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A New Concept in Geodetic Construction

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Tiger Tim

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2013
Messages
7,058
Location
Thunder Bay
Alright, I understand the notion that there's nothing truly new but I think I've come up with an idea that's never been seen before in aviation. What I have is a concept for geodetic construction that is nearly self-building, requires no special skills and a minimum of tools, comes out exceptionally strong and without internal stresses and is inexpensive beyond compare. This will allow rapid production of aircraft (and possibly many other structures) in what we consider to be third world countries and has the potential to put the whole world in the sky. For these reasons I've spent the morning thinking about patenting the process and I present it here to show it was in my mind first in case someone else should beat me to the patent office.

The process goes a little something like this (using a fuselage as my example):

First, a series of formers will have to be lofted and cut out. These will not be in the finished structure so any scrap material will work for this. What's important is that each former is split in two along its longest axis, or in some cases split in three or more as long as the smallest dimension of each piece is less than the widest part of the firewall. The formers are then reattached in such a way that they can be taken apart again and I'll get to the reason why later. These formers will be arranged on a strong central beam and again the exact material isn't crucial as this beam won't be going flying either.

Next, a series of stringers are attached to the formers. Exact placement isn't critical nor is the method of attachment, nor is the exact material to be used since this is still part of the "mold." The only real material requirement is that these stringers should be able to take up a fair curve. Wood would probably be ideal but I can see 3/4" - 1" household pipe (plastic/copper water pipe, electrical conduit, etc.) working as well if need be. There are likely many options here. At first I had thought about screwing the stringers in place but it's possible for some of the screw heads to be rendered inaccessible later in construction so I believe lashing them to the formers would be better. Also, string is available around the world while screws might carry a premium so that was worth considering.

Once the mold is assembled, it is placed vertically on the ground rather than horizontally parallel to it. This removes the need for any sort of rotisserie structure, replacing it with something as simple as a hole in the ground for the central beam to fit into. Unfortunately, any structures longer (taller) than seven feet will require a ladder for some of the processes later on but I deemed that a fair trade off for the simplicity offered by the rest of the proposed construction process.

Now that everything is set up, it's time to begin building the actual fuselage. Depending on the size of the airplane, anywhere from 10 to 20 bamboo shoots are planted around the periphery of the firewall. The exact number will depend on structural needs but it must be an even number. As they sprout they will need to be canted over at about 45 degrees, alternating directions from one plant to the next. The shoots will need to be lashed to the mold as they grow and care should be taken to maintain alignment and symmetry. Since there are instances of multiple tree saplings being fused together as they grow to make art installations I would expect the bamboo to do the same, making permanent, grown-in bonds wherever the shoots cross. The growth is guided carefully and pruned as needed until the shoots have reached their required length or thickness (whichever comes first) then they are cut off even with the ground.

The whole assembly is taken down, all lashings cut, stringers pulled out through the firewall hole, and the formers disassembled and removed. At this point the fuselage is structurally complete and ready to be fitted out with a firewall, instrument panel, seats, controls and all of the other fitments required to fly. Wings and tail could be made by conceptually similar methods, even staggering planting times of various members to control relative thicknesses of finished parts.

Due to the rapid growth of bamboo, I would expect the fuselage of a two seat aircraft to take under twenty days to grow and a four seater should be under thirty. All parts of the mold are infinitely reusable. My only caution to users of this method is to put a fence up around your airplane garden (airplane orchard if you're mass producing) if you have pandas living in your area as they are likely to eat your project.
 
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