GB383178A - Improvements in devices for the automatic mooring and depth-taking under water levelof submarine mines and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

383,178. Submarine mines. SANTAGOSTINO, G., 9, Piazzale Cadorna, Milan, Italy. April 20, 1932, No. 11283. Convention date, April 27, 1931. [Class 9 (ii).] Relates to mines automatically anchored by the paying out of the mooring cable from a fixed vertical bobbin in the anchor under control of a plummet, and consists mainly in the following combination of parts, namely a cross-bar tr rotatable about the vertical axis of the bobbin b and provided with sheaves ca and cr for the mooring cable f, a centrally disposed clutch i for releasing or locking the cross-bar under control of the plummet s, an arrangement of fixed pegs rf and removable pegs rm for adjusting the effective length of the plummet line fs, and a delay action device fr for delaying the release of the plummet. Further adjustment of the length of the plummet line may be made by a small winding drum ta. The mooring cablo is tightened by a nut d to secure the mine t firmly on the anchor a. The plummet is normally held in place by a lid co secured in the closed position by a lock, which is removed just before the mine is to be launched. When the mine is launched, the lid opens slowly under control of the glycerine dashpot fr, then the plummet falls and extends its line which passes round a pulley bo and pulls the clutch i against its spring m away from the hub p of the cross-bar, whereupon this rotates and pays out the mooring cable while the mine t remains at the surface and the anchor sinks until the plummet touches bottom, when the clutch i again locks the cross-bar and the anchor weighted with water continues its fall to the bottom and drags the mine down to the depth corresponding to the length of the plummet line. The anchor is provided with oblique fins to counteract the slight torque due to the unwinding of the cable.