US2339508A - Fire control system - Google Patents

Description

Filed June 25, 1940 '2 sheets-sheet 1 ELEV.SPOT 00 I 0 SPOT INV EN TOR.

HJVewew W7 4W ATTORNEY.

Jan. 18, 1944. w. H. NEWELL 2,339,508

FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM Filed June 25, 1940 2 Sheets-She et 2 L42 -l 57 ELEVATION ELEVATION REGEWER CO H PAEaS mR'Ec'roR nefi TRAVERSE v TRANS.-

STABLE g vsa'ncm.

ELEVATION TRANS.

' INVENTOR. WHNewelL ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 18, 1944 2,339,508 FIRE CONTROL SYSTEM William H. Newell. Ford Instrument New York, N. Y., assignor to Company, Inc., Long Island City, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 25, 1940, Serial No. 342,201

3' Claims. ficl. 33-49) This invention relates to a fire control system and more particularlyto a fire control system for a gun mounted for universal movement including traverse, that is, about an axis perpendicular to the plane of elevation.

The principal object of the invention is-to provide a director and a prediction computer particularly adapted to control the fire of universally mounted guns.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fire control system for a universally mounted gun that is mounted on a ship or a vehicle subject to rocking movements.

A further object of the invention is to provide a universally mounted sight on a ship or vehicle subjected to rocking movements, adapted, with other associated mechanisms, to control the fire of guns similarly mounted.

A further obiect of the invention is to provide a fire control system in which the sight and part of the mechanism of the director are stabilized whereby the reactions between the stabilized parts and the parts not stabilized automatically apply corrections within the system as a whole.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the specification and drawings forming a part of this application and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a director and computer embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a gun controlled by the director of Fig. 1, with associated mechanisms; and

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of a portion of the director on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, showing a threedimensional cam.

The standard type of gun mounts developed for land and ship firing at surface'targets have been used at a disadvantage when firing at aerial targets and especially when these targets are at high angles of elevation. The difliculties arose from the fact that the guns were mounted for movement on only two axes, viz., train and elevation. As the movements of aerial targets are along three axes, corrections forelevation had to be made for changes in train, which were complicated in their computations especially with high rates of change in range and bearing usually involved in the firing at such targets. Also it was practically impossible to follow a target at high elevation as the training rate becomes very high as the target passes near the zenith.

.To overcome these defects a third movement was provided as illustrated in the well known Scarfi ring, which was mounted on a base movable in train and which carried a bail on which was mounted the gun. The gun was capable of movement in elevation and train relative to the bail.

Another form of so-call ed universal gun mount was devised and was disclosed in Henderson Patent No. 1,693,712 in which a third or cross level ,movement was provided between the train and elevation movements. owever, the setting of the sights in this system was difiicult and complicated as the changes in the settings for traindisturbed the setting for elevation and vice versa. It was also difilcult to provide a remote sight or director control for mounts of this type.

There have been remote sights that were universallymounted, such: as described in Willard v patent No. 1,936,442, but'in that arrangement the transmissions to the gun were in terms of .the conventional train and elevation, whereas the transmissions in the-present invention are in terms of train, elevation and traverse. Traverse is defined as the angular position about an axis erpendicular to the plane of elevation, that is, the plane including the bore of the gun and r the axis of the gun elevation trunnions.

The present invention contemplates mounting the sight and part of the director on a frame stabilized for pitch and roll so that the train axis of the sight is containuously maintained vertical and the elevation axis is continuously maintained horizontal. As the mount of the gun must necessarily be secured to the deck of the ship, the train and elevation values generated by the director must be corrected for roll and pitch. This is accomplished by mounting on the deck below the central axis of the stabilized part of the director a dummy gun whose muzzle end is moved in accordance with the generated train, elevation and stabilizing values and whose associated transmitters transmit the generated values corrected for pitch and roll. It is evident that the gimbal system of converting generated values to corrected values, as disclosed'herein, could be replaced by a converter of the computer type.

The upper part of the director contains the range finger, sights, train and elevation. variable speed devices, and prediction devices operated in part by. the rates of the variable speed devices and in part in accordance with the range, converted to time of fiight. A ballistic computer is also provided in this section in which the range is converted to time of flight, super-elevation and drift by three-dimensional cams controlled by the predicted elevation of the line of sight above the horizontal and the range. Conventional power follow-ups are provided for the outputs of train, elevation and deflection.

