Patents Examined by Shewen Bian
  • Patent number: 4466772
    Abstract: A turbine is provided with a stationary shroud surrounding a rotor provided with a plurality of radially extending blades. The stationary shroud includes a plurality of spaced-apart lands defining therebetween openings to deflect the flow leakage from the high pressure side of each blade to the low pressure side of the respective blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 21, 1984
    Inventors: Ulo Okapuu, Kiritkumar V. Patel
  • Patent number: 4453890
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a fan blade includes an airfoil portion, a platform portion, a shank portion, and a generally axial dovetail portion of a predetermined axial dimension for matingly engaging a generally axial dovetail receiving slot of substantially the same predetermined axial dimension in a fan disk member. Aft cleat means, including a portion having substantially the same cross section as the dovetail portion, is provided and is integral with the dovetail portion and projects generally axially therefrom. The aft cleat means strengthens the dovetail portion. Methods are provided for fabricating such a blade and for strengthening existing blades. Other embodiments are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 12, 1984
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: James W. Brantley
  • Patent number: 4431371
    Abstract: A gas turbine in which hot gas is directed only over a portion or preselected number of the turbine blades and means are provided for directing a flow of a cooling gas over another portion or different preselected number of blades. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the means for providing cooling gas comprises a compressor means located adjacent the turbine. Preferably the gas turbine comprises a plurality of alternating compressor means and turbine stages wherein the direction of flow of cooling gas is countercurrent to that of the hot gas flowing through the turbine stages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 1982
    Date of Patent: February 14, 1984
    Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation
    Inventor: Wallace B. Thomson
  • Patent number: 4431376
    Abstract: A flow directing assembly 14 having an airfoil section or shape 28 of the type adapted for use in an axial flow gas turbine engine is disclosed. The cambered meanline MCL of the airfoil shape is formed of a front circular arc FA and a rear circular arc RA. A thickness distribution TD is applied to the meanline to form the convex suction surface 20 and the concave pressure surface 22. The airfoil section exhibits good aerodynamic performance as compared with an equivalent circular arc airfoil in a transonic flow field. A method for making the airfoil shape is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: forming a cambered meanline of two circular arcs; forming a thickness distribution about the conical chord line B.sub.t ; and applying thickness distribution to the cambered meanline such that a portion of the suction surface is stretched and a portion of the pressure surface is compressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 1980
    Date of Patent: February 14, 1984
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph H. Lubenstein, Brian A. Robideau, Alan K. Ross
  • Patent number: 4428712
    Abstract: Current energy is converted into shaft power in two stages;First, buoyant power units with stationary hydrofoil wings reach faster than the current speed by sweeping out a captive path.Second, turbines at said power units convert the fast relative local current into shaft power.Power units sweeping along the water surface, using cycloidal turbine methods, as well as power units sweeping on a submerged path, using axial flow turbine methods, are described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1980
    Date of Patent: January 31, 1984
    Inventors: Hans F. Wuenscher, Hertha A. Wuenscher, Administratrix
  • Patent number: 4422826
    Abstract: A propeller runner having swivelling blades, each integral with a journal engaged in two bearings respectively in the outer portion and the inner portion of the runner, and equipped with lateral connecting rods for manipulation in rotation.The inner central portion of the hub of the runner includes a spider 29 each arm of which consists of a radial journal 31 prolonged by a threaded portion 32. Each blade journal 23 is engaged over a spider journal 31 with a bearing 26 and is held by a nut 33 screwed onto the portion 32 with the interposition of a thrust bearing 30. The spider 29 for a four-bladed runner preferably consists of a core 39 through which passes a shaft 40.The invention is applicable to propeller runners having swivelling blades for turbines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1981
    Date of Patent: December 27, 1983
    Assignee: Neyrpic
    Inventors: Severin Casacci, Paul Jarriand
  • Patent number: 4419048
    Abstract: A trash pump having a mixed flow impeller has a housing with a rear wall through which the impeller shaft extends. A large front opening in the housing is sealingly closed by a readily detachable cover member wherein there is a port through which water enters the housing. Attached to the rear of the cover member is a volute that is received in the housing through said front opening therein and whereby water centrifuged from the impeller is guided in spiral flow to a side outlet in the housing. The rear portion of the volute, wherein there is an opening through which the impeller can pass, is adjacent to the rear wall of the housing all around the shaft. A front wall of the volute has an inlet opening in register with said port and has a rearwardly opening recess concentrically surrounding said inlet opening. An annular liner of tough elastomeric material, received in said recess, has a conical rearwardly divergent rear surface slightly spaced from front edge portions of the impeller vanes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1981
