Model Airplane Engine Starting Stick with Blade Edge Roller
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Solution Overview
Problem
Starting model airplane engines by hand poses a risk of serious injury, and existing starting sticks can damage the propeller blades, leading to imbalance or costly repairs.
Innovation Solution
A model airplane engine starting stick with a blade edge engaging roller made of soft vinyl tubing that rolls along the propeller edge without sliding, preventing damage and ensuring safe starting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a straight stick is used to rotate the propeller blade, then the user can start the engine safely without hand injury, but the stick will drag along the propeller blade edge and damage the sharp edge throwing the propeller out of balance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a roller as an intermediary between the starting stick and the propeller blade edge. This roller with its soft gripping surface mediates the contact, allowing the stick to rotate the propeller without the stick directly dragging on the blade edge, thus preventing damage while maintaining safety
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameter of the contact surface by using a roller with a soft material surface instead of a hard stick surface. This parameter change allows the roller to grip and roll along the blade edge without sliding and damaging it, resolving the contradiction between safety and precision
2Manufacturing precision
If a paint roller is used as a starting stick to provide a soft surface against the propeller blade, then the user can avoid damaging the blade edge, but the paint roller will tear off pieces of fiber when the blade has small imperfections and drag along the blade edge
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite structure combining a rigid stick body with a soft roller surface made of specific material. This composite approach provides both the structural strength needed to start the engine and the soft surface properties to protect the propeller blade, avoiding the fiber tearing issue of pure soft materials like paint rollers
3Manufacturing precision
If a chicken stick with a propeller contacting portion is used to grip the edge of the propeller blade, then the user can resist sliding along the edge and not damage the blade, but it is still difficult to hold and use without the stick dragging along the blade edge
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the contact portion dynamic by using a roller that can rotate freely on the stick. This dynamic element adapts to the blade edge contours and rotates as the stick moves, preventing dragging and sliding while maintaining grip, thus improving ease of operation without compromising blade edge protection
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The starting stick effectively rotates the propeller without damaging the blade edge, ensuring safety from injury and maintaining propeller balance, while being strong enough to withstand engine compression and kick-back.
Implementation Method 1
The roller surface is of a material which will grip the blade edge and resist sliding along the blade edge so that any movement of the starting stick with respect to the blade edge will cause rotation of the roller along the blade edge rather than sliding of the roller along the blade edge
Data Source
AI summary
A model airplane engine starting stick is provided with a blade edge engaging roller having a roller surface of a material which will grip the blade edge of the propeller when against the blade edge of the propeller to cause the roller to roll along the blade edge without sliding over and damaging the blade edge as the starting stick is moved with respect to the blade edge to rotate the propeller. The starting stick of the invention includes a handle by which the starting stick can be held and manipulated by a user and a roller attached to the handle to freely rotate or roll with respect to the handle.