To: IHL
First of all I’m 73 years old and have been in the industry since 1955. Secondly, as they say if you wallow with hogs some hog sh!t will stick to you. I have wallowed with a lot of aerospace hogs in that time and the sh!t in this case is knowledge and experience. Besides that I got the bit about Raymond Loewy from Aviation Leak and Space Technology and I was working at Hughes as a consultant when the bidding for the follow-on contract was taking place.
Regarding the sloppy link (mechanical disconnect) I believe the two are one in the same. This is not to say there are not other types of mechanical disconnect. In the case of the sloppy link any pilot input displaces the servo valve but does not come in direct mechanical contact with the servo. If hydraulic power is lost and it is a single piston servo pilot input will bottom out on the sloppy link and displace the servo mechanically.
On a typical servo (Sikorsky) the total mechanical movement on the sloppy link is +/- .006. However the servo valve must be displaced no more than .002 to make the servo move. Understanding this you can see that the sloppy link will never bottom out until hydraulic pressure is lost.
One time the French who were flying H-34s sent a letter to Sikorsky asking clarification of the term sloppy link. However the French did not have a term for sloppy so they addressed the “dirty link” and Sikorsky did not know what they were talking about.