The lower part of the director consists of a dummy gun by which'transmitters are driven for controlling the actual gun. The center of the dummy gun system coincides with the center of the stabilized gimbal system of the director. The muzzle end of the dummy gun is located in space by fitting its upper end into a hole in a sector member controlled by the outputs of the computer or stabilized section. This hole is positioned in space with reference to the pivoting point of the dummy gun in accordance with the direction of the line of sight modified for predictions, spots, and ballistic corrections so that the line from the center'of the dummy gun, which is in the vertical axis of the stabilizing gimbal system, to the'hole in the sector member represents the direction of the gun in space. As the dummy gun is mounted directly on the ship on a base parallel with the reference plane of the guns, it is continuously positioned to transmit the proper values of train,

elevation and traverse to the real gun.

With reference to Fig. 1, the frame ofthe director is mounted on trunnions 2, 2 to ring 3 which is supported on the trunnions i, 4 by standards 5, 5 secured to the deck 53. The di rector frame l is maintained in a horizontal plane'with its main axis vertical by roll follow-up 'motor 7 secured to the deck 8 and pitch follow up motor 8 secured to the ring 3 by bracket to. whose shafts are connected-to segments 9 and ill secured to the ring 3 and frame l respectively by worms H and I2 respectively. Control of the motors I and 8 is had through cables I3 and id from a suitable stable vertical. well known in the art and indicated at it (see Fig. 2).

Within the frame 1 and coaxial therewith is mounted the director head it which is free to retate with reference to frame 3 about its vertical axis. The head it is held in position by ball bearings I1. An apron it! extends downward from the director head it for protection of the mechanisms within it from the weather and the blasts of the guns.

On the top of director head it is mounted bystandards 68o a conventional combined range finder and sight iii. The optical system of the sight terminates in eyepieces 2d and the optical system of the range finder terminates in the eyepieces 25.

Train values are generated by variable speed device 22 whose disk 23'is driven by constant speed motor 24 through shaft 25. The output of variable speed device 22, represented by the rotation of shaft 26, is controlled by the position of control element 2? which is positioned by the knob 28 through shaft 29, gears 39 and 3!, and shaft 32. Corrections to the generated values are applied by knob 28 through shaft 29, gears 39 and 33, shaft 34, and differential 35, one side of which is connected to the output of the variable speed device 22. A disk 38 is secured to shaft 35 and cooperates with spring 31 secured to the director head 46 by lug 38 to prevent the output of the variable speed device 22 from moving gear 33 rather than moving shaft 39, which is the output of differential 35. The retarding force between the disk 36 and the spring 37 is such that it may be overcome by. a force applied to knob 28 but is not overcome by the force necessary to move shaft 39.

In the position shown, gear 30 engages gears 3! able speed device 22. Gear 30 may be shifted upward and engage gear 33 only in which case corrections would be applied only to the output of variable speed device 22. If gear 30 is moved downward it engages gear 3! only, in which case knob 28 applies corrections only to the position of the rate member of variable speed device 22.

The rotation of shaft 39, representing train, is combined with the compass course of the ship supplied by compass 413 through cables 4! to follow-up 412 to give relative bearings in train. This is accomplished by combining the output of the compass course follow-up 42, represented by the rotation of shaft 43, with the rotation of shaft 39 in diiferential 44, the output of which, shaft 415, is connected to the input of train follow-up Ma. The output of follow-up dfishaft 6?; is con nected to gear 48, which meshes with an internal gear formed by teeth 49 in frame l. In this manner the sights 28 are kept continuously on the target in train.

Elevation values are generated by variable speed device 51], driven by motor 24, and controlled by knob 51?, shaft 52, gears 53 and 54, shaft 55, control element 56, as previously described for variable speed device 22. Likewise corrections to the generated values of the variable speed device 511 are applied through gear 51, shaft 58, and differential 59, which is connected to the output of the variable speed device 50, by shaft 69. On shaft 58 is disk ti which cooperates with spring 52 secured to the frame I by lug 83 to prevent the output of the variable speed device 50 from moving gear 51. Corrections to the rate of generation or the generated values may be applied simultaneously or individually by shifting the position of gear 53, as previously described for gear 38. The generated values of elevation, represented by the motion of shaft 54, is applied to the range finder-sight 19 by worm 65 which meshes with gear 66 secured to the range findersight it.

