Patent ID: 8677758

Claim:
A dilating jet engine nozzle operable to fluidly engage duct flow from a duct of a jet engine and direct the duct flow into ambient, said dilating jet engine nozzle operable to be powered by a power source, said dilating jet engine nozzle comprising: one or more brackets configured to be attached to the duct; an annular fan duct cowling inner panel; and a plurality of shiftable intermeshing tiles supported by the one or more brackets and circumferentially spaced to cooperatively form an arcuate continuous tiled nozzle section that at least partly defines an adjustably-sized nozzle orifice, the intermeshing tiles comprising: a plurality of drive tiles, wherein at least a portion of each of the drive tiles are integrally formed of one-piece construction with the annular fan duct cowling inner panel, and a plurality of driven tiles, wherein the driven tiles are configured to be driven by the drive tiles, wherein the drive tiles and the driven tiles alternate in a circumferential direction and in intermeshing engagement so that the drive tiles and the driven tiles overlap and are radially shiftable with each other.