the aircraft
in position on the apparatus. Additionally, the plates 138 may
form a depression extending transversely of the chassis and
receiving the wheels of the main landing gear.
The apparatus is lifted to the position shown in FIG.
8 in the manner described above, and the apparatus can then be
moved around on the surface 143 to transport the aircraft 142
to a suitable location for storage, in the manner described with
reference to FIG. 4. The apparatus can be operated manually by
means of a tow bar 146 (FIGS. 5 and 6) having a handle 147 and
connected by hooks 148 to projecting trunions of the front wheel
shaft in conventional manner.
It should be noted that aircraft of different sizes
can be accomodated on the aircraft storing apparatus of FIGS.
5 and 6, because the deck 135 is extended longitudinally and
the supporting surfaces 138 are extended transversely thus cover-
ing a wide range of distances between the front wheel and the
rear wheels and a wide range of spacings between the rear wheels,
respectively.
Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, a third embodiment of
the aircraft storing apparatus of the invention disclosed herein
is intended for use in connection with rather big aircraft such
as air-liners of a size,for example, of the same order as a
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Douglas DC-9.
The storing apparatus of FIGS. 9 and 10 includes a
sturdy chassis 200 formed by a longltudinal beam 201, a front
cross beam 202 and a rear cross beam 203. Wheels 204 are rotat-
ably mounted on the front beam 201 and wheels 205 are rotatably
mounted on the rear beam 203. At least the front wheels are
steerable. On a bracket 206 at the front end of the chassis there
is mounted by means of a lazy tongs linkage, including upper links
207 and lower links 208, a bucket type supporting plate 209 which
is guided by the lazy tongs linkage when displaced vertically
between a lowered position as shown in solid lines and a raised
position as shown in dot-and-dash lines to be maintained in a
horizontal orientation. Hydraulic rams 210 are arranged between
the bracket 206 and the supporting plate 209 for raising the
supporting plate from its lowered position to its raised position.
At the rear end of the chassis, two arms 211 - one at
each side of the chassis - are mounted for pivotal movement about
a traverse axis extending parallel to the rear cross beam 203 and ^`
adjacent thereto, such mounting being by means of lugs 212 pro-
jecting forwardly from the rear cross beam. At the outer ends of
each arm 211 there is provided a support having two mutually
perpendicular supporting flanges 213 and 214. When the arms 211
are in a lowered position as shown in solid lines in FIG. 9, the
flange 213 abuts the surface 215 supporting the aircraft storing
apparatus, such flange having a bevelled forward edge 216. The
flange 214, which extends vertically in the lowered position
of the apparatus, is in a horizontal position when the arms 211
are swung upwardly through 90 to the vertical position shown in
dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 9. In this position the flange 213
projects upwardly at the front edge of the flange 214. At the
rear edge of the flange 214 there are arranged two upstanding
abutments 217.
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Hydraulic rams 218 are connected between brackets 219
on the arms 211 and a mounting 220 on the longitudinal beam 201
for raising the arms between the lowered horizontal position and
the raised vertical position.
In front of the arms 211 there are provided two arms
221 which are pivoted to the beam 201 for swinging movement about
vertical axes 222. Rollers 223 are rotatably mounted at the
outer ends of the arms 221, and between brackets 224 on the arms
221 and brackets 225 on the longitudinal beam 201 there are mount-
ed hydraulic rams 226 for positively displacing the arms 221 be-
tween the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 10 and the
position shown in dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 10.
On each of the arms 211 is mounted a hydraulic ram
227 having abutment plates 228 which can be pressed against the
surface 215 when the arms 211 are in the lower position.
The several hydraulic rams included in this embodiment
of the aircraft storing apparatus are preferably connected to a
central power unit from which the supply of pressurized hydraulic
fluid to the hydraulic rams can be controlled as well as the
drainage of fluid from such rams.
When an aircraft (fragmentarily indicated at 229~ is to
be positioned on the apparatus, it is rolled backwards on the
surface 215 towards the apparatus, the support 209 and the arms
211 being ;n the lowered position and the arms 221 being in the
position shown in dot-and-dash lines. The main landing gear of
the aircraft is rolled onto the flanges 213 and the nose landing
gear is rolled onto the support 209. By the arms 221 being swung
backwards against the main landing gear wheels, the aircraft can
be positively moved into position. With the aircraft in position,
the support 209 and the arms 211 are raised by means of their
associated rams with an auxilliary force being applied initially
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for lifting the aircraft at the main landing gear b~ means of the
rams 227 which press against the surface 215. When the aircraft
has been raised it is securely maintained on the apparatus by
means of the flanges 213 in their vertical orientation and the
upstanding lugs 217.
The aircraft when lifted on the apparatus can be trans-
ported and stored in the manner described above with reference
to the embodiments previously described.
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