William S. Dritt - Oak Ridge TN Howard L. Gerth - Knoxville TN Charles E. Knight - Knoxville TN Robert M. Pardue - Knoxville TN
Assignee:
The United States of America as represented by the United States Energy Research and Development Administration - Washington DC
International Classification:
B65D 742
US Classification:
428 35
Abstract:
The present invention relates to a filament wound spherical structure comprising a plurality of filament band sets disposed about the surface of a mandrel with each band of each set formed of a continuous filament circumferentially wound about the mandrel a selected number of circuits and with each circuit of filament being wound parallel to and contiguous with an immediate previously wound circuit. Each filament band in each band set is wound at the same helix angle from the axis of revolution of the mandrel and all of the bands of each set are uniformly distributed about the mandrel circumference. The pole-to-equator wall thickness taper associated with each band set, as several contiguous band sets are wound about the mandrel starting at the poles, is accumulative as the band sets are nested to provide a complete filament wound sphere of essentially uniform thickness.