US2627659A - Telescope reticle adjustment - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 10, 1953 c. H. MURR TELESCOPE RETICLE ADJUSTMENT Filed March 16, 1950 FI7B. FIG.

Fl 7.- ,Fl 7A.

I INVENTOR. CHARLES H. MURR.

FIG. 4.

ATTORNEYS.

FIG. 3".

Patented Feb. 10, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TELESCOPE RETICLE ADJUSTMENT Charles H. Murr, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of War Application March 16, 1950, Serial No. 150,068

.5 Claims. (c1. 33-50) "(Granted under Title 35, U. S.-Co'de (-1952), sec. 266) has particular reference to the means employed for supporting the reticle within the telescope and adjusting the same for windage and elevation.

Broadly stated, the object of my invention is to provide a reticle holder which is capable of allowing the making of both vertical and horizontal adjustments of the reticle with respect to the axial center of the telescope, and which, by virtue of a unique pivoting action, tends constantly to urge the reticle in a direction midway between the conventional, mutually perpendicular horizontal and vertical adjusting screws so asto .keep the reticle holder in constant abutment thereagainst.

A further object is to provide such a reticle holder whichis simple and inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install within a telescope, and which will give trouble-free performance over long periods of constant use.

In the past, workers in the fire control field have recognized the need for a telescope gun sight that possesses mechanism for making fine and consistent adjustments of the reticle to correct for variations in windage and elevation and, at the same time, to be sufiiciently rugged so as to be capable of withstanding the shock and vibration incident to the use of high velocity cartridges in guns with which telescope sights are usually employed. A number of such devices "have been made in order to meet this requirement, 511011.35 those represented by'U'. S. Patents 2,180,184 issued to W. R. Weaver in 1939 and 2,189,766 issued to J. 'Unertl in February 1940. Although these examples of prior art devices suitably serve their purpose, the present invention has been found to possess certain additional advantages in attaining the aforementioned objects, and is therefore believed to be "a desirable and valuable improvement to the art under discussion. This will be apparent from the'foll'owing description "which has reference to "the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view showing in dotted outline a conventional telescope mounted on a standard *rifie, the reticle of the present invention being 2 Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the flexible portion of the reticle holder taken from line "3-3 of Fig.2;

Fig. 4 is a similar view from line-1t-4of Fig.. 2-; Fig. 5 is a view taken along line 5- 5 of Fig. 1

to show the manner in which the end of the reticle holder which contains the reticle proper is in constant abutment with the horizontal and vertical adjusting screws;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section through the telescope showing in full detail the relationship 'of the reticle holder to the interior of the telescope, and also the vertical or rangeadjusting screw;

Fig. 7 is a view taken along line "li of Fig. 6 looking into the telescope from front to rear and showing the reticle holder so positioned that its reference line of sigh-tpasses through the axial center of the telescope;

Fig. 7A is a view similar to Fig. 7 except that the reference line of sight is shown displaced to the readers'left of the telescopes axial center;

"Fig. 7B is similar to Fig. '7 except that the reference line of sight is shown displaced vertically above the axial center of the telescope; and

'Fig. 7C is similar to Fig. '7 except that the reference line of sight is shown displaced to the readersright o'f'the axial center of the telescope.

In my improved construction, the telescope H is secured to the gun I2 in any conventionally suitable manner whereby the instrument will be held in substantially parallel relation "tothe gun barrel. 'The portion of the telescope within which my improved reticle holder is'lo'cated comprises a hollow tube i3, as shown-in Figs. 1 and 6, of varying diametral dimensions. Toward "the objective or rear end of the telescope there is provided a right angled shoulder l4 whichserves to limit the distance which thereti'cle holder can be moved forwardly toward the instruments eyepiece, as will b'e'made clear'below.

The reticle holder proper, in the illustrative example, may suitably consist of three tubular overlapping and interfitting members including a support it (facing the-scopes eyepiece, or the readers right) for the reference sight marker 32, an intermediate portion 1 8, and :a flexible, flared-portion l9 which faces the rea'dersdefit, or

the objective end of the telescope. The freeend segmented fashion, .or more segments may be utilized if desired as 'a matter of manufacturing scopes shoulder 14.

which is tightened against the free and assembling convenience. In the illustrated device, the three portions of the holder are secured to each other by any convenient means such as a number of rivets 2i.