The range is set up in the mechanism mechanically by knob 67, connected to shaft 68, which is connected by a flexible shaft 68a to a mechanism in the range finder which converts the movement of shafts B8 and 58a, directly representing range, to the corresponding variable movements required of the range finder optical system.

The advance elevation is the algebraic sum of the elevation of the sight and the elevation prediction factor. The elevation prediction factor is the product of the rate of change of elevation multiplied by the time of flight. The time of flight is a function of the advance elevation and the range. A closed or regenerative system is therefore provided to obtain the advance elevation as follows: The range, represented by the rotation of shaft 58, andthe advance elevation represented by the rotation of shaft 69, are fed into the three-dimensional cam mechanism '18 by shaft 68'. Cam mechanism 10 is shown in detail in Fig. 3., The surface of cam 72 is determined by calculations and experiments. The movement of cam lever 73 about its axis is determined by the rotation of shaft 68f and the particular part of the surface of cam 12 which cam follower 7i engages. The latter factor is determined by the movement of cam lever 13 along the shaft 69. This is accomplished by mounting cam lever 13 to rotate relative to lever 75, which is internally threaded at 16 to engage cam lever 13 is translated along shaft 69 in proportion to the advanced elevation and is rotated about its axis in'accordance with the surface of cam 12 with which it is held in contact by spring 18 and its rotational movement is in proportion to the time of flight of the projectile.

The time of flight, represented by the motion of shaft 8I, is multiplied by the rate of change of elevation, represented by the rotation of shaft 55, by a conventional multiplying mechanism 82. the output of which, represented by the rotation of shaft 83, is the elevation prediction factor.

This is combined with the elevation of the target;-

represented by the rotation of shaft 64, in differential 84 to obtain the advanced elevation, represented by the rotation of shaft 69. The construction and operation of a, conventional mul- Y is connected to plate I06 by gears I22, shaft I23,

standards I08 and I09. Journaled in the upper end of standard I08 is shaft H which supports pin III on which rotates together arm H3 and plate II2. On the end of arm H3 is secured dummy gun I I4, such that the axis of the dummy gun II.4 intersects the axis of shaft H0. In the edge of plate H2 are cut teeth H5 which mesh with a gear on shaft H6 which is journaled in the upper end of standard I09. Elevation transmitter H1 is connected to shaft H0 by gears H8. Traverse transmitter H9 is connected to shaft H5 by gears I20. Train transmitter .I2'I

gear I24 and teeth I01.

The manner in which dummy gun I I4 receives its motion, and thereby movesthe elevation,

transmitter II1, traverse transmitter H9, and train transmitter I2! .is as follows: The upper end of the dummy gun II4 fits into a hole I25 tiplying mechanism are described in Patent The super-elevation correction is a function of range and advanced elevation and is generated by a three-dimensional cam mechanism designated generally as 85 which operates similarly to cam mechanism 10, previously described.

The output of this mechanism, represented by the rotation of shaft 86, is combined with the advance elevation, represented by the rotation of shaft I59, by differential 8601.. the output of which, shaft 81, represents the elevation of the gun above the horizon.

Elevation spots are added by turning knob 88 connected to shaft 89, whose movement is com- -bined with that of shaft 81 by differential 90.

The output of difierential 90, shaft 9I, is connected to a conventional follow-up-92, the output of which is shaft 93.

The deflection correction is made up of two.

factors: 1) the rate of changeof train multiplied by the time of flight, and (2) a drift wh ch is proportional to the advance elevation and range. The mechanism to generate the first factor (1) of this correction consists of the con ventional multiplier 94 whose inputs are shafts 32 and 8|, previously described, and whose output is shaft 95. The factor of drift is generatedv by a three-dimensional cam mechanism, shown generally at 96, and which is similar in all respects in construction and operation with the three-dimensionalcam mechanism 10, previously described. The output of cam mechanism 96 is shaft 91, whose motion is combined with that of shaft 95 in differential 98, the output of which is shaft 99 whose motion represents the combined generated deflection correction.

Spots in deflection are set up in the mechanism by knob I00 connected to shaft I00a whose movement is combined with that of shaft 99 in differential IOI whose output, shaft I02, is connected to a conventional follow-up I03, whose output is shaft I03a, the rotation of which represents on sector strip I20 which is adapted to slide in grooves formedof braces I21. Braces I21 are connected to bracket I28 which is secured at one end to hollow shaft or sleeve I29 which in turn is secured to plate I30. Plate I30 is connected to shaft I03aby teeth I3I and gear I32.

