DK3179194T3 - Device for handling a grenade for an artillery piece - Google Patents

Description

SHELL HANDLING DEVICE FOR ARTILLERY PIECE

The technical field of the invention is that of shell handling devices for artillery piece.

The artillery shells are bulky and thus difficult to handle. Thus, in order to supply an artillery piece in an easier manner, patent US5604327 teaches the use of a handling arm allowing to handle the shells from shell casings to a loading stretcher. In order to make the shells accessible to a gripping means located at one end of the arm, the casings of the artillery piece are made movable and arranged at a distance from the artillery piece so as to be positioned in the range of action of the arm.

Moving entire ammunition casings is an operation which is difficult and requires a lot of time for installing and removing the piece. In addition, after each firing, the gripping means must grip another projectile at a new cell of the casing, involving a precise repositioning of the gripping means at this new cell, and thus an increase in reloading time for the piece and a reduction of the maximum firing rate.

Patent US4947728 discloses a shell handling device comprising a hinged arm and a shell transferring means both arranged on a same plane which is different from the sight angle of the weapon. The hinged arm is a complex and delicate member. In order to grip the shell with such a device, there is a need for a hinged gripping means which adapts both to the angular position in site of the shell within its storage area, and to the angular position of the chamber of the weapon to be supplied with. These angular variations of the gripping means make the hinged arm even more complex and thus delicate. The invention allows to remove the angular variations of the gripping means with respect to the hinged arm, thereby limiting the complexity and the risks on the reliability of the hinged arm.

The invention proposes to make the shell loading of an artillery piece quicker and to reduce the assembly or disassembly time of the piece to its firing position. The invention also allows a loading without the intervention of an operator.

Thus, the invention relates to a shell handling device for artillery piece comprising a weapon, the shell handling device comprising an arm hinged in site and in relative bearing and provided with a shell gripping means intended to convey shells from an intermediate area to a loading stretcher, the device being characterised in that the arm can move around the relative bearing axis of the weapon and in that the device comprises a shell transferring means comprising a bucket in which a shell is put down, the bucket moving from an initial position to an intermediate position by a translation combined with a rotation of the bucket, the rotation of the bucket being intended to orient the fuze of the shell in a direction adapted for the loading, the translation of the bucket being performed along a rail so as to position the shell on the intermediate position accessible to the gripping means of the hinged arm, wherein the rail comprises a fixed rail portion and a tiltable rail portion so as to be able to tilt the bucket on the intermediate position to arrange the longitudinal axis of the bucket substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the gripping means.

Advantageously, the rotation of the bucket is performed on 180 degrees.

The transferring means could comprise a carriage movable on the rail, the carriage carrying a first motorisation means cooperating with a rack of the rail.

The transferring means could comprise a second motorisation means allowing to pivot the bucket with respect to the carriage.

According to a particular embodiment, the tiltable rail portion could be able to swing along a tilting axis which will form, in a plane parallel to the plane of the rail, an angle with the longitudinal direction of movement defined by the rail.

According to a particular embodiment, the arm is integral with a support base which can slide on a curved rail centered on the relative bearing axis of the weapon.

The invention will become more apparent upon reading the following description, description made with reference to the appended drawings in which: FIG.l shows a rear view of an artillery piece. FIG.2 shows a detailed view of an artillery piece during a first step of handling a shell. FIG.3 shows a detailed view of an artillery piece during a second step of handling a shell. FIG.4 shows a detailed view of an artillery piece during a third step of handling a shell. FIG. 5 shows a rear view of an artillery piece during a fourth step of handling a shell. FIG. 6 shows a rear view of an artillery piece during a fifth step of handling a shell. FIG. 7a shows a detailed view of a rail of the device alone, without the rest of the device. FIG. 7b shows a detailed view of a rail of the device in tilted position, without the rest of the device. FIG. 8 shows a partial cross-sectional detailed schematic view of a transferring means according to the invention.

According to FIG.l, an artillery piece 100 has shell casings 102 arranged laterally to the piece 100. The artillery piece has a platform 108 carried by a vehicle, such as a truck (only a rear wheel 109 of the truck is visible here) . The platform 108 also carries the shell casings 102. Such an artillery piece is, for example, described by patent FR2893710.

At about the rear of the piece 100, a weapon 103 is mounted on a gun carriage 104 in order to make the weapon 103 steerable in site and in relative bearing. A handling device 1 is disposed between the gun carriage 104 and the shell casings 102 so as to convey shells from the casings 102 to a loading stretcher 105 of the weapon 103 integral with the weapon in relative bearing. The casings 102 are disposed along the platform 108. The axes of the shells arranged within the casings are perpendicular to a driving direction of the vehicle or, in other words, substantially parallel to the axes of the vehicle axles. Thus, the shells can be easily inserted within the casings 102 by operators from the sides of the platform 108.

