GB2144395A - Holding device for elongate ammunition container - Google Patents

Abstract

A holding device for elongate containers especially for use in securing tubes containing a defence missile. The tube is secured by a holder (4) at the front and at the rear end. To enable deviations in the size and position of a tube to be compensated each holding device (4) has a lever mechanism with two mutually opposite arms 5 which are pivotable in opposite directions and each of which carries a pivotably mounted cheek (6) for the tube (2). For the pivoting movement between the open and closed position the lever arms (5) are in each case flexibly connected by links (8) (8'), with a drive bar (10) movable to and fro in a longitudinal direction. One of the links (8') is spring-loaded and variable in length. The drive bar (10) for each holder is mounted in such a way as to be movable during the displacement transverse to the direction of displacement in addition to which a locking device (16) (23), is provided for the purpose of securing the drive bar (10) when the holders (4) are in the closed position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Holding device for elongate ammunition container This invention relates to a holding device for elongate containers particularly those housing defence missiles. Holding devices of the aforementioned kind are used with an armoured troop-carrier for example for securing ammunition comprising a tubular container housing a defence missile. The container is in part at least surrounded, usually at the front and rear end, by a holder having clamps.

Each holder can be opened and closed by an actuating device, which may be hydraulically, pneumatically or electrically operated.

With the aforementioned holder the tube has a fixed plug corresponding to a plug fixed in position on the armoured troop-carrier. The two plugs are directly interconnected.

By means of the plug connection command signals may be transmitted from the troop-carrier to the missile, such as signals for firing or control when the missile is guided by a trailing control wire. With a direct connection between the two plugs the manufacturing tolerances involved may result in the position of the tube container being not always the same. The holding device should be constructed so that the tube is not always forced into a defined reference position, as this might cause forces to act on the plugs which could destroy them.

In a similar way the holding device should be designed so that minor differences in the size of the tube are compensated. In the case mentioned the tubes comprise containers with slightly differing diameters.

An object of this invention is to provide a holding device of simple construction which can automatically adapt itself to the particular position of the tube to be secured and which will also within certain limits accomodate any size differences in the container.

According to this invention there is provided a holding device for elongate containers, particularly a holding device for ammunition comprising a tubular container housing a defence missile, the device having two holders which, at least partly, embrace the tube at the front and rear ends with an actuating device for opening and closing the holders, wherein each holder comprises a lever mechanism with two opposed lever arms which are pivotable in a plane perpendicular to the longitidinal direction of the container and which carry cheeks to contact a tube and which in order to pivot between the open and the close position are flexibly coupled through repective links to a drive bar which can be moved to and fro in a longitudinal direction, one of the two links associated with each holder being spring-loaded and variable in length.The drive bar for each holder being mounted so that it is movable during displacement in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, a locking device being provided to secure the drive bar in a closed position of the tube holder.

According to the invention the holding device has a lever mechanism for each holder comprising two lever arms pivotable in opposite directions and a drive bar displaceable parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tube, the drive bar and the two lever arms being flexibly interconnected by means of links. One of the links in each case having a spring system, so that the link is, within certain limits, variable in length. If the holding device is closed, each holder secures the tube without the need for any drive force. By means of the drive bar the links and the lever arms connected therewith are held in the terminal position, while a spring arrangement incorporated in a spring-loaded link of variable length provides an additional compressive force. In the closed position the drive bar is locked, for example by a serration.The force of the springloaded links can also be used for the purpose of holding the drive bar in the locked position.

The spring-loaded links which are adjustable in length also enable the holding device to be adapted to different sizes of tube within limits.

The adaption to different positions of the container is effected laterally by a transverse displacement of the drive bar and vertically by the rotatable mounting of the cheeks on the lever arms. Both the dimensional and the positional adaptation are effected on each closing and opening movement.

