unknown vintage helicopter rotor head?

[old iron]

Up on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNKNOWN-VINTAGE-HELICOPTER-ROTOR-HEAD-SIKORSKY-BELL-PIASECKI-KAMAN-PROTOTYPE-/112178008712?hash=item1a1e549288:g:bhoAAOSwAvJXAGhG

I do not think this anywhere near robust enough to be a "helicopter rotor head" ... maybe a lawn sprinkler head?

[JohnB]

I agree that it's pretty lightweight and the shaft looks far too slim...and long, but coming from Connecticut (which along with Pennsylvania was the center of helicopter development), I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss it out of hand.

It could be a POC piece, patent model, or even a part of a sub-scale flying model (remember that Arthur Young, designer of the Bell 30 prototypes and 47 series started out with electric models).

The description sounds like the seller had done some research on it, I'd show it to the staff at the Connecticut Air Musuem and get their take on it.

[Warbird Kid]

Thanks for the link. We are having some of our guys check it out.

[wingsandrotorspilot]

Looks like it could be the pitch change linkage that goes up thru the mast to above the rotor head on possibly R-4, or something early.

[airnutz]

This is one of things you see at a garage sale and feel compelled to purchase(cheaply), just so you can fiddle with it until you figure out how it works. It reminds me of gadgets looking thru old factories that actuates several things...Like a multiple window actuator or somesuch. Then some day, an old guy or gal, sees it and reveals...awe yeahh, "that's a Fromholze and Pfeifer Controlbulator...used 'em in pickle plants to dump 12 barrels at a time!"

[CoastieJohn]

As a helo bubba.....I could be all wet on this but my first gut thought is it is a very early angle drive for a tail rotor assembly. The gear at the end and the input arm is a possible giveaway. I have someone checking it out.

[robkamm]

I was thinking tail rotor also.

[robkamm]

on second thought it reminds me of something you see is a green house for plants. the gear part anyway. industrial temp controlled by pitch building fan. ( if something like that was ever made)

[JohnB]

I was thinking tail rotor also.

I wondered about that, but the shaft is wrong....at least for any helicopter I'm familiar with.

Then again, remember for a time in the fall and winter of 1940 the Sikorsky VS-300 had two outrigger tail rotors with horizontally mounted blades. By the summer of 1941, those two were replaced by one horizontal tail rotor with a long shaft, (there is a photo of it in this configuration on page 68 of Sergei Sikorsky's excellent Sikorsky Legacy book).
Until it's examined by the Connecticut museum, The Ford Museum...The current resting place for the VS-300, or Sikorsky, I'd never say never on this piece.

I like your fan theory based on the sheer likelihood of it....in other words, more industrial pieces were made than rare helicopter parts.
I'd like to know what made anyone think helicopter when they found this?
I wonder how much the seller has in it...did he pay a fair amount for it based on the possible helicopter connection or is he trying to make a killing on what might be junk?

Last edited by JohnB on Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:49 pm, edited 4 times in total.

[Cherrybomber13]

I'm thinking old factory / mill machinery or a piece of farm equiptmernt.

[BigGrey]

I don't see any safety wire on it or provisions for it so I doubt it was a flight item.

[JohnB]

I don't think that would rule it out as a prototype piece.

[K5DH]

The markings visible in one picture appear to say "AETNA BALL & ROLLER". Does that give anyone a clue?