US3647170A

US3647170A - Helicopter sling load electrical connector

Info

Publication number: US3647170A
Application number: US34291A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles W Beeker; Royale R Crabtree
Original assignee: United States Department of the Army
Current assignee: United States Department of the Army
Priority date: 1970-05-04
Filing date: 1970-05-04
Publication date: 1972-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 1989-03-07

Abstract

A means and method for electrically connecting the electrical system of a load means to the electrical power supply of a lifting means. The disclosed embodiment uses a removable pair of insulating members having contacts which, when affixed to the cargo hook of a helicopter, form bus bar means along the sides of said hook. A sling body member comprising nylon straps has contact means fastened at spaced points so as to contact the bus bars when a load is suspended from the hook by the sling, thus providing electrical continuity between circuitry in the helicopter and the load.

Description

United States Patent [151 3,647,170 Beeker et al. 1 Mar. 7, 1972 [54] HELICOPTER SLING LOAD 1,786,369 12/1930 Terrell et al.... ....339/ B ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR 2,567,872 9/1951 Burke ..294/74 Inventors: Charla-s w. Becker, Baltimore; Royale R. 2,933,651 4/1960 Legge ..339/11 X Crabtm Towson both of Primary Examiner-Milton Buchler [73] Assignee: The United States of America as Assistant Examiner-Gregory W. OConnor represented by the Secretary of the Army Attorney-Harry M. Saragovitz, Edward J. Kelly, Herbert Ber! [22] Filed: M 4, 1970 and Bernard J Ohlendorf [21] Appl. No.: 34,291 [57] ABSTRACT A means and method for electrically connecting the electrical [52] US. Cl ..244/ 136, 294/74, 339/6, t m f a load means to the electrical power supply of a 1th- 339/23, 135 ing means. The disclosed embodiment uses a removable pair [5 l 1 Int. Cl- ..Bfi of in ulating members having ccntacts which when amxed to [58] Field of Search ..24 4/136, 137; 339/6 8 R, 8 A, the cargo hook f a helicopter, f bus bar means along the 339/8 P, 28, 135, 10, /49, 191/45 A. 2 ides of said hook. A sling body member comprising nylon straps has contact means fastened at spaced points so as to 56 R t (ed contact the bus bars when a load is suspended from the hook 1 8 I by the sling, thus providing electrical continuity between cir- UNITED STATES PATENTS cuitry in the helicopter and the load.

Hoobler ..339/

8 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures FATENTEDMAR H972 3,647, 170

INVENTORS Charles M. Beaker Raye/e R. Grabfrp HELICOPTER SLING LOAD ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR DEDICATORY CLAUSE The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

Our invention relates to a means and method for electrically connecting a load electrical system to a lifting means electrical power supply.

The prior art means and methodology necessitated the connection of the load electrical system to the lifting means power supply during the lifting operation sequence, such as the connection of the electrical system of a chemical dispenser means to an aircraft power supply as disclosed in US. Patent application Ser. No. 773,824 field 6 Nov. 1968, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,558,005 issued Jan. 26, 1971. Prior art means and method presented the problem that the electrical connection could not always be satisfactorily made during the lifting operation sequence which resulted in delay in the lifting operation and/or malfunction of the electrical system subsequent to the lifting operation due to a faulty electrical connection. Our invention was conceived and reduced to practice to overcome the aforementioned prior art problem.

The principal object of our invention is to provide a reliable and effective means and method for electrically connecting the electrical system of a load means to the electrical power supply of a lifting means.

Another object of our invention is to provide a reliable and effective means and method to easily and rapidly electrically connect the electrical system of a load means to the electrical power supply of a lift means.

Other objects of our invention will be obvious or will appear from the specification hereinafter set forth.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the utility of our electrical connection means after the electrical system of a load means has been electrically connected to an electrical power supply of a lift means.

FIG. 2 is a view through 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing a hook means for a lift means, our electrical connector means to insert on the hook means, and a sling means to connect the load means to the lift means.

FIG. 4 is a view through 4-4 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 5 is a view of ourelectn'cal connector means to connect to a lift hook.

FIG. 6 is a view of our electrical connector means to connect to the sling means shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a view of the terminal means for our connector means shown in FIG. 5.

