Unitary, bonded-together helicopter rotorblade

Claim 1

A unitary, bonded-together helicopter rotor blade having a longitudinal axis, comprising: a single individual monolithic spar member comprising a longitudinally extending counterweight member, a root member attached to said counterweight member, a retention means retained by and projecting laterally from said root member and spaced from said counterweight member, a plurality of longitudinally-extending fibers having substantial tensile strength gathered to form a group, and as a group doubled around said retention means, and bonding means bonding said counterweight member, root member, retention means, and fibers into a solid body, said spar member having an exteriorly curved longitudinally-extending forward surface and a pair of external shaper surfaces adjacent to said forward surface; an individual longitudinally-extending spacer with a pair of external abutment surfaces, said abutment surfaces facing away from one another; an individual top skin section and an individual bottom skin section, each skin section extending laterally and having a leading edge, said leading edges abutting one another, an inside surface bonded to said forward surface, to one of said shaper surfaces, and to one of said abutment surfaces, and a trailing edge, said trailing edges being bonded to one another, said shaper member being rearwardly spaced from said spar member and forwardly spaced from said trailing edges, whereby to leave an empty region between the skin sections to the rear of said spar member on both sides of the spacer member, the said skin surfaces being self-reinforced, and devoid of laterally-extending reinforcement on their surfaces.