Abstract: This sail power device consists of a sail having a minimally stretchable material along the peripheral sides thereof, a rigid means disposed along the horizontal axis of said sail and connected to the minimally stretchable material, means disposed at the opposed horizontal end portions of said sail to bend sail end portions in opposite direction, means for supporting the upper end of said sail, and a spring-biased means connected to the lower end of said sail.

Abstract: A rotor blade design capable of long term reliable operation in a high temperature environment is disclosed. Various cooling concepts adapted to preserve the mechanical properties of the blade material are developed. A cooling system for the blade is built around a multiple supply construction in which cooling medium from a first supply is mixed internally of the blade with cooling medium from a second supply.

Abstract: The mounting assembly of a rotary wing aircraft is formed to include a ceal headpiece which operates to support the rotor blades of the aircraft, which blades are mounted to extend radially outwardly from the central headpiece. The headpiece includes rotor mounting supports having a bifurcated configuration consisting of two arms each having a flat, generally planar shape which extend at a right angle relative to the plane of the rotor. The headpiece may be formed of a pair of generally congruent plate members with an intermediate spacer member located therebetween, with the plate members and the spacer member being integrally joined together in a unitary structure made of composite fiber material.

Abstract: A new and improved type of rotor blade assembly is disclosed for use in a power-generating, wind-driven turbine. The present invention comprises a plurality of support blocks each mounting a rotor blade and captivated between two rings so as to form a cylindrical rotor array with radially-extending blades.The present invention offers the dual advantages of reduced fabrication costs and increased ease of manufacture.

Abstract: A turbine shroud assembly includes an expansion control ring to support segmented rotor shrouds. The expansion control ring is restrained by adjacent manifold rings, yet free to thermally expand radially outwardly without loss of axial alignment with the associated turbine wheel. The ported manifold rings are positioned on either side of an outwardly extending leg of the expansion control ring to direct cooling fluid delivered thereto toward the expansion control ring. A spacer ring surrounds the expansion control ring and restrains the expansion control ring relative to the manifold rings. The spacer ring maintains axial alignment of the expansion control ring with the turbine wheel. Cooling fluid is exhausted into the main hot gas stream, both upstream and downstream of the turbine wheel thus substantially preventing hot gases from affecting the expansion control ring.

Abstract: A helicopter rotor includes a rotor head having, for each of a plurality of rotor blades, an elastomeric bearing and a damper that is arranged to provide controlled restraint of rotor blade movement in both the flap and lead/lag planes. The damper can be arranged to exhibit either substantially equal stiffness in both operational planes or any desired stiffness ratio. In a preferred embodiment of the latter arrangement, the desired stiffness in the respective planes are provided by separate components incorporated in the single damper. The damper may be situated either inboard or outboard of the elastomeric bearing.

Abstract: A cambered helicopter blade having a swept and tapered tip, and having linear twist throughout the outer 70 percent of the blade span and nonlinear twist inboard thereof.

Abstract: A centrifugal compressor for a gas turbine turbo-shaft engine includes a stationary shroud cover over the inducer section of an impeller in the centrifugal compressor including a plurality of raised reinforcing bridges at the leading edge of the outer surface of the cover and having an annular control slot formed inboard of the bridges to communicate the inner surface of the shroud cover with surrounding gas and wherein the shroud surrounds an impeller which produces a variable cover static pressure at the point of the control slot so it serves combined functions of causing an inflow of gas from exteriorly of the cover into the impeller to add to the inlet flow to the impeller under high speed conditions of compressor operation and wherein the same slots serve to bleed gas flow from the impeller to a point exteriorly of the compressor at part speeds of rotation of the impeller thereby to flow stabilize the impeller at part speed phases of operation thereof.

Abstract: A turbine blade tip seal assembly for controlling the blade tip clearance between a flexible outer shroud and the tips of a thermally expansible row of turbine blades on a turbine rotor includes a fixed outer shroud with a pressure deflectable wall portion thereon located in surrounding, radially outwardly relationship with blade tips on the blades of a turbine rotor and wherein an excessive blade tip to shroud wall spacing is maintained when the engine is at cold start conditions; said turbine blades of the turbine rotor expanding in response to increases in operating temperature within the engine during turbine engine operation to partially close the excessive blade tip to shroud clearance and further including pressurizable means responsive to turbine operation to produce pressure bias on the deflectable wall to cause it to be deflected raidally inwardly to further reduce the excessive blade tip clearance so as to produce a resultant operative clearance between the tip of the turbine rotor and the shroud t

Abstract: A blade for a wind turbine has a shell of nonuniform wall thickness and is fabricated by helically winding in a single pass a plurality of turns of a filament-reinforced tape around a form with each successive turn of the tape overlapping the preceding one in an amount sufficient to establish desired thickness, the thickness varying along the length of the blade.