The handling device 1 has, on one hand, an arm 2 hinged in site and in relative bearing and, on the other hand, a transferring means 3 for the shells.

As visible in more detail in FIG.2, the transferring means 3 comprises a bucket 4 having a shape of a cylinder portion and intended to receive a shell 10 from a shell casing 102 located nearby.

The shell is put down on the bucket 4 along an orientation which is identical to that occupied by the shell within the casing 102. The bucket 4 is thus arranged parallel to the direction for storing the shells within the casings, so that putting down the shell 10 within the bucket 4 is easy. The shells are thus put down while in their storage direction, namely with the fuze 10a being oriented towards the outside of the piece.

The shell 10 is conveyed from the casing 102 to the bucket 4, either manually by an operator or using a handling arm (not shown) which is integral with the casing 102 and which can grip a shell 10 within the casing 102 using a clamp and convey it to the bucket 4. It would also be possible to manually position, on the bucket 4, shells from a casing located nearby the artillery piece 100.

Such a handling arm is of a relatively simple design as it moves only along two orthogonal directions: a vertical direction to raise and lower the clamp within the casing 102 or above the bucket 4, and a horizontal direction to move the shell 10 closer to the bucket 4. During these displacements, the shell 10 keeps the orientation it had within the casing 102.

By using motorisation means 31 and 32, on one hand, the bucket 4 is able to pivot around an axis 4a perpendicular to its longitudinal axis 10b and, on the other hand, it can translate along a transfer rail 11 thanks to a sliding connection. The rail 11 determines a longitudinal direction of movement Δ for the bucket 4. Here, this direction forms an angle which is substantially equal to 45° with respect to the driving direction of the vehicle .

Thus, in FIG. 8, it can be seen that the transferring means 3 has a carriage 33 comprising rollers 34 intended to roll along the rail 11, thereby forming a sliding type connection. The carriage 33 comprises a first motorisation means 31 which comprises a pinion which meshes with a rack 35 integral with the rail 11 so as to propel the carriage 33 along the rail 11.

The carriage 33 carries the bucket 4 which can pivot around the bucket pivot axis 4a which is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 10c of the shell 10 and of the bucket 4. A second motorisation means 32 allows to operate the pivoting of the bucket 4 with respect to the carriage 33.

As visible in FIGS.7a and 7b, the rail 11 comprises a first fixed rail portion 11a which allows to move the bucket 4 along the longitudinal direction of movement Δ from an initial position (FIG.2) which is close to the shell casings 102 to a position close to the gun carriage 104.

According to FIG.3, during the translation on the rail 11a, the bucket 4 and the shell 10 conveyed thereby perform a 180 degree rotation with respect to the initial position of the shell 10.

Then, the fuze 10a of the shell 10 is gradually oriented towards the interior of the piece 100. The gradual orientation of the shell fuze 10a towards the interior of the piece 100 makes the shell able to be inserted within the weapon 103 with its fuze 10a being forward, as described below.

The carriage 33 of the transferring means 3 moves from the fixed rail portion 11a to the tiltable rail portion lib. The length of the carriage 33 is smaller than the length of the tiltable rail lib. Thus, after positioning the carriage 33 on the tiltable rail portion lib, this rail portion can effectively be swung (FIG.7b). To that end, this tiltable rail portion lib is hinged with respect to the fixed portion 11a at a hinge 36.

The tilting is controlled by a motorisation means such as a cylinder 20 visible in FIG.7b. This tilting allows to position the axis of the shell 10 along a direction facilitating the carrying thereof by the hinged arm 2 which is also tilted and which can move closer to the shell to grip it, as described below.

According to FIG. 4, the shell is thus on the bucket 4 in a tilted position, the fuze being oriented towards the piece 100, in a position called intermediate position. It can be noted in FIGS. 7a and 7b that the rail 11 is rectilinear and arranged along the longitudinal direction of movement Δ which is a direction connecting, in a straight line, the initial position of the shell to an end position preceding the tilting of the bucket at the intermediate position such that the shell moves on the shortest distance between these two positions so as to save movement time.

According to FIG.7b, the tilting of the tiltable rail to the intermediate position 7a is performed by the hinge 36 around the axis 11c and by means of the cylinder 20. The tilting axis 11c is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the piece and forms, in a plane parallel to the plane of the rail 11, an angle a of about forty-five degrees with respect to the longitudinal direction of movement Δ defined by the rail 11.

