GB121174A - Improvements in Projectiles for Guns. - Google Patents

Abstract

121,174. Currier, K. G. Dec 4, 1917. Projectiles.-Relates to projectiles for smooth-bore guns, of the kind in which a stabilizing effect is produced during the flight of the projectile by the rotation of an enclosed mass, end consists in arrangements whereby the rotation is set up by the force of explosion of the propellent charge in the gun. In the projectile shown in Fig. 1, the rotary mass consists of an inner casing 9 containing the explosive charge. The casing 9 is connected to a spindle 11, on which are mounted ratchet-like turbine-wheels 24, and, separated therefrom by a plate 21, spiral blades 23. When the shell is discharged, the propellent gases enter it through a valve 14 and at once act on the blades 23, setting up rotation of the mass 9. The gases remain under pressure in the chamber in the shell, after the valve 14 has closed, and during flight, maintain the rotation by acting upon the wheels 24, passing through ports 22, 26, 27 and escaping through exhaust ports 27<a>, Fig. 3. The escape of the gases also assists in rotating the'shell as a whole. In a modification, instead of a turbine device, the motor for rotating the mass 9 comprises a piston-plate which is mounted on the central spindle so as to be driven forward without rotating, by the gases entering the shell. The spindle has a square spiral thread passing through a square hole in the plate, and by this means the forward movement of the plate sets in rotation the spindle and the mass that it carries.