    Date of Patent: December 6, 1983
    Assignee: Wacker Corporation
    Inventors: Martin T. Pilachowski, Alan J. Ritz
  • Patent number: 4417849
    Abstract: A variable breadth centrifugal pump arrangement includes two intermeshing peller sections that are mounted to a common pump shaft so that one of the impeller sections is axially moveable relative to the other impeller section. The impeller sections are rotationally interconnected by a torque transmitting member in the form of a bellows element, which may comprise an axially resilient metal tube formed with a plurality of pleats or a plurality of radially spaced pleated metal tubes that are separated by elastomeric material. Another form of torque transmitting bellows element comprises a plurality of dish-shaped element connected together at their central and peripheral edge portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 29, 1983
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventor: Joseph H. Morris
  • Patent number: 4416545
    Abstract: A mixer having a mixing trough rotatable about a longitudinal axis with a charging and discharging opening and rotatable mixing and kneading blades within the trough is provided. A mixing shaft is connected to the blade and is driven by at least one hydraulic motor coupled directly to the mixing shaft. The motor is reversibly drivable by means of a displacement-controllable pressure pump. A driving clutch is provided between the mixing shaft and the mixing trough so that the mixing trough can be rotated and locked into different pivotal positions by an indexing fixing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1982
    Date of Patent: November 22, 1983
    Inventor: Heinz Krimmel
  • Patent number: 4415309
    Abstract: A gas turbine engine is provided with an annular sealing element which is adapted to provide a gas seal between relatively rotatable gas turbine components. The sealing element is in the form of a woven fabric which has metallic warp filaments, metallic weft filaments and metallic warp pile filaments. The free ends of the warp pile filaments are non-looped. The sealing element is brazed to one of the gas turbine engine components so that the free ends of the warp pile filaments abut the other gas turbine engine component in sealing engagement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 15, 1983
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Limited
    Inventor: Leslie G. Atterbury
  • Patent number: 4413947
    Abstract: A fan arrangement has a rotatable fan, a plurality of blades formed on the fan, and a shroud. The blades extend radially and are spaced circumferentially. The blades also extend perpendicularly to the radial direction. The base angle of each blade is set at a value of 55.degree. to 75.degree.. The shroud is located on the periphery of the fan so as to cover a part of the fan in such a manner that the fan is partially exposed at its downstream part and a clearance is formed therebetween. The covering percentage of the shroud relative to the fan is set at a value of 50% to 90%. The covering percentage is defined as 100.multidot.L.sub.2 /L.sub.1, where L.sub.1 is the axial width of the outer edge of each blade and L.sub.2 is the axial distance of the shroud from the downstream end thereof to a point in the same axial position as the upstream end of the outer edge of each blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 8, 1983
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Company, Limited
    Inventor: Nakanobu Seki
  • Patent number: 4407190
    Abstract: A latch assembly for a cylindrical baler for latching a bale discharge gate to the front section of the baler. The bale discharge gate is moveable by a hydraulic cylinder back and forth between a closed position for bale formation and open position for bale discharge. The latch assembly includes a latch member fixed to the front section of the baler; a latch hook, for engaging the latch member, pivotably mounted to the gate; and an actuator arm connected between the latch hook and the hydraulic cylinder for engaging and disengaging the latch hook with the latch member responsive to the retraction and extension of the cylinder. The improvement comprises a resiliently biased slidable connection between the latch hook for permitting the actuator arm to be moved responsive to the retraction of the cylinder plunger even though the latch hook may be restrained from movement due to misalignment of the latch hook with the latch member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 1982
    Date of Patent: October 4, 1983
    Assignee: Deere & Company
    Inventor: Leo G. Cheatum
  • Patent number: 4401410
    Abstract: A blade of the fan wheel of a diagonal-flow fan, which blade should ideally have a shape of a twisted double-curvature or undevelopable surface, is formed from a portion of a combination of a cylindrical plate and a planar plate tangent to the cylindrical plate or of a combination of a pair of mutually circumscribing cylindrical surfaces, which portion constitutes a developable surface. To realize the formation of a blade from the developable surface, lines of intersection between combined cylinder and planar plates or combined cylinders and a number of coaxial imaginary conical surfaces representing streamlines in the fan wheel are used as a basis for design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 1980
    Date of Patent: August 30, 1983
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshiyasu Nishikawa
  • Patent number: 4401411
