GB191127131A - Improvements in Submarine Mines. - Google Patents

Abstract

27,131. Elia, G. E. Dec. 4. Mines, marine.-Relates to submarine mines which are automatically exploded when struck by a ship, and consists in providing a spring- controlled striker connected to the anchoring- device and controlled bv a movable arm so that the striker is automatically cocked and released by the buoyancy of the mine when the mine is struck. A conical chamber b, Fig. 1, arranged in the casing a supports a tube c within which is a cartridge d and detonator e. The striker i is carried by a piston h which reciprocates in the cylinder f; the rod m has a groove n engaged by pivoted claws p normally pressed apart by a spring t but prevented from opening by the cylinder f. The rod r is connected by a shackle s to the anchor cable, the head u being normally engaged by the inner end v<1> of an extensible movable arm v pivoted at z. An extensible joint w keeps the device watertight. A spring key x, shown in Fig. 2, which is a section at 2-2, Fig. 1, locks the extensible arm v both against rotation and extension, until a block y of sal-ammoniac has dissolved. In operation, the mine rotates about its vertical axis when struck; the arm v, v<1> is stopped by the ship's hull and hence rotates about the axis z; and the buoyancy of the mine produces a movement of the rod r and claws p relatively to the cylinder f, thus compressing the spring j and setting free the striker i to fire the mine.