Patent 10113429 was granted and assigned to Rolls-Royce on October, 2018 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
There is provided a liquid-capturing shaft (30). The shaft is hollow, arranged for rotation about its longitudinal axis (31), and has a cylindrical wall (32) defining an inner surface (33) and an outer surface (34) of the shaft and through which are formed a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart inlet openings (35). Each inlet opening (35) has a respective inwardly and axially facing capture surface (40) which extends from the outer surface (34) of the shaft to the inner surface (33) of the shaft.