Patent ID: 8851856

Claim:
A rotor blade having a chord and a span length perpendicular to the chord, the rotor blade comprising: a first skin having an inner surface, a first plurality of elements extending from the inner surface between a leading edge and a trailing edge, the first plurality of elements passing through a first spar portion, each of the first plurality of elements comprising a tongue portion, the first plurality of elements being distributed along at least a portion of the span length and inclined with respect to the chord of the rotor blade by an angle greater than 0°; and a second skin attached to the first skin so as to form an outer surface of the rotor blade having the leading edge and the trailing edge, the second skin having a second plurality of elements between the leading edge and the trailing edge, the second plurality of elements passing through a second spar portion, each of the second plurality of elements comprising a groove portion, the second plurality of elements extending towards the inner surface of the first skin and engaging with the first plurality of elements when the second skin is attached to the first skin, the first plurality of elements and the second plurality of elements forming a plurality of ribs within the rotor blade, the first spar portion and the second spar portion forming a spar.