GB191202476A - Improvements in Torpedo Mines, Mining Torpedoes or other Bodies Designed to Keep themselves Freely Floating for Some Time Below the Surface of the Water. - Google Patents

Abstract

2476. Aktiebolaget Leons Torpedminor. Nov. 15, 1911, [Convention date]. Mines, marine.-Relates to submarine mines adapted to maintain themselves for some time at a given depth, either by a driving-mechanism acting on the surrounding water, or by a hydrostatically or hydrodynamically controlled device for varying the weight or displacement of the mine, and the invention consists in a combination of these two systems of regulation, the action of each being controlled by suitable timing-apparatus. The form shown in Fig. 1 is provided with an hydrostat 9, adapted, when the mine sinks below the predetermined depth to close the circuit of a motor 1, actuating the propeller 2, and driven by a battery of insulated accumulators 3, preferably of the type in which a basic liquid is employed as electrolyte, and an element of the iron group as electrodes. This battery is mounted in gimbals in an airtight chamber 4. The torque on the motor shaft may be placed under the control of an hydrostat as shown in Fig. 4, which inserts or cuts out resistance 27 as the depth varies. The mine has a water chamber 10, which is empty when launched, so that the mine has a comparatively large buoyancy. Water enters this chamber through the valve 12 and pipe 11 and causes the mine to sink until it reaches the predetermined depth, when the depth regulation by the propeller 2 commences and maintains the mine at the required depth for a predetermined time, at the end of which the valve 15 is opened by suitable timing-mechanism. Compressed gas from the chamber 14 is thereby introduced into the chamber 10 through the pipe 13 and expels the water therefrom through the valve 16, increasing the buoyancy of the mine, and causing it to rise to the surface. In a modification, the chamber 10 is replaced by a cylindrical chamber from which the water is automatically ejected after a predetermined time by a piston driven by the motor. Other means described for causing the mine to rise to the surface are (1) the detachment of a weight, (2) causing the motor 1 to work independently of the hydrostat 9, and (3) increasing the torque on the motor shaft, for instance, by cutting-out a resistance. Changes in the buoyancy of the mine due to change of temperature on immersion are compensated for by providing small weights retained, for example, by some matter soluble in water, which are successively released from the mine. Rudders may be provided to cause the axis of the mine to rest inclined to the vertical and may be governed by an hydrostat. Included in the electric circuit for exploding the mine is a safety-device adapted to close the circuit only after a predetermined time. A suitable device for performing the various timing operations is shown in Fig. 2, and comprises a contact 17 rotated by clock-work, and adapted to engage contacts 18 to close an electric circuit containing an electro-magnet for operating the valves &c.