Non-radiating extendible cloth exit cone for rocket nozzles

Claim 1

An auxiliary nozzle portion for a rocket motor having a combustion chamber provided with a rearwardly directed outlet and a rearwardly extending nozzle defining the outlet of the combustion chamber, comprising, a woven refractory cloth structure having an exterior surface and an interior surface and having the shape of a frustum of a cone, and a refractory felt sewn to the exterior surface of said cloth structure, said cloth structure being secured at the smaller end thereof to the rocket nozzle and being folded upon itself in an inoperative folded configuration, said cloth structure when deployed from said inoperative configuration to an operative configuration forming a frustoconical rearward extension of the rocket nozzle, said cloth structure being the primary supporting structure, when deployed, for transmitting the rocket motor thrust forces to the rocket nozzle, and said refractory felt providing thermal insulation for said structural cloth thereby to prevent thermal radiation from said auxiliary nozzle portion.