Patent ID: 6948307

Claim:
A steerable nozzle for a rocket engine comprising: a casing surrounding a combustion chamber and having a rear end wall; a nozzle comprising a moving diverging portion and a static portion secured to the rear end wall; a jointed link device connecting the moving diverging portion of the nozzle to the static portion, the moving diverging portion and the static portion being in mutual contact via respective spherical surfaces; an actuator device acting on the moving diverging portion of the nozzle to enable the direction of the thrust vector of the engine to be varied by modifying the orientation of the nozzle with the spherical surfaces eliding one on the other; and resilient return means interposed between the moving diverging portion of the nozzle and the static portion, said resilient return means acting on the moving diverging portion to urge it towards the static portion so as to keep the spherical surfaces in mutual contact for any desired orientation of the nozzle, to ensure gas tightness between the moving diverging portion and the static portion solely by the maintaining of the spherical surfaces in mutual contact for any desired orientation of the nozzle.