Patent GB-635222-A (GB)
Title: Building on non-permanent bridges chiefly for military purposes by means of amphibian seaplanes
IPC: E01D15/22
Filed: 1946-08-29
Abstract: 635,222. Floating bridges. ODOT, C. A. M. E Aug. 29, 1946, Nos. 26041 and 26042. Convention dates, Dec. 20, 1944 and Oct. 6, 1945. (Class 20 (i)] [Also in Group XXXIII] A stretch of water is bridged by arranging side by side aircraft adapted to float on the water, connecting their adjacent wing tips together and joining the outer wing tips of the two end aircraft to the banks, so that the upper part of the aircraft provides a roadway for vehicles. Sheet metal flooring 30 extends over the whole length of the wings and forms the roadway surface, and to allow the passage of vehicles over it the upper part of the wing opens, the part 30a folding towards the trailing edge and 30b towards the leading edge. The opening and closing may be effected by winches in the wings, and may be facilitated by dividing the moving parts into sections. The aircraft are preferably seaplanes, each with one or more hulls, and their buoyancy is assisted by pneumatic-floats 2. The floats carry flooring covered with sheet metal at 4, Fig. 11, and fixed to tne flooring are supports 8 with recesses to receive the hemispherical lower ends of posts 6, of adjustable length, which support the wings and are hinged thereto at 7 so that they can be folded into recesses under the wings during flight. The lower ends of the posts 6 at the ends of adjacent wings, which are connected by adjustable hooks engaging trunnions 59, rest together on a common float, Fig. 14 and oscillation of the wing tips is limited by a girder 42 carrying pins 10 which pass through elongated holes in the posts 6, the girder 42 being connected by rods 43 to a jointed girder 44 on which the wing tips rest, but spaced from it by springs 45. The two end wing tips are each joined to a bank by a truss which supports an approach for the vehicles, the ends of the girders entering recesses 40 in the wing tips and resting on the trunnions 59. Instead of separate trusses the ends of the wings themselves may be movable, as shown on the right of Fig. 1, in which case their slope may be adjusted by a hydraulic press or a screw winch. With aircraft having two or more hulls a platform may be provided in the space between the hulls with removable sheet metal flooring, supported by cross-beams to which a motor launch may be attached and carried during flight. Other facilities may be included, e.g. a loading mast, screw-connected hooks to engage the trunnions 59 for adjusting the distance between adjacent wing tips, and rails arranged so that roller gantries may operate between the hulls and carry winches to ease the launching of the floats and motor launch. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also the use of biplanes providing a roadway along the top planes, straining hawsers to stabilize the floats, a pneumatic float below the tail of the aircraft with an automatic inflating and deflating device to keep the aircraft level, a joint between adjacent wing tips comprising a toothed sector engaging a pinion which actuates a winch in the wing whereby the swinging motion of the wing tip is kept under control, and a discussion of the dimensioning of the longitudinal wing girders and end approach trusses. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.