Abstract: High temperature resistant turbine engine shrouds are formed of an amphoteric refractory oxide, a phosphate binding agent and optionally a stabilizer, reinforcement and/or porosity controller.

Abstract: A turbomachinery blade including a hollow interior is provided with an improved tip cap comprising first and second members each made of an alloy of a composition and properties different from the other. The first member, in the form of a closure plate bonded to sidewalls of the hollow body, is of a nickel-base or cobalt-base superalloy casting characterized by high mechanical strength properties at elevated temperatures. The second member is a rib of the shape of and bonded to the first member and is of a cast alloy characterized by the combination of resistance to oxidation, sulfidation and thermal fatigue at elevated temperatures. The second member provides an outer tip extension of the blade.

Abstract: In a gas turbine rotor of disc-type construction with a tie rod braced at least at one location along the length thereof against compressor or turbine discs by ring-shaped intermediate members, the intermediate members includes substantially conically expansible turning rings having a wider diameter end engageable in a circular groove formed in a lateral surface of one of the discs, the turning rings having at the smaller diameter end thereof an inner peripheral surface with which they are braced on the tie rod.

Abstract: A structure for interlocking relatively thin sheet material with a relatively heavy member, such as, for example a hub member with a sheet metal fan blade structure and the like to provide a rigid durable interlocking connection therebetween, in which, in the example given, the hub member is provided with an annular sleeve which extends through a bore in the central portion of the fan blade or other member, the hub member having an upstanding flange in the form of an annular shoulder spaced rearwardly from the free end of the sleeve and of greater diameter than the latter, with the shoulder being radially spaced from the sleeve by a groove having a radial width approximately equal to the thickness of the sheet member.

Abstract: An improved windage nut for fastening components of a gas turbine rotor assembly is disclosed. The outer portion of the nut has two lateral extensions for meeting with similarly shaped nuts adjacent to said nut to prevent rotation of the nut, and in combination with a plurality of similarly shaped nuts forms a ring shaped member having a smooth outer surface whereby friction and stresses are reduced during rotation of the rotor.

Abstract: An improved cooling system for a gas turbine is disclosed. A plurality of V-shaped notch weirs are utilized to meter a coolant liquid from a pool of coolant into a plurality of platform and airfoil coolant channels formed in the buckets of the turbine. The V-shaped notch weirs are formed in a separately machined cylindrical insert and serve to desensitize the flow of coolant into the individual platform and airfoil coolant channels to design tolerances and non-uniform flow distribution.

Abstract: A double axial flow turbine structure having rotor cooling on the upstream side of the turbine's inlet or control stages with lower pressure turbine stages being situated axially downstream from the control stages. Motive fluid flow through the control stages is in opposite axial directions. Apertures in the control stages' rotatable disc portions of the rotor cause motive fluid which has been expanded through the control stages to be pumped into a cooling space formed axially between the control stages and radially between the rotor and a stationary structure which constitutes either one or two nozzle chambers which direct the motive fluid into the control stages. Motive fluid leakage between the stationary structure and the control stage discs is minimized by a first set of seals disposed between each control stage disc and the stationary structure.

Abstract: The present invention relates to internal and shaft outlet seals of a pump. On both sides of a paddle-wheel are arranged a pair of coaxial discs (22-23) and (24-25), the face of one disc being smooth and the face of the other disc having spiral grooves, one of the discs of each pair being interlocked in rotation with wheel 5, whereby the liquid between two discs is subjected to a pressure increase radially outwardly compensating at least for the pressure increase due to pumping by wheel 5.

Abstract: An improved trap seal for open circuit liquid cooled turbines is disclosed. The trap seal of the present invention includes an annular recess formed in the supply conduit of cooling channels formed in the airfoil of the turbine buckets. A cylindrical insert is located in the annular recesses and has a plurality of axial grooves formed along the outer periphery thereof and a central recess formed in one end thereof. The axial grooves and central recess formed in the cylindrical insert cooperate with the annular recess to define a plurality of S-shaped trap seals which permit the passage of liquid coolant but prohibit passage of gaseous coolant.

Abstract: A cast metal turbine wheel is made comprising a cylindrical disc with equiaxed grains and integral blades with columnar grains oriented substantially parallel to the leading and trailing blade edges. The blades are solidified unidirectionally by withdrawing heat through chill means located adjacent the mold at the blade tips. Cooling is inhibited from other blade surfaces by retaining cast metal in mold portions located above and below the blades. The disc portion of the mold is insulated so that it cools slowly to promote grain nucleation throughout the metal therein and equiaxed grain growth.