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`A. BEHM
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`‘»53°»53'9
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`‘ METHOD FOR.ASCE}‘1TAI’NING THE FLYING HEIGHT OF FLYING MACHINES
`’ Fiied June 2, 1922
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`PETITIONERS 1006-0001
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`o 1.630.689
`Patented ‘May 31, 1927.
`T UNITED sT,m~.s ‘PATENT oirrica.
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`- ALEXANDER IBEHM, or 311212,, GI~_}BlKA.NY.—
`u»
`METHOD non. Ascanramme THE FLYING _Hi‘iIGH'i- or F2l'§Y1§TG_M’AGEEllT.|!S.
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`Application filed June 2, 1922, serial no. 565,502, and in. Germany June 11, i'92i._‘
`It is lknowirthat the absolute altitude of a F
`flying ‘machine is measured by means of a
`barometer. This. way of .measur;_ing must
`fail for ascertaining the relative flying alti-
`5 tude, because it is rarely possible, to ascer-
`tain the altitude above the sea level just be-
`low the flying- machine. Aside from this-
`fact the conditions of atmospheric pressure
`may change during the flight to such an ex-
`10 tent, that the readings of the barometric
`' meter will only be approximately correct.
`'
`If the pilot of a flying machine wants’to
`land at night or in foggy weather, it is of
`tremendous importance for him to_know at
`15 what altitude.-‘he is flying above theearth, or .
`in case of a sea .plane, above the sea, as _he
`can ‘neither see the earth-nor» the sea. As a
`fact during the war an extraordinarily large
`number of flying machines have been wrecked
`20 at night or in foggy Weather,'simply because
`t.he pilot could not find out his altitude above
`the earth or the sea. Aside from the mate-
`rial damage many pilots and ‘passengers lost
`\ their lives oigat least were badly hurt.
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`It is the object ‘of this invention, to enable
`the‘ pilot of aiflying machine" to ascertain
`. within a foot ‘at. night or in foggy weather
`at what altitude above the earth or the sea
`This is accom- j
`\‘ he is flying at the _time.
`30 plished ‘by sending a sound wave from the
`‘ flying machine and the relative altitude
`above the earth or sea will be found by ob-
`serving the time or the intensity at the re-'
`' turn of the echo. The sound wavemay be
`' created by shooting a pistol or‘ a gun, or by
`the firing of a cartridge ‘or in a similar way,
`A and_ the sound wave must be 'directed.t‘oWai_'d
`the earth, in the case of a gun this is do;re_
`by-the ‘direction of the barrel; when using?"a;
`.40 cartridge a horn or paraboljg,-.soundi c'ondu_c.-"
`tor maybe used.
`In order‘:-‘iiiot to havethe
`sender-of the sound interfere with the re-
`ceiver, one must beprotected from the other.
`In the case of aflying machine this may be
`45 done_by using the body of the machine for"
`probec‘t'ion, in the case of an air .ship, the
`balloon or the car of the air ship may be_
`used for protection. A'suflicie'ntly' large pro-
`tection may be secured by arranging the re-~
`50 ceiver behind the "sender.
`,The time which passes between the send-
`ingpof the report and the receiving of the
`' echo may be‘ measured in the most simple,
`manner by a stop watch, which is started at
`55 the firing of the gun and stopped at the re_-
`turn of the echo. While this method of
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`measuring the time is satisfactory for meas-_
`uring the higher altitudes, it is not accurate
`enough for the real object of this invention,
`that IS the sounding of the‘ last few feet of
`distance from the earth orsea level of a fly-V
`ing machine. For this purpose a short dis-
`tance timing device is employed, which is
`started "by the sound of the report and ar-
`rested by thereturning sound wave with the
`aid of a microphone.
`In order tosenda
`number of sound waves
`quick succession, ‘
`the sender may be of the machine ‘gun type.
`In the = case of armed flying machines the
`‘machine: gun of the flying’ machine may be, '
`used for~sending by loading it .with*blank
`in such
`‘cartridges and by mounting the-
`a way, that the barrel _may be turned down-
`ward; Generally speaking, all
`improve-
`ments and appliances, which "are used in
`deep sea sounding in employing the echo,
`may 'c‘oi'respond1ng1y also be employed in
`ascertaining the altitude of a flying machine.
`‘MV method may also be used for adjusting
`altitude baronieters and for checking the 39'
`same, as long as‘ the absolute altitude above
`sea level of the country below is known, or
`if the machine is flying above -the sea.
`«The method described 'in‘this_ application
`may also he used in ‘a different manner=fo1':35
`the safety of the flying machine.
