Mechanism for operating a cascade of variable pitch vanes

摘要

In a V/STOL aircraft having a vectorable exhaust device in the form of a cascade of variable pitch nozzle vanes, an operating mechanism for effecting coordinated pivotal movement of the vanes is provided to vector engine thrust. The operating mechanism includes a plurality of elongate pushrods arranged in end to end abutment with a corresponding plurality of vane operating levers interspaced between the pushrods. The vanes are rotated about spanwise axes by translation of the pushrods in a direction normal to the vane axes. For a given actuating input the vanes rotate by progressively different amounts so that the combined nozzle throat area remains substantially unchanged throughout the nozzle vectoring range.