Glide-A-Raptor
No manufacturer of Flying Model Rocket Kits at present have a rocket that carries four gliders at once, have gliders that are dual purpose, have gliders that are released in the way Glide-A-Raptor's gliders are released, or have the flight characteristics that Glide-A-Raptor has. Glide-A-Raptor releases its gliders in a Fleur-de-lis pattern; it often reminds you of a break away flight pattern that is preformed by the Blue Angels. It is a sight to see. All 4 gliders are long delta wing gliders with a steep angle. This steep angle enables 4 gliders to be mounted onto a single rocket with a symmetry that enables the rocket to use the gliders as if they were permanent fins for the stability of the rocket during acceleration and flight.
Glide-A-Raptor is a flying model rocket that uses applied physics to produce a very unique type of flight in the hobby of Model Rocketry. The name comes from the Dinosaur—Velociraptor.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONGlide-A-Raptor was invented to satisfy a long standing frustration I have experienced with a type of Model Rocketry called “Boost Gliders”. All Boost Gliders in the hobby I have seen and researched are made of balsa wood. Balsa wood models can take hours to build properly, and or can be destroyed in seconds. None of the balsa wood boost gliders have flight characteristics that satisfy me. The idea is to design, build and fly a new prototype boost glider rocket that can bring new excitement to the hobby. Glide-A-Raptor has flight characteristics so unique, that it even impressed my oldest brother, The Late Stephen Huron Collins who was a highly decorated FAA Certified Aircraft Mechanic. He and my brother Jim Collins, and his son Matt Collins encouraged me to peruse a Patton for this unique model rocket.
Drawing 1 of 9
This is a simple, distant view of the model rocket.
Drawing 2 of 9
This is a closer view of drawing number 1, showing two of the four gliders on the rocket.
Drawing 3 of 9
This is a fully detailed close-up view showing how one of the four gliders connects to the rocket to help understand how important the Engine/Release Mechanism Sub-Assembly is. This Engine/Release Mechanism is item number 15 on the Legend.
Drawing 4 of 9
This is the closest detail of the Engine/Release Mechanism. It shows the docking area of two connected gliders.
Drawing 5 of 9
This is the Engine/Release Mechanism, by itself. The top half of the drawing is a side view showing three of the four docking pins. The Bottom half of the drawing is a Top view where all four of the docking pins can be seen.
Drawing 6 of 9
This is a top view of the simple delta wing glider. The elevons are identified.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevon
Drawing 7 of 9
This is a bottom view of the simple delta wing glider.
The Docking lug Stand-Off and the Docking Lug can be seen.
Drawing 8 of 9
This is a Side view of the simple delta wing glider. One of the two Elevons as well as the Docking lug Stand-Off and the Docking Lug are identified here.
Drawing 9 of 9
This drawing shows the rocket without the Engine/Release Mechanism and without the gliders. This is the only drawing where Legend Item Number 20 (The single Fin) can be seen.
The Glide-A-Raptor—flying model rocket is a rocket falls under the category “Boost Gliders”. It carries four parasite gliders which are simple steep angle delta wing paper airplanes made in the conventional way, but they are made out of Card Stock paper instead of notebook paper or copier paper. Please refer to the Parts Legend in the “Drawings Description” section of this document, as it may help in understanding the necessary components of this invention.
1.
This invention begins with selecting the right card stock paper to make the Gliders. With the first Prototype I flew, the gliders were made of simple File Folder Paper stock. For the Production models, I chose Michaels Arts and Crafts to get the card stock paper, because they carry a special brand called “Recollections”.
This card stock paper is of the same thickness as file folder paper, but it comes in different colors, and the dimensions are precise at 8½″×11″.
Michaels Arts and Crafts LINK—1
2.
Next, the Body tube and nose cone must be selected.
I chose Apogeerockets.com to purchase both parts for the prototypes, and the production model. The key point here is that the inside Diameter of the Body Tube is only slightly larger than the outside diameter of a standard Estes Model Rocket Engine.
Or in plain English, a Standard Estes Model Rocket Engine fits inside of the Body Tube just right, without the need to install a special engine adapter.
