Patent ID: 8500059
Filing Date: 2013-08-06
Classification: B25B,B64F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A helicopter rotor blade tie down system comprising: a flat structure having two adjacent fabric layers, each of the two fabric layers having four sides and being attached along three sides to the other fabric layer with the flat structure being open on one side to facilitate the placement of an end of the helicopter rotor blade in an interior of the device, an exterior surface of each of the two fabric layers of the flat structure having a sleeve fixed thereto adjacent the open side of the flat structure that extends parallel to the open side of the flat structure, each sleeve having an opening for receiving in the sleeve a component of a helicopter rotor blade tie down installation tool, and a tether having an anchored end of the tether fixed to the flat structure in the region of the open side of the flat structure and a free end of the tether, whereby the tether may be fixed to a structural member of the helicopter spaced apart from the helicopter rotor blade to place tension on the flat structure and restrict movement of the helicopter rotor blade; and a helicopter rotor blade tie down installation tool comprising a pole having a pair of spaced apart substantially parallel arms fixed to the pole that extend away from the pole and are oriented substantially perpendicular to the pole to be received in members on the exterior of a helicopter rotor blade tie down device, the substantially parallel arms being spaced apart longitudinally with respect to a longitudinal axis of the pole, the substantially parallel arms are the arms of a U shaped member that is fixed to the pole in a detachable manner, the U shaped member being fixed to the pole with the base of the U shaped member proximal to the pole on a side of the pole distal from the substantially parallel arms in a manner whereby the arms remain attached to the pole when the pole is moved in a direction away from the arms, and the pole is hollow and has a pair of diametrically opposed parallel slots extending from an end of the pole, the pole has a pair of aligned passageways extending therethrough, and the U shaped member is attached to the pole in a detachable manner by extending one of the arms of the U through the slots and one of the arms through the passageways.