Improved Means for Supporting and Bracing, for Use in connection with Aerial Vehicles, Ship and Balloon Propellers, Turbines, Wind-wheels, and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 7th Apr., 1894
VODITI CIVATIVA.
Improved Means for Supporting and Bracing, for Use in connection
with Aerial Vehicles, Ship and Balloon Propellers, Turbines,
Wind-wheels, and the like.
I, HERMANN GANSWINDT, of Schoeneberg, near Berlin, in the Empire of
Germany, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improved flat metal or steel-strips, acting as supporting
and bracing means in connection with aerial vehicles, ship and balloon propellers,
turbines, wind-wheels etc., the construction of such bracing means being based on
the theory that the resistance which mobile mediums, such as air and water, offer to
bodies moving or travelling in same, is calculable according to the law of inertia,
that is, according to the volume of the body of air or water agitated or set in motion
by such moving body, and according to the acceleration with which such body of
air or water is set in motion from a state of rest, by such body moving in same,
and vice versa.
The smaller the path or course is, which air and water must traverse during such
acceleration or retardation, that is, the smaller the transverse section of the body in
motion, the less power is required by such body for the separation and reunion of
the mass of air or water.
By suitable constructions, therefore, my invention can be adapted to:-
1. Ropes or cords and braces for steering or guiding devices of aerial vehicles.
2. Blades or wings of balloon propellers.
3. Blades or wings of ship propellers.
4. Blades of turbines.
5. Exposed surfaces of wind-wheels.
As will be hereafter described, this is effected by suitable tension braces, for
which flat metal-strips are employed.
In all the above instances, a far more important technical effect is attained by
these improved strips than by any previous constructions employed, in that the
transverse section of these strips or braces presented to the line of motion, are
reduced to a minimum by employing material--steel or other suitable metal,--which
is as strong and whose form is as flat as possible. that is, by employing steel or other
metal strips whose thickness is as small as possible.
The requisite tensile strength of these metal strips must be regulated by their
breadth. In consequence of such braces, in cases 2-5 inclusive, driving wings or
blades and paddles may be made lighter in construction, and thus meet with less
resistance of air or water when in motion.
In the accompanying drawing Figs. 1 & 2 show in elevation and plan, as an
example, an arrangement in which an axle or shaft a is fitted with plate-formed
parts or wings b b. pp, represent braces, strips or bands arranged in pairs and
parallel, which engage or are connected under an angle with the free ends of the
plate or wing b, and are destined to traverse the resisting medium with their edges.
By means of this device the plates are prevented from yielding in an upward or
downward direction.
The braces p, like the bands or strips g, provided to prevent displacement of the
plates or wings, are arranged in such manner, that each brace enters or leaves the
medium with its narrow edge, and thus offers the least possible resistance.
The employment of such bracing strips, when of considerable length would be
objectionable, since in consequence of the resistance of the air or water during

page_text: motion, they would vibrate, and, for the most part, present their broad sides to the
line of motion; the purpose sought to be attained would thus be frustrated.
I overcome this defect by arranging two or more bracing strips at certain distances
apart, and connecting same at small intervals by transverse rods or wires, if they
coincide approximately with the line of movement, or by flat metal-strips, if they
form a greater angle to such line of movement.
The transverse parts shown in Figs. 1, and 2, serving for thus connecting the
braces pp, retain the broad bracing strips in the most advantageous position; that
is, either with their sharp edges directly towards the line of movement, or, in
connection with ship and balloon propellers, turbines and wind-wheels, in a position
suitably inclined to the direction of movement, so that by their own surfaces they
assist in the propulsion of such devices.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Improved flat metal-strips as supporting and bracing means in connection with
aerial vehicles, ship and balloon propellers, turbines, wind-wheels, and the like,
either in combination or not with transverse rods, wires or strips which prevent
vibration of the bracing strips, substantially as described and shown in the
drawing.
1204
Dated this 19th day of January 1904,
H.
GANSWINDT,
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, Agent.