Nose Cone—PNC-18C
Apogeerockets.com Part Number 19802
- Part No. 19802
- Outside Diameter 0.736″ (18.7 mm)
- Nose Length 2.25″ (57 mm)
Shoulder Length 0.63″ (16 mm)
- Body Tube—BT-20
Apogeerockets.com Part Number 10086
- Part No. 10086
- 18″ Long
- Inside Diameter 0.71″ (18 mm)
- Outside Diameter 0.736″ (18.7 mm)
3.
Next the Engine/Release Mechanism Sub-Assembly needs to be fabricated.
This is what I believe is the Patentable component of this invention.
The Engine/Release Mechanism has two unique components—Square Basswood dowel stock which is used to make the Docking Pins for the Gliders (Legend Part Number 9) and Square Brass Tube Stock which is used to make the Docking Lugs on the Gliders themselves (Legend Part Number 14). The Square Brass lug on the Glider docks on the Square Basswood Pin on the Engine assembly for flight. The Square Basswood Dowel Stock is ⅛″ thick, and The Square Brass tube stock is 5/32″ thick. When the Square Basswood dowel is gently sanded on all sides, it slides perfectly into the square Brass tube stock with no binding or side play. This is critical. The gliders must remain motionless for flight, yet they must be released quickly after the rocket reaches its peak altitude. Square docking pins and square docking lugs make this possible. The engine ejects from end the bottom of the body tube after the fuel runs out, setting all four gliders free. Yet since the gliders remain motionless during flight, they also act as fins for the rocket during flight, keeping its trajectory nearly strait up.
Docking Pin (4 Per Engine)
- 1½″ Long
- ⅛″ Thick Square Basswood Dowel Stock
- Midwest Products
- 24 pieces per bundle.
- ⅛×⅛×24 Basswood SKU# 4044W
- $6.96 QTY:
- Midwestproducts—Web Link
Docking Lug—One Per Glider (4 Gliders per rocket)
- ½″ Long
- 5/32″ Inside Diameter Square Brass,
- K & S Engineering Part Number K+S152
- http://www.ksmetals.com/products.html
- http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/k+s/k+s152.htm
Now it's time to talk about Legend Part number 6, this is the Engine Wrap.
The underside of the four 1½″ Long ⅛″ Square basswood docking pins must stand above the surface of the body tube about 3/32″. To make this possible, a ¾″ wide and 11½″ Long strip is cut out of typical File Folder Card Stock. This strip is wound around and glued to the bottom of the engine. FOUR 1½″ long ⅛″ Square docking pins are glued on top of the Engine wrap facing up with the bottom of the pins flush with the bottom of the engine. ¾″ of the pins protrude up above the engine wrap. The pins are glued on perpendicular from each other in a square pattern. The Engine assembly is now complete. Drawing 5 of 9 shows this.
The Engines used are—Estes C6-3 or B6-0
http://www.estesrockets.com/rockets/engines/1608-b6-0
http://www.estesrockets.com/rockets/engines/1613-c6-3
4.
The Body Tube.
The most important part of the body tube is Legend Part Number 4, the Kick Ring.
It is a ¼″ Wide and 8″ Long strip of File Folder stock paper, and it is wound around and glued flush to one end of the body tube. When the Engine Assembly is inserted into the bottom of the Body Tube, The underside of the four docking pins (Legend Part No. 9)
Rest flush against the outer surface of the Kick Ring. The Outer Surface of the Engine Wrap (Legend Part No. 6) also aligns flush with the outer surface of the kick ring. The purpose of the kick ring is so that when the engine runs out of fuel and ejects out the bottom of the body tube, it does not carry the gliders with it. When the Gliders are docked onto the rocket vie the docking pins for flight, the little brass lugs on the gliders stop at the kick ring. The engine separates from the bottom of the body tube easily but the gliders can't move. After the engine falls completely away from the body tube, then all four gliders fall away and fly. The Body Tube is 18 inches long, and the Nose cone is taped securely to the top of the body tube. It never separates. This provides good “Ejection” pressure for the engine to eject rapidly out of the bottom of the body tube when the fuel runs out. A single small fin is glued onto the bottom of the body tube just above the kick ring. This fin is shown on Drawing 9 of 9 only. This fin is simply there to break the fall of the body tube so it doesn't fall strait down. The Launch lug is installed next. It is simple round plastic tube stock at 5/32″ diameter and it is 2½″ Long. It is glued (or tapped) the surface of the body tube, 3 inches from the bottom. The rocket is installed onto a Launch Rod via the launch lug, for flight. This rod is ⅛″ Thick round steel and is three feet long. The Launch Lug slides the rocket along the Launch Rod after ignition and liftoff until it is free in the air.