Our invention as shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 will now be described in detail as follows.

Two metallic contacts 1, such as copper, are fixedly mounted on a flexible electrically insulating member 2, such as nylon fabric, by any conventional method, such as a rolled edge-clamping means, as shown in FIG. 6. Contacts 1 are separated from each other, within the skill of the art, a predetermined distance on insulating member 2 to suit a given application and so that contacts 2 will contact bus bars 3, as shown in FIG. 2, when the load, not shown in the drawing, is lifted, as shown in FIG. 1, by attaching a conventional sling member 4, such as a nylon fabric sling, to a conventional load cargo cable 5, such as steel cable, on one end of the sling and to a conventional hook means 6, such as a steel hook, attached to the other end of the sling; the hook means being integral with any conventional lift means, not shown in the drawing, such as an aircraft, helicopter for example, or other type of hoist. Conventional electrical leads 7 are connected to contacts I in the conventional manner, such as by soldering, at one end of the leads and to a male metallic snap fastener 8 in the conventional manner, such as by soldering or by solderless lugs, at the opposite end of the leads as shown in FIG. 6. Conventional electrical lead 9 is connected to a female snap fastener 10 in the conventional manner, such as by soldering or solderless lugs, at one end of the lead and to a conventional electrical plug connector 11 at the other end of the lead; plug 11 being provided to connect to a mating plug connector which is connected to the load electrical system, the load electrical system and mating plug not being shown in the drawing and not a part of our invention.

Fasteners

8 and 10 are interchangeable andfixedly mounted on insulating material, such as nylon fabric, and plug 11 can be male or female, depending on the mating plug connector of the load electrical system. Insulating member 2 is removably connected to the inner surface of sling 4 by any conventional and convenient means, such as snap fabric fastener straps 23, straps with buckle fasteners, straps with metal snap fasteners, etc.; as shown in FIG. 6. Prior to the lifting operation, such as prior to helicopter takeoff to pick up a load, rigid insulating adapter 12, such as Bakelite or other suitable plastic, which has been molded to fit the configuration of hook 6 is inserted on hook 6 by placing member 13 on one side of hook 6 and member 14 on the opposite side of hook 6 and securing member 13 to member 14 by snapping male snap connector 15 within female snap connector 16, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3; member 13 being manufactured to have symmetrical configuration to member 14. To remove adapter 12 from hook 6,

members

13 and 14 are separated by placing the thumb and forefinger in fingerholes 17, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, and pushing members l3 and 14 apart to disconnect connector 15 from connector l6. Leads 18 of the terminal means shown at 19 in FIG. 7 are connected to bus bars 3 in the conventional manner, such as by inserting the leads within slots in the bus bars and brazing the leads within the slots, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Conventional electrical lead 20 is connected to terminal 19 at one end of the lead in the conventional manner, such as by soldering, and to a conventional electrical plug connector 21 at the other end of the lead by any conventional means, such as soldering; plug 21 being provided to electrically connect to the lift means conventional power supply, the power supply not being a part of our invention and not shown in the drawing. Plug 21 can be either male or female and is selected depending on the mating plug of the lift means power supply, and plug 21 is connected to the power supply prior to the lifting operation sequence, either prior to or subsequent to the connection of adapter 12 to hook means 6. Slots 22 are provided in bus bars 3 to assist in removing any corrosion which might build up on contacts 1; the corrosion being removed as the load swings when suspended from the lift means.

To utilize our above described device, adapter 12 is inserted on hook 6; plug 21 is connected to the lift means power supply, AC or DC; hook means 6 is brought into position by a lift means over a load having cargo cables 5 attached thereto and inserted through sling 4 with out insulator member 2 attached thereto; sling 4 is inserted over hook 6 as shown in FIG. 1; the load is raised to be transported to a predetermined site by the lift means, the weight of the load causing a downward pull on sling 4 and bringing contact 1 into good electrical contact with bus bars 3 to connect the load electrical system which can be AC or DC to the lift means power supply; and, when the load has reached the predetermined site, the load electrical system is activated to perform a predetermined function, such as to dispense material from a container means, by a conventional switching means located within or on the lift means; the switching means not being a part of our invention and not shown in the drawing.

