US 12,214,860 B2
Pitch-fold lock
Kyle Thomas Cravener, Arlington, TX (US); Andrew Ryan Maresh, Colleyville, TX (US); Brady Garrett Atkins, Euless, TX (US); Kynn J. Schulte, Arlington, TX (US); and Troy Schank, Keller, TX (US)
Assigned to Textron Innovations Inc., Providence, RI (US)
Filed by Textron Innovations Inc., Providence, RI (US)
Filed on Nov. 28, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/059,002.
Application 18/059,002 is a division of application No. 16/879,114, filed on May 20, 2020, granted, now 11,511,848, issued on Nov. 29, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0101186 A1, Mar. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. B64C 11/28 (2006.01); B64C 11/06 (2006.01); B64C 29/00 (2006.01)
CPC B64C 11/28 (2013.01) [B64C 11/065 (2013.01); B64C 29/0033 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
7. A blade lock for a tiltrotor aircraft to enable and disable a folding degree of freedom and a pitching degree of freedom of a rotor blade, the blade lock comprising:
a fold lock adapted to prevent folding of a rotor blade in a fold-lock position and to allow folding of the rotor blade in a pitch-lock position;
a pitch lock adapted to allow pitch movement of a rotor blade in a fold-lock position and to prevent pitch movement of the rotor blade in the pitch-lock position;
a spring-loaded link pivotally connected to both the fold lock and the pitch lock and adapted to provide passive, overcenter locking in the fold-lock position;
an actuator coupled to the pitch lock and adapted to move the pitch lock and the fold lock between the fold-lock and pitch-lock positions, wherein the actuator is a linear actuator having an actuator shaft that is coupled to the pitch lock;
a first attachment point on the pitch lock, the first attachment point separated from a pivot axis of the pitch lock by a first distance; and
a second attachment point on the pitch lock, the second attachment point separated from the pivot axis of the pitch lock by a second distance that is longer than the first distance;
wherein the spring-loaded link is pivotally connected to the first attachment point and the actuator is pivotally connected to the second attachment point.