Flexible portion i9 is of a special construction whereby the objects of my present invention are achieved. It will be noted from Fig. 2 that, before the holder is inserted into the telescope, the free end 22 of portion i9 is bent at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the remaining portion of the holder. The remainder of portion i9 is made flexible by virtue of the illustrated staggered multi-slot construction. The material chosen for fabricating the holder may be of any suitable metal or other material which will permit limited flexure of the so-constructed holder portion, without causing it to lose its inherent tendency to revert to its normal Fig. 2 shape.

In the extremity of free end 22 is a flange 23 which, when the holder is inserted into the telescope, as shown in Fig. 6, abuts against the In the periphery of flange 23 is a notch 31 (see Figs. 3-4) which mates with a pin 36 that projects from shoulder i l on the inner wall of the telescope. This mating relationship serves to prevent relative rotation between the reticle holder and the telescope, and

also serves to guide the holder into its proper position within the scope, as will be explained below. After the reticle holder is so installed it is then fixed against further axial movement with the further aid of a threaded ring clamp flange 23 as indicated at 24.

When so mounted, it will be noted that the free end 22 of the reticle holder portion [9 is rigidly confined by the encompassing interior walls of the telescope, as indicated at 26, so that this portion of the holder is in axial coincidence with the telescope. Since free end 22 is, however, constructed so as inherently to be angularly disposed with respect to the rest of the holder, the tendency is for the balance of the holder to be stressed in a direction that will restore the angular relationship. 'lhus, when the reticle holder is positioned within the telescope, advantage may be taken of this tendency by arranging to have holder portions |6i8l9 flex in a line which is originally midway between the positions of the telescopes mutually perpendicular, conventional reticle positioning screws j 21--28. This is accomplished by proper placement of pin 36 and mating notch 31 so that when the holder is inserted into the telescope the holder will tend to flex only in that direction. Of course, as the holder is moved throughout its full range of adjustment it will not necessarily move along this same line, as the positioning screws will stress it away from that direction. However, the tendency to move back into the original path will always remain and this factor will serve to keep holder portion I6 in constant engagement with screws 21-28. Screw 21, which is turned by a knob 21-3, serves to move the reticle holder vertically and thereby provide for range adjustment. Screw 28, which is turned by knob 38, serves to move the reticle holder horizontally and thereby provide for windage adjustment. In Fig. it may be seen that screws 2128 are 90 apart and reticle holder portion l6 bears against those screws because of the reasons given above.

face of The flexure of holder portion i9 is so great 2128, reticle holder portion 18 would make contact with the Wall of the telescope at approximately the 4b mark between the two screws, because of the hcluers inherent tendency to assume its normal shape as shown in Fig. 2. But, with free end 22 of portion i9 rigidly held by the telescopes wall, as at 20, and with screws 2'l28 bearing equally against the periphery or holder portion lo (as shown in big. 5) the effect is to compress the slot-like flexible holder portion 19 (as shown in Fig. 6), thereby to straighten and align the normally bent relationship of free end 22 with the rest of portion l9. Of course if screws 21-28 bear unequally against holder portion i6, portions 15-48-49 will be flexed into correspondingly different positions with respect to the scopes axis, but in each position portion i6 would engage screws 27-28.

The need for stabilizing the reference sight support by forcing it continuously to bear against the range and windage adjustment screws 27-48 has long been well known. Previous solutions to this problem have generally involved the inclusion of resilient members such as springs which are installed at a third point on the telescope in contact with the periphery of the reference sight support, usually at about radially of the axis of each supporting screw. However, the present invention eliminates the need for such additional stabilizing means, as the holder is so constructed that without such added support it will at all times, after being properly mounted within the telescope, retain the dcSil'Ed stability. In addition, the slot-like construction of holder portion I9 serves further to cushion the holder against shock which may be transmitted both axially and transversely of the telescope upon firing the gun. However, it is to be understood that this and the other obvious advantages of the present invention are not necessarily limited to devices having the particular construction shown, for other suitable means may obviously be employed to attain the same unique flexible action.

