Patents by Inventor Mark Stephen Smith

Mark Stephen Smith has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Method for creating an aeronautic sound shield having gas distributors arranged on the engines, wings, and nose of an aircraft
    Patent number: 7407131
    Abstract: The present invention blocks and/or attenuates the upstream travel of acoustic disturbances or sound waves from a flight vehicle or components of a flight vehicle traveling at subsonic speed using a local injection of a high molecular weight gas. Additional benefit may also be obtained by lowering the temperature of the gas. Preferably, the invention has a means of distributing the high molecular weight gas from the nose, wing, component, or other structure of the flight vehicle into the upstream or surrounding air flow. Two techniques for distribution are direct gas injection and sublimation of the high molecular weight solid material from the vehicle surface. The high molecular weight and low temperature of the gas significantly decreases the local speed of sound such that a localized region of supersonic flow and possibly shock waves are formed, preventing the upstream travel of sound waves from the flight vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2008
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventors: Stephen Corda, Mark Stephen Smith, David Daniel Myre