GB400612A - Improvements in fuzes for projectiles - Google Patents

Abstract

400,612. Projectile fuzes. ALIQUO, F., 138A, Via Emanuele Filiberto, Rome. Jan. 22, 1932, No. 2021. Convention date, Jan. 23, 1931. [Class 9 (i).] Relates to gyroscopically controlled devices for timing the firing or the arming of projectile fuzes and consists mainly in that the gyroscope is kept spinning by a current of air during the flight of the projectile after it has been unlocked and started at the moment the shot is fired. The gyroscope 2, Fig. 6, may have two or three degrees of freedom; it may be unlocked bv the set back of an inertia bolt or lever, and it may be started by a spring, or by centrifugal racks, or by racks subjected to tangential inertia. During flight, air is admitted by a nose opening 6, and directed through a hole 9 in a disc 17 or a sphere onto ribs or recesses on the gyroscope 2, after driving which, the air escapes through a lateral hole. Or the air is led to the gyroscope through passages in the suspension members of the gyroscope. The rotation of the gyroscope, which keeps its direction in space, relatively to the projectile, which is spun by the rifling, is transmitted through gearing 5 to a pinion 19, Fig. 7, which when the shot is fired becomes engaged by a wheel 18; and this wheel is at the same time coupled by a clutch 24, 25 to a pinion 26 in mesh with a wheel 79 provided with a pin 28 or a recess 29 or a cam 31, Fig. 8, for releasing the firing-pin. The pinion 19 is set by a hand wheel 21, and the wheel 18 by a hand wheel 20 to which it is normally keyed by a pin 22. When the shot is fired, the wheel 18 sets back by inertia, leaving the wheel 20 and engaging the pinion 9. The cam is adapted to release a lever 33 which is then pulled by a spring 37 out of a notch in the firing pin 38. To prevent accidental premature operation, the cam 31 is provided with a finger 66<1>, which is stopped by a pin 67<1> until this sets back by inertia when the shot is fired. For further safety, the firing-pin 38, Fig. 9, may be locked by a centrifugal bolt 41 working in a small chamber 42 provided with an outlet 43 so arranged that the rather high air pressure which occurs while the projectile is travelling through the gun prevents the outward movement of the centrifugal bolt' which can only take place after the projectile is well beyond the muzzle of the barrel. A similar bolt may be used to unlock the gyroscope. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 describes also a number of safety devices including centrifugal shutters, catches for preventing the return of the safety devices, and the centrifugally operated safety devices comprising screw spindles and spring or air operated delaying brakes, now forming the subject-matter of Specification 400,667. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.