Dave,
Check out US 5,409,183; seems to have cover a bit of what you're looking for in connection with Kaman's work in this technology.
This particular patent, issued in 1995, has lapsed for non-payment of maintenance fees. Perhaps they were too far ahead of the art with this particular innovation.
Kaman's patent and patent publications are fairly easy to locate by searching the USPTO's assignment database. Just go to
USPTO Assignments on the Web and pop in 'Kaman Aerospace' as the 'assignee;' this will show you what is assigned to Kaman Aerospace - currently some 64 patents and patent application publications.
- Cheers