The person skilled in the art will adapt this angle a according to the relative arrangements of the start position and of the intermediate position, while taking into account the offset of the intermediate position due to the tilting of the tiltable rail lib to reach the intermediate position.

According to FIG.5, the hinged arm 2 is movable in site and in relative bearing. The arm 2 is integral with a support base 37 which is slidably mounted on a curved rail 14 centered on the relative bearing axis 110 of the gun carriage 104. A motorisation (not shown) allows to move the base 37 carrying the arm along the rail 14, thereby allowing the arm 2 to move in relative bearing between the intermediate position previously described and the relative bearing position of the loading stretcher 105 which depends on the sight angle in relative bearing of the weapon 103.

The arm 2 is steerable in site thanks to a hinge 106. The arm 2 has, at one of its ends, a gripping means 107 for gripping a shell 10, such as a clamp 107 for example, the gripping means 107 being better seen in FIG.4. The clamp 107 comprises jaws which enclose and clamp the shell. Such a clamp 107 is known, for example, from patent application FR15-02026. Other types of clamps could be used. For example, the type described by patent application FR3015017.

The tilting of the bucket 4 by the tiltable rail lib allows to pre-arrange the shell 10 in its position allowing to assist its gripping by the hinged arm 2, in particular by placing the longitudinal axis 10c of the shell 10 substantially parallel to a position which can be occupied by the longitudinal axis 107a of the gripping means 107 when the arm 2 is positioned in relative bearing above the bucket 4.

When the shell 10 is within the bucket 4 positioned in its intermediate position, the gripping means 107 can grip the shell 10 within the bucket 4 and then can pivot in site and in relative bearing in order to convey the shell 10 to the loading stretcher 105 so as to put down the shell 10 thereon, as visible in FIG.6.

It can be noted that, once the shell 10 gripped by the gripping means 107 has left the bucket 4, the bucket 4 can perform a return movement to its initial position by performing the movement opposite to the one performed to convey the shell 10 to the intermediate position. A new

Shell can then be put down on the bucket during the phase of loading the preceding shell in the weapon chamber.

Thus, the shell handling device makes the shell loading of an artillery piece quicker by allowing a simple movement of the arm 2 which always grips a shell at the same place, namely in the intermediate position.

In addition, the time for mounting or firing the piece on its firing position is reduced as it is not required to pivot the shell casings.

The invention also allows a loading without any intervention of an operator between putting down the shell on the initial position of the bucket and putting down the shell in the loading stretcher.

Furthermore, if putting down a shell in the bucket is performed by using a handling arm between the shell casings and the bucket, the shell loading automation can be performed in a complete manner from the shell casing to the placement of the shell within the weapon chamber.

Claims (6)

A device for handling (1) grenade (10) for a piece of artillery (100) comprising a weapon (103), the handling device comprising a location and bearing for a hinged arm (2) and provided with a grenade ( 10) gripping means (107) intended to transport grenades (10) from an intermediate area to a hoist (105) which can be hoisted, the device (1) being characterized in that the arm (2) can be moved around the arm (103) ) bearing shaft (110), and in that the device comprises a grenade (10) transfer means (3) comprising a trough (4) in which a grenade (10) is dropped, the trough (4) is moved from a starting position to an intermediate position by a displacement combined with a rotation of the trough (4), the rotation of the trough (4) being intended to orient the ignition (10a) of the grenade (10) in a direction adapted for loading, the displacement of the trough (4) is carried out along a rail (11) so that the grenade (10) is placed at the intermediate position available for the gripping means (107) of the hinged arm (2), wherein the rail (11) comprises a fixed rail portion (11a) and a tiltable rail portion (11b) to allow the trough (4) to be tilted to the intermediate position to arrange the trough (4) longitudinal axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis (107a) of the gripper. The handling device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the rotation of the trough (4) is carried out over 180 degrees. The handling device (1) according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the transfer means (3) comprises a carriage (33) capable of moving on the rail (11), the carriage carrying a first motorizing means (31). ) cooperating with a rack for the rail (11). The handling device (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the transfer means (3) comprise another motorizing means (32) which allows the grenade to swing relative to the carriage (33). The handling device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the rocker part (11b) of the rail is able to pivot along an inclination axis (11c) which in a plane parallel to the plane of the rail forms an angle with the direction of movement ( Δ) longitudinal axis defined by the rail (11). The handling device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the arm (2) is firmly connected to a supporting foot piece (37) which can slide on a curved rail (14) centered on the bearing axis of the weapon (103). (110).