    Abstract: A device for connecting the turbine blades of a turbine having a plate-shaped member provided at the radially outer end of each turbine blade and extended substantially at a right angle to the longitudinal plane of the turbine blade. The plate-shaped member is projected from the leading and trailing edges of the turbine blade, and is provided with through bores formed in each projected portion. Connecting members having cylindrical pins or the like projections are disposed between two adjacent turbine blades in such a manner that the projections are rotatably received by respective through bores. Namely, one of the connecting members is connected to the plate-shaped member of the leading edge of the turbine blade while the other connecting member is connected to the plate-shaped member of the trailing edge of the preceding adjacent turbine blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 30, 1983
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsukuni Hisano, Kazuo Ikeuchi, Makoto Nishimura, Hazime Sibaoka, Kiyoshi Namura, Akira Isida, Katsumi Oyabu
  • Patent number: 4398905
    Abstract: A fixed angle centrifuge rotor having a cavity is provided with a well adapted to receive a predetermined volume of a liquid having a predetermined specific gravity. The well is interconnected with the cavity by a substantially radially extending passageway such that when the rotor is rotated liquid moves from the well into the cavity to surround a container having a sample therein to thereby increase the hydrostatic pressure exerted on the sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 1982
    Date of Patent: August 16, 1983
    Assignee: E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventor: William A. Romanauskas
  • Patent number: 4397638
    Abstract: A continuous feed, solid bowl centrifuge with intermittent rim discharge. The centrifuge has first and second members mounted in fixed positions relative to each other for rotation about a common axis. Each member has a peripheral edge portion extending about the common rotational axis with the portions being spaced from each other to create an annular gap therebetween. A third or rim member is mounted for rotation with the first and second members about the common rotational axis. The rim member has a cylindrical surface extending between the peripheral edge portions of the first and second members and is dimensioned to close the gap therebetween. The rim member is supported with its cylindrical surface substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the centrifuge; and, an opening-closing mechanism is provided that maintains the cylindrical surface substantially parallel to the rotational axis as it is moved to open and close the gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 9, 1983
    Assignee: Fiberfuge Company
    Inventors: Peter C. Wilson, Eudore A. Berry
  • Patent number: 4396352
    Abstract: Two position fan blade attachments or blade iron assemblies for sealing fans provide for the individual adjustment of the paddle-type blades into two preselected angular positions providing for either a downward or upward flow of air. The blade attachments provide detents or interengaging locking cams which are maintained in either one of the preselected positions by a spring and by the centrifugal force applied to the blade. In one embodiment, the interengaging structure includes a leaf spring which has two recesses or openings engageable with a ball. In another embodiment pairs of inclined ramps are mutually engageable with corresponding pairs of camming recesses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1981
    Date of Patent: August 2, 1983
    Assignee: TRW Inc.
    Inventor: Richard A. Pearce
  • Patent number: 4396351
    Abstract: An engine cooling fan driven by an engine and located in a shroud extending from a radiator to the engine including a hub having a cylindrical rear end portion for mounting the fan on the engine, a plurality of blades provided on the hub and a ring fixedly provided on tip portions of the blades and extending in an axial direction so as to fully encircle the tips of the blades and forming a radial clearance between the shroud and the ring, the ring including a rear end portion positioned axially rearwardly of the cylindrical rear end of the shroud and extending radially outwardly of the shroud thereby restricting air flow from the rear side of the fan into the radial clearance formed between the shroud and the ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1980
    Date of Patent: August 2, 1983
    Assignee: Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaharu Hayashi, Shunzo Tsuchikawa, Takanobu Hori
  • Patent number: 4395198
    Abstract: A support structure for a hydraulic turbine is disclosed where the turbine has a generally horizontal drive shaft enclosed within a bulb housing. The housing is contained within a hydraulic passage formed by duct walls within the structures foundation. A structural inner stay cone is provided in the bulb housing perpendicular to the axis of the drive shaft. An outer stay cone is provided in the duct wall coplanar with the inner stay cone. A pair of vertical stay columns extend from the bottom of the outer vane to the top of the outer stay cone while passing through and affixed to the inner stay cone. The stay columns are perpendicular to the drive shaft with the shaft extending between the two stay columns. Vertical piers abutting the stay columns extend from the duct wall to the housing both above and beneath the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 1981
    Date of Patent: July 26, 1983
    Assignee: Allis-Chalmers Corporation
    Inventor: Thomas R. Schucker
  • Patent number: 4391565
    Abstract: A nozzle guide vane assembly for a turbomachine comprises a plurality of segments mounted in an outer casing by means of pins which locate in slots. The slots are angled relative to radial planes so that the reaction force exerted by the pin normal to the length of the slot produces a tangential and radial force. The radial force opposes the couples produced on each segment by gas loads and the tangential reaction force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1981
    Date of Patent: July 5, 1983
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Limited
    Inventor: Trevor H. Speak