Strip I26 is moved between the braces I21 by rack I33, secured to strip I20, and engaging gear I34 secured to shaft I35 which rotates within sleeve I29. Shaft I35 is connected to shaft 93 and to shaft [03a through the conventional d'iferential I36.

The outer end of bracket I28 carries sleeve I31 in which rotates shaft I38 connected at its upper end by gear- I39 to a second internal gear formed by teeth 49a of frame I. its rotation to gear I40, which meshes with teeth I05, through gears MI and telescoping shaft I42 including universal joints I43. Shaft I42 passes through a journal in plate I06. In this manner it will be seen the axis of plate I00, at right angles to the axis passing through the center of the standards I08 and I09, is kept substant ally parallel to the; longitudinal axis of bracket I28.

The gun I44 is mounted for universal movement by securing it to a plate .I45 rotatively secured to frame I40. Frame I46 is supported by shafts I41 and I48 journaled in the upper ends of standards I49 and I50 respectively, which are secured to the plate I5I. Plate I5I "is rotatively mounted on base I52 secured to the deck of the ship.

Motion of the gun in elevation is had by.

output of this follow-up is transmitted to plate I45 through gears I59a,' shaft I48, gears IOI,

.shaft I62, and gear I63 which meshes with teeth I64 on the edge of plate I45.

Motion of the gun in train is had by connecting train transmitter I2I to train receiver and follow-up I05 by cable IIi5a. Theoutput of this follow-up is journaled in plate I5I and is connected to gear I66 which meshes with teeth of a gear rack I61 secured to the side of the base I52.

It is obvious that various changes may be made by those skilled in the art in the details of the embodiment of the invention disclosed in the Shaft I38 transmits drawings anddescribed above within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

I claim:

- 1. In a system for directing anti-aircraft guns, in combination withan angularly movable platform, a director franie mounted on the platform for universal angular movement relative thereto, stabilizing means for maintaining an axis of the frame vertical, a director head on the director frame adapted for rotation about said vertical axis, a directing device on the director head adapted for rotation about a horizontal axis and for rotation with the director head about the vertical axis, a dummy gun mounted on the platform and movable in train about an axis perpendicular to the platform and in line with the said vertical axis when the platform is horiz'ontal, and in elevation about an axis parallel with the platform and in traverse about an axis perpendicular to the elevation axis and to the plane of elevation, means for transmitting the' for universal angular movement relative thereto 'assasos plane of elevation, each of said dummy gun axes about intersecting axes, stabilizing means for maintaining an axis of the frame vertical, a director head on the director frame adapted for to the vertical axis and for rotation in train with the director head about the vertical axis, a dummy gun mounted on the platform and movable in train about an axis P p ndicular to the platform and in elevation-about an axis parallel 7 being arranged to intersect the frame mounting axes, a sector mounted on the director head for angular displacement relative thereto about vertical and horizontal axes also intersecting the frame mounting axes, adjustable variable speed power means adapted for moving said director head and said sector in train about their vertical axes, means for displacing the sector in train relative to the directing device in proportion to the adjustment of the variable, speed powermeans, means to position the dummy gun in train by and in accordance with the train of the director head and the displacement ofthe sector about their vertical axes relative to the director frame. means to position the sector about its horizontal axis in accordance with the elevation of the directing device relative to thekdirector head, and constraining means interconnecting the sector and the dummy gun whereby to cause the dummy gun to move about its traverse and elevation axes.

' 3. In a system for directing anti-aircraft guns, in combination with an angular-iv movable platform, a director frame mounted on said platform and adapted for angular movement relative thereto, stabilizing means for maintaining an axis of the frame vertical, a directing device mounted on said frame for train about said vertical axis and for elevation about an axis perpendicular to said vertical axis, a dummy gun mounted on the platform for movement relative thereto about three axes of rotation, one of said axes being perpendicular to the platform and in line with the said vertical axis when the platform is horizontal, means for transmitting the train of the directing device to \position the dummy gun about the axis perpendicular to the platform, and

constraining means for the dummy gun responzontal.

. WELIAM H. NEWELL.

Images