Abstract: A thrust reverser for use with fan jet type aircraft gas turbine engines. A ring around the aft edge of the nacelle is translatable aft to uncover a series of cascade sets, each of which includes a plurality of turning vanes that direct air passing through the cascades in a reverse direction. The actuation system includes a hydraulic cylinder or the like in islands between cascade sets. A blocker door assembly is positioned within the nacelle adjacent to each cascade set during normal engine operation, with the blocker door forming a portion of the inner streamlined wall of the nacelle. The forward end of the door is hingedly secured to a cascade door support and does not move during deployment of the ring. The aft end of the door is hingedly secured to a link, the other end of which is secured to the moving ring. As the ring is translated aft, the door pivots to a position blocking at least part of the air flow through the duct between nacelle and engine core and directs it outwardly though the cascade set.

Abstract: A thrust reverser system for fan jet type aircraft gas turbine engines using a rack and pinion arrangement for moving blocker doors between the stowed and deployed positions. Blocker doors fill a plurality of circumferentially arranged openings.

Abstract: A hinge system for a curved surface that has several first hinges arranged along a straight hinge line and at least one second hinge offset from the hinge line. In a preferred embodiments, these hinges are fastened to a pylon and support a curved portion of an aircraft jet engine cowl, which may contain a thrust reverser assembly, to permit the cowl to pivot away from the engine for examination or repair of internal components. The hinges also accommodate engine thermal expansion which changes the distance between hinges along the cowl. The first hinges have their hinge points lying along the straight cowl hinge line. The second hinges include a plurality of short first links pivotally connected to the supporting pylon, and a plurality of short second links pivotally connected to the first links and the cowl. The link lengths are selected so that the assembly pivots about a hinge point outside the hinge structure that lies along the straight hinge line formed by the first hinges.

Abstract: A thrust reverser system for fan jet type aircraft gas turbine engines using a "sliding hinge" arrangement for moving blocker doors between the stowed and deployed positions. Blocker doors fill a plurality of radially arranged openings in an engine nacelle near the aft end of the nacelle. In the stowed position, each blocker door forms and inner and outer streamlined surface corresponding to the nacelle walls, with no actuator mechanisms extending into the air flow stream within the nacelle. Each blocker door is moved to the deployed position by an extensible rod, such as a hydraulic piston rod, extending between the nacelle near the forward edge of the opening and the approximate centerline of the door. As the door begins to move rearwardly, slider pins on the door edges slide along tracks on the adjacent nacelle islands between adjacent openings.