5.
The Fin—
See drawing page 9 of 9.
The Body tube has a single fin glued onto it. After the rockets flight is complete, the engine/release mechanism, and gliders separate away from the body tube. The fin is there to break the fall of the body tube so it does not descend in a direct nose dive.
The size and shape of this fin can vary. I chose to make the fin out of 3/32″ thick balsa wood. The shape is approximately that of a Parallelogram. The leading edge is 3-⅛″ long, the Trailing edge is 2-⅜″ long, the root edge is 2-¾″ long and the outer edge is 1-⅝″ long.
6.
Now let's return to the Gliders themselves—Legend Part Number 11.
These simple steep angle delta wing gliders . . . although they are made of card stock paper instead of notebook paper, are made the same way as the ones you made in grade school, threw them around in class, and then got in trouble for it. This is where the pictures I have provided will help understand the gliders, and the entire flying model rocket kit. The next components to discuss are on the gliders and they are the Docking Lug Stand-Off and The Docking Lug. These are Legend Part Numbers 13, and 14. For the Stand-Off, a small piece if 1/8″ thick balsa wood is cut to 1½″ Long×¾″ Wide. The ½″ Long 5/32″ Wide Square Brass Docking Lug is secured to one edge of the balsa wood with very strong tape. See Drawing 8 of 9 to visualize this. A ¾″ long Slit is cut in the underside spine of the glider at 4 ¾″ From the back of the glider. ¾″ or half of the stand off is glued inside the glider frame through this slit. ¾″ still protrudes out the bottom of the glider, reveling the exposed docking lug on it. This distance is just right so that the narrow body tube can still actually accommodate four gliders for flight.
Staples are used (Legend Part Number 19) to keep the paper folds tightly together in the nose, and at the back of the glider, to keep the wings from separating. Scotch invisible tape may be used to secure and strengthen the shape of the glider even further, but it is not absolutely necessary. Finally, The Elevons must be mentioned.
The Elevons, Legend Part Number 12 are what make the glider fly so beautifully.
The shape and angle of the elevons are critical. The glider has two elevons. One for each wing. They are 3/16″ of an inch at the wing tip, and taper to zero at the glider center line (Legend Part Number 16). They are quite small, but that is quite enough to keep the glider from going into a nose dive when they are raised to 30 degrees up.
Just in case it is difficult to understand how to make a paper airplane, articles, images, and videos are easy to find on the internet. The two websites listed here below show how to make the steep angle delta wing paper airplane used in my Glide-A-Raptor Flying model rocket.
http://www.10paperairplanes.com/how-to-make-paper-airplanes/03-the-arrow.html
http://www.chow.com/how—839_make-paper-airplane.html
To conclude,
Careful implementation of the elevons produced the following results with Prototype 3.
I launched Prototype 3 in a large field behind a high school. The field ended up being too small, but I didn't know it until later. One of the gliders Flew 25 feet above the tree line into the woods behind me. The tree line was nearly 100 feet high, and 50 yards away from me. Another glider flew 50 feet above the high school, across the road, and into a creek on the other side.
Claims
1. The claim of the Glide-A-Raptor—Flying Model Rocket is strait forward.
- Make a single model rocket capable of carrying 4 gliders. The gliders should be cheap and easy to make. The rocket should provide fantastic results, compared to the money spent to build it.
- Glide-A-Raptor is cheap, easy to build and provides a lot of Bang for the Buck.
- Glide-A-Raptor has a unique release mechanism.
- The gliders are dual purpose, as described in the Abstract. Four Prototypes of this rocket have been built, tested, and witnessed. All prototype launches were successful.
- Prototype 1 Saturday Sep. 25, 2010
- Prototype 2 Sunday Apr. 17, 2011
- Prototype 3 Saturday Jun. 11, 2011
- Prototype 4 Wednesday Dec. 28, 2011
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 28, 2012
Publication Date: May 1, 2014
Inventor: Thomas Eric Collins (Virginia Beach, VA)
Application Number: 13/662,479