It is obvious that other modifications can be made of our invention, and we desire to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A system for electrically connecting an electrical system of a load means to an electrical power supply of a lift means comprising a lift means having a hook means integral therewith, a power supply integral with the lift means, a load means having an electrical system integral therewith, and a sling means to connect the load means to the hook means wherein the improvement in combination therewith comprises a pair of electrical contact means fixedly mounted on an electrically insulating member attached to the sling means and a bus bar means integral with an adapter means mounted on said hook means, said contact means engaging said bus bar means.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the contact means are copper and the insulating member is nylon fabric, the contact means being separated on the insulating member a predetermined distance to permit electrical contact between the contact means and the bus bar means upon suspension of the load means from the lift means.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the insulating member is adapted to be removably mounted on the sling means by a plurality of strap means.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the contact means are electrically connected to a first electrical plug connector through a first electrical lead means connected between the contact means and a first pair of metallic snap fastener means and a second electrical lead means connected between a second pair of metallic snap fastener means and the first electrical plug connector; the first and second metallic snap fastener pairs being adapted to be connected together to complete an electrical circuit and the first electrical plug connector being adapted to connect to a mating electrical plug connector integral with the electrical system of the load means.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the adapter means comprises a pair of symmetrical insulating members formed to a predetermined shape to fit the configuration of the hook means; a bus bar means fixedly mounted on the outer surface of each symmetrical insulating member at a predetermined location, the location being positioned to provide electrical contact with the electrical contact means upon suspension of the load means from a lift means; a terminal means having a pair of leads integral therewith, the terminal means leads being electrically connected to the bus bar means; a plurality of slots formed in the bus bar means, said slots being provided to remove any corrosion from the contact means; an electrical lead means electrically connected to the terminal means at one end of the lead means and electrically connected to a second electrical plug connector at the opposite end of the lead means, the second electrical plug connector being provided to electrically connect to a mating electrical plug connector integral with the power supply of the lift means; a snap fastener means fixedly mounted in each symmetrical insulating member, the fastener means being adapted to secure the adapter means on the hook means; and a fingerhole means formed in each symmetrical insulating member, the fingerhole means being adapted to disconnect the snap fastener means.

6. A method of electrically connecting an electrical system of a load means to a power supply means of a lift means using the system of claim 5 comprising the steps of placing each symmetrical insulating member on the hook means; securing the symmetrical insulating members together on the hook means by the snap fastener means; electrically connecting the second electrical plug connector to the mating electrical plug connector integral with the power supply; placing a cargo cable through the sling means, said sling means having the electrically insulating member attached to the inner surface of the sling means; attaching the cargo cable to the load means, electrically connecting a first electrical plug connector to a mating electrical plug connector integral with a load means electrical system, moving the hook means integral with the lift means to a location above the load means; placing the sling means over the hook means; lifting the load means by operating the lift means; establishing electrical contact between the contact means and the bus bar means by the suspension of the load means from the lift means; transporting the load means while suspended from the lift means to a predetermined site; and actuating the electrical system of the load means to perform a predetermined function over the predetermined site.

7. A cargo sling to lift a load means comprising a sling body member and an insulating member adapted to be removably attached to the sling body member wherein a pair of electrlcal contact means are fixedly mounted on the insulating member a predetermined distance apart, said distance being located to provide electrical contact between the electrical contacts and a bus bar means on a lift means when the load means is suspended from said lift means.

8. The cargo sling of claim 7 wherein the contact means are electrically connected to an electrical plug connector through a first electrical lead means connected between the contact means and a first pair of metallic snap fastener means and a second electrical lead means connected between a second pair of metallic snap fastener means and the electrical plug connector; the first and second metallic snap fastener pairs being adapted to be connected together to complete an electrical circuit and the electrical plug connector being adapted to connect to a mating electrical plug connector integral with an electrical circuit of the load means.

Claims

7. A cargo sling to lift a load means comprising a sling body member and an insulating member adapted to be removably attached to the sling body member wherein a pair of electrical contact means are fixedly mounted on the insulating member a predetermined distance apart, said distance being located to provide electrical contact between the electrical contacts and a bus bar means on a lift means when the load means is suspended from said lift means.