Patent ID: 7600711

Claim:
An aircraft comprising: an airframe having a fuselage extending longitudinally between a forward end and an aft end opposite the forward end and a set of fixed wings extending laterally from the fuselage; a power plant mounted on the airframe producing exhaust during operation of the aircraft for powering the aircraft; a rotor/wing assembly rotatably mounted on the airframe for selective rotation with respect to the airframe, said rotor/wing assembly having a plurality of blades, each blade of said plurality of blades extending outward from a root adjacent the airframe to a tip opposite the root and having an internal conduit extending through the blade between an inlet adjacent the root of the blade and an outlet downstream from the inlet; a plurality of intermediate ducts, each intermediate duct of said plurality of intermediate ducts having an upstream end including a flange and a downstream end downstream from the upstream end slidably and pivotally connected to the inlet of a corresponding blade of said plurality of blades of the rotor/wing assembly; a manifold having an upstream end in fluid communication with the power plant and a plurality of downstream ends, each downstream end of said plurality of downstream ends of the manifold including a flange connected to an upstream end of a corresponding intermediate duct of said plurality of intermediate ducts for directing exhaust received by the manifold to the intermediate duct; a plurality of covers, each cover of said plurality of covers being connected to one of said manifold flanges and covering a corresponding one of said intermediate duct flanges; and a plurality of absorbers, each absorber of said plurality of absorbers being positioned between one of the intermediate duct flanges and a corresponding one of said manifold flanges and extending between the intermediate duct flange and said cover covering the intermediate duct flange to allow limited movement of said intermediate duct flange with respect to said manifold flange and the cover.