"I am having difficulty understanding the paragraph in your earlier posting."
Rewritten, hopefully to make it clearer.
"...are you proposing that rotational aerodynamic drag of the propeller be used as an alternative to the worm & gear...?"
Not really. I am trying to demonstrate that at a given airspeed the prop RPM should ideally vary with thrust. Your system doesn't cater for different thrust levels, since at a given airspeed the prop torque will vary (causing diff torque mismatch). Also for max engine power, assuming a "magic" variable ratio gearbox, prop will decrease RPM with airspeed (and acceleration will drop off), while torque goes up.
Since in practice varying prop RPM with thrust is impractical, prop RPM should decrease with speed while pitch controls instantaneous thrust. Rotor also ideally reduces RPM with speed, but unlikely to be along same curve as prop. This all seems to point to two seperate CVT gearboxes ideally. I am assuming that prop always provides horizontal thrust from hover to Vmax.
"I believe that the worm & gear is absorbing very little power (friction). It is redirecting the power to the rotor, as desired."
It is difficult for me to comment, since i am not sure how you believe the total rotor/prop/diff system to be working. The only way your statement can be true is if the prop torque always perfectly balances rotor torque, and i just don't see how this can be unless you are imposing a propeller thrust on the pilot (since rotor thrust is constant - in level flight only).
Mart
[Edit: 'cos my brain hurts
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