Patent GB-663091-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to remote control devices
IPC: A63H30/04
Filed: 1949-09-08
Abstract: 663,091. Electric selective control systems. COSSOR, Ltd., A. C., and PARISH, R. E. Sept. 9, 1949. [Sept. 8, 1949] No. 23780/48. Class 40 (i). In an electric remote control device e.g. for the control surfaces of model aircraft a spring impelled escapement wheel, is released in steps by a pulse energised electromagnet responsive e.g. to remote radio signals, and carries rollers on its opposite faces which engage specially shaped continuous surface slots in laterally sliding cams, which are thereby sequentially displaced to operate the controlled members so that each may be deflected to alternative positions on either side of a neutral according to the number of steps through which the escapement is released by the magnet. A spring driven escapement wheel 14 pivoted about a spindle 15 has eight equidistant teeth 17 about its periphery which are successively engaged by a spring loaded detent 18, magnetically disengageable by pulsing a solenoid 19. Opposite faces of the wheel carry 90 degrees spaced rollers 20<SP>1</SP>, 21 equidistant from the spindle engaging continuous identical surface grooves 22, 23 in cams 10, 11 which are laterally slidable on guides 12, 13 to deflect the respective control surfaces of a model aircraft. As shown, the groove 23 has upper and lower quadrantal portions concentric with the spindle 15 when the cam 10 is in its central position, which are connected by inwardly directed V grooves having their vertices in a horizontal plane through the spindle. Assuming that the roller 21 initially lies in the vertex of the right hand V, the cam 10 is deflected and locked in its right hand control position. A magnet pulse allows the escapement wheel to move one step clockwise and the roller moves to the lower extremity of the right hand V to allow the cam to return to central, where it is unlocked. A second step moves the roller midway along the lower quadrant and the cam is locked centrally by the engagement of the pins 28 on the escapement wheel with the vertices 31 of an aperture in the cam, similar in shape to the grooves. A third step moves the roller to the lower extremity of the left hand V, disengaging the locking device so that the cam is centrally unlocked, and a fourth step moves the roller to the vertex of the left hand V to lock the cam in its left hand control position. The 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th steps similarly deflect the cam through its central unlocked, central locked, and central unlocked positions to its initial right hand locked control position. At the same time the cam 11 goes through a similar operational sequence, but lagging 90 degrees behind the cam 10, so that when the cam 11 is centrally locked by the pins 28, the cam 10 is locked in successive right and left control positions, between which both cams are centrally unlocked. Thus by the application of a selected number of magnet pulses, either control surface may be deflected to one or two opposite positions while the other control surface is centrally locked, and in the intermediate positions both control surfaces are held centrally unlocked. The escapement teeth may be contoured for easy detent disengagement, while the cams may be of thermoplastic material, and the metal parts of aluminium. The ground control transmitter may incorporate an eight position unidirectional switch transmitting a single pulse to the aircraft when moved from one position to the next, whose receiver operates the solenoid through a relay. More than two cams may co-operate with a single escapement wheel, and the cam slot contours may be modified. The detent may be replaced by a watch-type anchor having two pallets so that the escapement moves in 22¢ degree steps on solenoid energisation and de-energisation, and a switch e.g. for the ignition system is operable by the escapement wheel when intermediately arrested by continuous solenoid energisation. The device is applicable to the control of model railways, ships, cars, and cranes.