Patent GB-483915-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to underground shelters for aeroplanes
IPC: E04H6/44
Filed: 1936-10-26
Abstract: 483,915. Shelters for aeroplanes. MARCHAND, G. F. X. Oct. 26, 1936, No. 29084. [Classes 20 (i) and 20 (iii)] An underground shelter for aircraft comprises a well structure covered by a protective roof at ground level and provided with a helicoidal floor of gradual slope and sufficient width to accommodate the aircraft, which occupy sectors of the floor and can be removed successively through exit or transfer openings. The building comprises inner and outer tubular shells 2, 1 provided with flat and helicoidal floors 7 and 6 respectively and a dome-shaped roof covering the whole. The central tubular space is for the accommodation of personnel and stores while the helicoidal floor is of sufficient width to accommodate the length of aircraft which are disposed in radial fashion around the central shaft. The floor is supported by radial girders 15, Fig. 3, interconnected by a helical girder 16 to which are attached overhead sails 9, 10 carrying a series of travellers which can be attached to aircraft, and which are moved successively past entrance and exit apertures by a continuous cable 14, operated by a shaft and gearing from the central tubular space. Depressions 18 are provided in the floor under each aircraft to allow of the loading of bombs. The continuous cable may be replaced by a succession of cables or chains, one for each floor convolution, operated simultaneously from the central chamber, or rails may be disposed in the floor to carry travellers which support the aircraft. A continuous helical guide 12, 12<1> is provided for the tails of the aircraft to prevent endwise movement. The approach for the shelter consists of an inclined way 25, Fig. 1, leading to an entrance aperture 28 of about half of the width of an aeroplane, provided with rounded cover walls 21, Fig. 2, around which the planes are rotated to cause them to enter or leave the shelter, and also with shields 26 having inclined outer faces to form deflectors for bombs or shrapnel. The entrance and exit apertures 19, 20, Fig. 2, are provided with arcuate closures 35, and branch passages 8 are provided in the cover to accommodate the travellers to which the aircraft are attached. The closures are provided with upper and lower oil seals and with inflatable tube side seals 38, Fig. 6, to prevent the entrance of water and gas, and further watertight closures 34 are provided in the branch passages. In a modification two shelters may be connected by buttresses provided with an upper cross passage and lift well and also with further connecting passages between the inclined floors of the two shelters ; a multifloor lift is disposed in the well on which aircraft may be temporarily stored while certain others are released from the shelters. Blast and shrapnel screens are provided in the upper floor convolution to prevent entrance to the shelters. In a further modification, Fig. 9, the shelters abut tangentially and are provided with upper and lower internal walls 56, 57, and 60, 61, tangential to the inner storage chambers 2 to form upper and lower connecting passages between the shelters, the floors of which are reverse helices, so that one set of aircraft acts as a counterbalance to the other set, further graduated counterbalance weights being provided to replace aircraft which are released from the shelters. By this arrangement smallpowered motors are required to produce the necessary tractive effort to move the series of aircraft stored in the shelters. Multiple exit and entrance apertures 66 are provided for the shelters. Fireproof curtains may be utilized to separate the spaces on the floors occupied by the aircraft, and the transfer apertures, and these curtains may be adapted for automatic actuation by means of fuses.