`Itisknown ,
`that the sound of an echo is-largely depend-
`ent on the shape and material of the object,
`reflecting the sound. Consequently it will be M
`a matter only oflittle practice to -find ac- 90
`curately from the sound ‘of the echo the con-
`dition of the ground below. By using’ a
`sender adapted to emit sound waves at cer-
`tain short intervals‘, the pilot of a flying
`machine by watching the‘ echo‘ will know in 95 o
`the thickest offogs‘ or in the darkest ‘of .
`nights whether he is flying over built up
`territory, or woods," or water and
`know __
`from this information, whether or not he’
`loo‘ -
`may land. By the use of suitable interrupt-i
`ers the -microphone may be adjusted in such —
`a ma-nner, that it will not answer to a sound
`wave going out, but only to the echo return-
`ing. The pilot after having determined in
`this manner that his machine is flying over 105-
`level ground, such as a field or a meadow,
`will switch his sounding device so as to
`measure his distance from thegroiind-.s Then
`in succession:
`-
`‘if his meter
`is recording
`30’, 25’, 20’, 15’,'10’, 6’, he may land as 110,
`safely in a fogor in a dark night as in broad b
`day lights.
`a
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`PETITIONERS 1006-0002
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`Figs. 3 and 4 are detail sections.
`The sender in every case is marked ——G—,
`the receiver in every case is marked —E—.
`i As shown the sender may be arranged on one
`side of the body or car of the air machine,
`the receivermay be arranged on the opposite
`side, -using the car for protection.
`In a
`similar manner it is possible to use the body
`of the air ship as sound protecting screen, in
`which case the sender is on the right side of
`theballoon and the receiver on the left side
`or vice versa. The sending device may be
`attached to the bottom of the car. This may
`easily be done in the case of directed sound
`waves, the intensity, of the sound waves in
`the opposed direction being negligible, so
`that the receiver will not be affected; This
`latter property of directed sound waves
`makes possible the arrangement shown in
`Fig. 3, where the receiver is located im-
`mediately behind the sender,
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`Apart from using the air machine itself
`for protection,
`special
`sound protecting
`screens may be used as shown in Fig. 4,
`where the sender is arranged in a wide long
`tube ——R——, containing a sender of any suit-
`able design. At first the sound wave directed
`by the sender will be protected by the tube
`-—R——, so that the receiver may be .located
`side ways or preferably behind the tube. 2
`The respective location of the sender and
`receiver will partly depend onthe type of
`the air machine, partly on the purpose to be *
`achieved. The general arrangements shown
`are simply examples‘ of the application of
`my invention without limiting the same.
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`I attain these objects by _the mechanism VAS for the instruments used for timin the
`echo or for measuring the intensity 0 the
`illustrated in the accompanying drawing,'in
`which—
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`echo waves, they are not limited to any par-
`ticular. design, in, fact all suitable arrange-
`V Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a flying ma-
`ments may be used, either in their original
`chine,
`shape, or in any condition especially adapted '
`Fig. 2 is a vertical section of an air ship,‘
`for aeronautics and those which are used in
`and
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`navigation for deep sea sounding.
`Inpthis
`connection I mention switches_ and instru-
`ments, which “are disconnected, during the
`firing of the gun and automatically connect
`the receiver before the echo’ has returned.
`I claim:
`_
`1‘. The combination with an air craft ‘of a
`sound transmitter arrangedto emit sounds
`toward the earth, and a receiver arranged to
`respond to the echoes of such sounds, said
`transmitter and saidreceiver being acous-
`tically screened from each other Joy a por-
`tion of the air craft structure, forthe pur- «
`pose set ‘forth.-
`2. The combination withan air craft or
`the like including a body, of a sound trans-
`mitter arranged to emit sounds towards the
`earth, and a. receiver arranged to respond to
`the echo of such sounds, said transmitter and
`said receiver being acoustically screened
`from each other by the body of- the air craft,
`for the purpose set forth.
`~
`3. The combination with an air craft or
`the like including a body, of a sound trans-
`mitter arranged to emit sounds towards the
`earth, and a receiver arranged to respond to
`the echo of such sounds, said transmitter and
`said receiver being acoustically screened
`from each other, said receiver being ar-
`ranged behind "said transmitter relative to
`the direction of sound emission, for the pur-
`pose set forth.
`The foregoing specification signed at Kiel
`this 20th day of May, 1922.
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`so_
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`ALEXANDER, BEHM.
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`PETITIONERS 1006-0003