Originally Posted by
ZH875
I am sure that the person who designed the Osprey's wing/engine/blade fold/unfold mechanism must have been a Professor of Origami
Actually quite a fascinating story about that in the excellent "The Dream Machine, The Untold Story of the Notorious V-22 Osprey" by Richard Little, that I was just re-reading. The entire book is highly recommended.
Starting around page 126 it discusses the many back and forth discussions of the highly complicated wing stow mechanism and the shipboard compatibility challenges, which drove much of the program compromises. The program was 50/50 between Bell and Boeing, with Boing responsible for the fuselage and the wing stow, but Bell responsible for the wing, and the companies could not agree for a few years on how to meet the two. The whole mechanism had to rotate without distorting the fuselage and had massively complex runs through it. The were over 40 proposals and a whole mix of metal vs composites debates and "bed frame" vs a ring mechanisms for the whole pivot section. Ultimately an old time engineer Bill Rumberger, who still kept glue and cardboard in his desk drawer to help envision designs won out/outlasted others and was nicknamed "Lord of the Ring" by his engineering buddies.