Hey, all. A couple weeks ago I read through Bob's HP-24 build log (which was very informative), and among several points I stopped for a while at the landing gear section to make sure I understood everything that was going on, because I am by no means an expert in landing gear design. So looking at the 5 or 6 elements in the HP24's retraction gear, I eventually got this idea in my head for retracting leaf gear which to my untrained eye seems like a good, simple idea, but I'd love to hear what the experienced builders and designers here think about it. I've tried my level best to find this implemented on past aircraft, but I apologize anyway if this ends up being old news.
So the idea is you have a leaf spring running aft and down, like you sometimes see on gear for tailwheels on taildragger planes. But instead of cantilevering, it's hinged at the forward point. A linkage is hinged somewhere along the spring, and (by whatever means) extends and locks the gear. The end of the spring connects to a fork that goes out to the wheel axle. The spring would be made to be flush with the fuselage surface when retracted, which implies that its projected line must be tangent to the wheel. I've attached a drawing of this setup, shamelessly traced from the HP24 3-veiw, with a wild guess linkage on there. I'm thinking this could be used on sailplane monowheels, or maybe twins with engine nacelles on the wings.
So as I see it:
PROS:
-fewer moving parts
-much less of a tradeoff between suspension travel and internal space occupied, compared to oleos (the spring takes up ~0 volume, could be made longer)
-some other third thing
CONS:
-larger cutout in the fuselage
-torsional stability (?)
-could be heavier
What does everyone think?
So the idea is you have a leaf spring running aft and down, like you sometimes see on gear for tailwheels on taildragger planes. But instead of cantilevering, it's hinged at the forward point. A linkage is hinged somewhere along the spring, and (by whatever means) extends and locks the gear. The end of the spring connects to a fork that goes out to the wheel axle. The spring would be made to be flush with the fuselage surface when retracted, which implies that its projected line must be tangent to the wheel. I've attached a drawing of this setup, shamelessly traced from the HP24 3-veiw, with a wild guess linkage on there. I'm thinking this could be used on sailplane monowheels, or maybe twins with engine nacelles on the wings.
So as I see it:
PROS:
-fewer moving parts
-much less of a tradeoff between suspension travel and internal space occupied, compared to oleos (the spring takes up ~0 volume, could be made longer)
-some other third thing
CONS:
-larger cutout in the fuselage
-torsional stability (?)
-could be heavier
What does everyone think?