US Patent 10006361 Multi-fan engine with an enhanced power transmission

A multi-fan engine including a gas turbine engine, a casing and fans encased by geared rings, which connect with the geared rings of an adjacent fan(s) such that the rotation of one fan rotates the other fans. Intermediate gears may prove the connection between adjacent geared rings, wherein the intermediate gears are retracted by linear actuators to disengage the intermediate gears from the geared rings and thereby disengage the fans from each other. The multi-fan engine may be mounted flush to the fuselage of an aircraft invention to capture into the fans boundary layer airflow moving over the skin of the fuselage.