ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,459,638, issued on Nov. 4, was assigned to Lockheed Martin Corp. (Bethesda, Md.).
"Pitch drop friction brake" was invented by Tyler Christian Kane (Fairfield, Conn.) and Kevin A. Laitenberger (Beacon Falls, Conn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A rotor system of a rotary wing aircraft includes a rotor hub including a hub arm, a rotor blade rotatably coupled to the hub arm about a longitudinal axis of the hub arm, and a first brake assembly. The first brake assembly includes a rod coupled to the rotor blade coupling and a brake shoe coupled to the rod. The brake shoe is configured to apply a force on the hub arm. An axial position of the ro...