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D-Dalus Aircraft Has Contra-Rotating Cylindrical Turbines
The D-Dalus is no ordinary aircraft. For propulsion, it uses four, mechanically-linked, contra-rotating cylindrical turbines, each running at 2200 rpm.
The thrust can be directed in any direction, including straight up, for when you want to land on a ship and "glue down" the aircraft upon landing.
(D-Dalus Aircraft)
At the heart of D-DALUS is a revolutionary propulsion system containing a number of patented inventions, including a friction free bearing at the points of high G force, and a system that keeps propulsion in dynamic equilibrium, thereby allowing the guidance system to quickly restore stability in flight.The propulsion consists of 4 sets of contra-rotating disks, each set driven at the same rpm by a conventional aero-engine. The disks are surrounded by blades whose angle of attack can be altered by off-setting the axis of the rotating disks. As each blade can be given a different angle of attack, the resulting main thrust can be in any required direction in 360° around any axis. This allows the craft to launch vertically, remain in a fixed position in the air, travel in any direction, rotate in any direction, and thrust upwards thereby ‘gluing down’ on landing.
Fans of Tom Swift may recognize the aircraft from the 1957 novel Tom Swift and his Ultrasonic Cycloplane.
On each side of the ship a shiny magnesium cylinder, wide as an oil drum, ran the full length of the fuselage. In flight, the twin cylinders would spin at terrific speed, powered by Tom's ultrasonic generator that had now passed all tests successfully.
(Tom Swift 's ultrasonic cycloplane)
From the book jacket:
"There's part of Bud's wrecked plane!" Hovering his new cycloplane, the DRUMHAWK, in turbulent skies above the wilds of the New Guinea jungle, Tom Swift Jr. points to the sheared-off wing of his friend's plane. The area, flanked by two extinct volcanoes, is as forbidding as the deserted native huts clustered in sinister shadows.Without Tom's latest aircraft, which uses ultrasonic rotating drums to provide lift, a rescue attempt would be impossible. Battling violent weather conditions, the young inventor lands the DRUMHAWK and organizes a rescue expedition.
From D-Dalus via Gizmag; thanks to Winchell Chung at Project Rho.
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