Illustrative of the manner in which the present invention works, there has been shown in Figs. 7 to 70, inclusive, 2. series of different positions of the reticle holder. In Fig. '7, the holders portion It has been forced down to the bottom of the telescope, as seen by the reader, but the reference sight or marker 32, which may be a pin or other suitable means, is shown passing through the axial center 3 3 of the holder. In Fig 7A, holder support portion it has been moved to the reader's left so that relerence marker 32 is shown to the left of dead center. In Fig. '13, support it has been moved to the maximum upward position and thus is above the center point. Finally, in Fig. 70, support 15 has been moved as far as possible to the readers right and marker 32 is there shown as being off to the right of center 34. Thus, it will be seen that the reference sight in my novel holder can be moved in a complete circle, thereby making possible a greater range of adjustability than was heretofore possible.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description and accompanying illustrations that an improvement has been made in the art of telescope reticle adjustments which is greatly simplified from point of view of manufacture and installation, and is unusually inexpensive and efiicient. The said invention may of course be employed in numerous embodiments as was indicated above, and therefore it should be understood that it is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a telescope comprising a tubular body and a reticle support therein, means for adjustably mounting said reticle support in operative position, comprising: a tube mounted coaxially within the telescope and having a larger-diametered forward portion and a flexible rearward portion which tapers rearwardly to a smaller diameter, the axes of the two portions inherently forming an obtuse angle prior to insertion of the tube in said body so that the flexible rearward portion must be stressed into substantial alignment with the forward portion in order to accomplish the insertion, after which the flexible rearward portion constantly tends to move against the bodys wall; means for securing the larger-diametered forward portion of said tube with respect to the inner wall of said body with the line of sight of the telescope passing centrally through that tube portion, and means operable from outside the body for adjusting the radial position of the smaller-diametered rearward portion with respect to the axis of said body.

2. In a telescope comprising a tubular body and a reticle support therein, means for adjustably mounting said reticle support in operative position, comprising: a tube mounted within said body and extending axially thereof, said tube having a larger-diametered forward portion and a flexible rearward portion which tapers rearwardly to a smaller diameter, the axes of the two portions inherently forming an obtuse angle prior to insertion of the tube in said body so that the flexible rearward portion must be stressed into substantial alignment with the forward portion in order to accomplish the insertion, after which the flexible rearward portion constantly tends to move against the bodys wall; means for securing the forward end of said tube with respect to the inner wall of the body; and means operable from ou side said body for adjusting the position of said reticle support with respect to the axis of said body, and including a pair of threaded members extending through the body wall and disposed 90 apart radially of the body, the tube being adapted so that its rearward end continually tends to be biased along a direction approximately 45 between and into contact with the inner ends of the threaded members.

3. In a telescope comprising a tubular body and a reticle support therein, means for adjustably mounting said reticle support in operative position, comprising: a tube mounted within said body and extending axially thereof, said tube having a larger-diametered forward portion and a flexible rearward portion which tapers rearwardly to a smaller diameter, the axes of the two portions inherently forming an obtuse angle prior to insertion of the tube in said body so that the flexible rearward portion must be stressed into substantial alignment with the forward portion in order to accomplish the insertion, after which the flexible rearward portion constantly tends to move against the bodys wall; a flange radially projecting from the forward end of said tube and having a notch cut into the margin thereof; a shoulder extending from the inner body wall for contacting the rearward face of said flange to prevent axial movement of the tube rearwardly therepast; a ring clamp mounted in said body and adapted to be threadedly tightened against the forward face of said flange to prevent forward axial movement of the tube, the said shoulder and flange serving securely to fix the reticle support tube against any axial movement; a member carried by said shoulder and protruding therefrom for engagement with the notch in said flange to register the tubes rotative position with respect to the telescope body and to prevent any relative rotation between the two parts; and means operable from outside the body for adjusting the position of said reticle support with respect to the axis of said body and includingv a pair of threaded members extending through the body wall and disposed apart radially of the body, the tube being adapted so that its rearward end continually tends to be biased along a direction approximately 45 between and into contact with the inner ends of the threaded members.

4. Reticle supporting means for a telescope, comprising, a tube having a forward portion adapted to be secured within the telescope and a flexible rearward portion freely movable in all radial directions therein, the axes of the two portions inherently forming an obtuse angle prior to insertion of the tube in the telescope so that the flexible rearward portion must be stressed into substantial alignment with the forward portion in order to accomplish the insertion, after which the flexible rearward portion constantly tends to spring in a predetermined direction against the wall of the telescope.

5. The reticle supporting means of claim 4 in which the tubes rearward portion has a number of slots cut into a substantial part of its wall in order to facilitate its flexible nature and tendency to spring in a predetermined direction against the telescopes wall.

CHARLES H. MURR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Niunber Name Date 875,462 Rowan Dec. 31, 1907 1,557,958 Anderson Oct. 20, 1925 1,950,790 Fahrenwald Mar. 13, 1934 2,045,670 Noske June 30, 1936 2,094,623 Stokey Oct. 5, 1937 2,138,067 Mossberg Nov. 29, 1938 2,189,766 Unertl Feb. 13, 1940 2,496,045 Ford Jan. 31, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 482,306 Great Britain 1938

Images