Abstract:
The method of preventing the dangers of birds entering the jet engines of an airplane during take-off and landing by rotating a portion of the jet engines cowling to a blocking position in front of the jet engine during take-off and landing and the rotating the same portion of the jet engine cowling back away from the front of the jet engine during high speed cruising at altitudes.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    N/A 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    N/A 
       INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISK 
       [0003]    N/A 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The field of this invention of that of the safety of jet engine air planes and the passengers on board when the jet engines are shut down due to the ingesting of birds with the potential of catastrophic engine failure with the possibility of the plane crashing. 
         [0005]    There have more than 100,000 bird strikes since 1990 according to the FM with 11 people dying. Recently a plane with probably 200 people went down in the Hudson River in New York. If the pilot had not been so lucky as to have landed in the river, the plane would have hit the buildings in New York, killing the 200 passengers plus potentially many more on the ground. 
         [0006]    Jet engines are designed to ingest a bird and not stop running. The problem happens when the plane hits a flock of birds and numerous birds enter the engine at the same time and causing the engine to shut down. The problem will be worse near the ground when a flock of birds is scared into the air and the pilot does not have time to react and take evasive actions. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The object of this invention is to provide a method of preventing birds from entering the engine of a jet plane during take off and landing. 
         [0008]    A second object of the present invention is to provide a method of preventing birds from entering the engine of a jet plane in such a way that the fuel efficiency of the plane is not compromised at cruising altitudes. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is 3 orthographic views and one perspective view of a plane with the rotary style embodiment of this invention in the low altitude, low speed mode. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is 3 orthographic views and one perspective view of a plane with the rotary style embodiment of this invention in the high altitude, high speed cruise mode. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a section view of the jet engine using a rotary style embodiment of the present invention in the high altitude, high speed cruise mode. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a section view of the jet engine using a rotary style embodiment of the present invention in the low altitude, low speed mode. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is 3 orthographic views and one perspective view of a plane with the telescopic style embodiment of this invention in the low altitude, low speed mode. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is 3 orthographic views and one perspective view of a plane with the telescopic style embodiment of this invention in the high altitude, high speed cruise mode. 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a section view of the jet engine using a telescopic style embodiment of the present invention in the high altitude, high speed cruise mode. 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a section view of the jet engine using a telescopic style embodiment of the present invention in the low altitude, low speed mode. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]      FIG. 1  shows a jet plane  1  with jet engines  3  and  5  mounted on wings  7  and  9  respectively. Inlet  10  of jet engine  3  is shown to be pointing directly to the side. Surface  12  which faces the front of the plane and which will be impacted by birds is shown to be a generally cylindrical area, of approximately the same radius as the outer diameter  14  of the jet engine. 
         [0018]    This means that in this configuration, all of the air coming into the jet engine  3  is coming from the side rather than from the front, and that a bird coming from the front will not enter the jet engine  3 . This configuration eliminates the ram jet effect of the jet engine which is a benefit at high speeds. This will impact the performance of the jet engine, but as jet engines run on the runway before taking off it obviously does not stop the engines from accelerating the plane. If it is preferred, instead of the inlet to the jet engine from being at ninety degrees from the direction of travel, an angle of only eighty five or eighty degrees can be selected. At these angles, some ram jet benefit can be seen from the air coming into the engine and can limit the number of birds entering the engine rather than completely preventing it. 
         [0019]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the jet plane  1  of  FIG. 1  is shown with the inlet to the engine pointing straight toward the front. If this configuration is assumed after the low speed and low altitude take-off, the engine will see the full ram jet benefit of incoming air and the efficiency of the jet engine will not be compromised at cruising altitudes. Literally for all practical purposes, the jet engine has been changed to being a standard jet engine by rotation about the interface plane indicated as  20  which will be discussed in the following figures. 
         [0020]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , a jet engine  3  is shown with the adaptations of the present invention including the interface plane  20  and showing inlet  24  and surface  26 . Jet engine fan blades  30  are shown within the cowling  32 . The cowling  32  is divided into the fixed portion  34  which is fixed to the airplane wing and the rotary portion  36 . At the interface  20  between the fixed portion  34  and the rotary portion  36  are bearings  38  and gear  40 . Gear  40  is engaged by a small gear  42  which in turn is mounted on the drive motor  44  which is in turn is mounted on cowling fixed portion  34 . Drive motor  44  has a rotary encoder  46  which can be used to control and set the number of motor rotations to move the rotary portion  36  from the blocking (side inlet) to the non-blocking (front inlet) positions. 
         [0021]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , the drive motor  44  has rotated the rotary portion  36  approximately 180 degrees to move surface  26  to a position blocking the air passage where inlet  24  was in  FIG. 3 , and has moved the inlet  24  to the side generally where surface  26  was in  FIG. 3 . In this condition as the jet engine moves forward (to the left in the  FIG. 4 ) birds will be blocked from entering the inlet  24  of the jet engine  3 . 
         [0022]    Referring now to  FIG. 5 , another embodiment of this invention is shown. The jet engine  50  on airplane  52  is configured to block air from entry at from the front  54 . Inlet  56  is shown facing to the side rather than the front. 
         [0023]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , the air engine is in the configuration for high speed cruising rather than takeoff. This figure is similar to  FIG. 2 , except the rotational plane  20  is not seen. 
         [0024]    Referring now to  FIG. 7 , the jet engine  50  of  FIGS. 5 and 6  is shown with inlet  56  facing forward. 
         [0025]    Referring now to  FIG. 8 , the jet engine  50  is shown with the inlet  50  rotated ninety degrees about pivot axle  60  such that it is pointing to the side. Hydraulic cylinder  62  provides the motive force to move the front cowling section  64  about ninety degrees to the side with interconnecting sections  66  and  68  brought along in a sort of telescoping fashion. 
         [0026]    The embodiment of  FIGS. 1  thru  4  present a blocking cylindrical surface to the front. The embodiment of  FIGS. 5  thru  8  presents a mostly spherical surface to the front, presenting less air speed drag than the cylindrical surface of the embodiment of  FIGS. 1  thru  4 . 
         [0027]    The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.