The spring-loaded links are preferably connected with the lever arms by a joint head and with the drive bar by a joint rotatable about the latter. The links may be positioned in a plane parallel to the swivel axes of the lever arms and approximately in a plane in which the drive bar is transversally displaceable. In the open position the angle between the longitudinal axes of the drive bar and the links.

is an acute angle which continuously increases during the transition to the closed position wherein it reaches slightly greater than 90 . This offers the advantage that the spring system incorporated in the spring-loaded link acts on the lever arm of the holder and on the drive bar in the direction in which it moves during the closure. The operation of locking the drive bar in the closed position can then be carried out in a simple manner by means of two toothed detents one of which is connected to the drive bar and the other to the housing of the holding device. In the closing position serrations of the two detents then engage one another and lock the drive bar in position.

Further advantageous features and embodiments of the invention are described in the following with reference to the drawings. The drawings show a holding device by way of an example.

In the drawings: Figure 1 shows a plan view of a holding device partly in section, Figure 2 shows a cross section on ll-ll of Figure 1, Figure 3 shows a section through a link, Figure 4 shows a section on IV-IV of Figure 1, and Figure 5 shows an enlarged view of the detail V shown in Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings a holding device for a tubular container shown in Figure 2 has an elongate housing 3 of which the front end and rear end have a holder 4 by which the tube 2 is held above the housing 3 near the front and rear end. Each holder 4 has two lever arms 5 supporting holding cheeks which are mounted to be movable at their free ends and which bear against the periphery of the tube so as to secure same when the holding device is closed. The two cheeks and lever arms of each holder are situated opposite to each other and areieach pivotable in opposed directions about axis A in the housing. The axis A is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the housing.The end of each lever arm 5 which extends beyond the pivot axis is connected via a joint 7 with one end of a link 8 the other end of which is connected with a drive bar 10 movable in the longitudinal direction of the housing. A joint 9 enables the link to move above the axis of the driving bar and an axis perpendicular thereto which is the vertical axis of the housing. The aforementioned joint 7 at the other end of each link enables a free dimensional movement to be effective. Of the two links associated with each holder 4 one is constructed as a springloaded link which is variable in length referenced 8' in the drawings (Figure 3). The two springloaded links 8' of the two holders 4 are situated on the same side of the drive bar 10.The springloaded link 8' comprises an outer casing 11 in which a piston 13 connected with the coupling 12 to the joint head is displaceable in opposition to the force of a stack of diaphragm plate springs 14.

On the other side of the connection 12 a forkshaped connection 15 is provided for the joint 9 on the drive bar. As shown in Figure 3, the piston 13 can be inserted into the spring-loaded link by means of a screw connection 12, so that the overall length can be shortened as shown in broken lines.

For opening and closing the front and the rear holder 4 a common drive bar 10 is used each end of which is mounted in a bearing block 16 in the housing 3. The drive bar 10 passes through a hydraulically operated double acting cylinder 17 by which it can be moved to and fro in the housing in the longitudinal direction.

The driving bar 10 and the cylinder 17 are displaceable transversally in a horizontal plane relative to the longitudinal direction of the driving bar.

For this purpose the driving bar is mounted in a transverse slot 18 in each of the bearing blocks 16 (see Figure 4) and the cylinder is located in a bifurcated mounting 19 in which it is transversally dis olaceable in a slot 20 (Figure 1). to fix the drive bar 10 of the cylinder 17 in the closed and the open position stops are provided. The stop for the closed position comprises a detent 21 which is connected with the drive bar 10 and which, on the end facing the bearing block 16, has a fine serration 22 (Figure 5) engaging a complementary serration 23 in the bearing block 16. The stop for the open position comprises a check ring 24 on the drive bar 10, with conical stop faces which face the respective bearing block 16 in each case. The blocks 16 have corresponding stop faces 25.The holders for the drive bar 10 are centred in the open position by the aforementioned conical stop faces.

The movement of the drive bar, that is the working stroke, is defined by the two stops for the open and closed positions.

The holding device as described operates as follows: When the holder is in the closed position shown in Figure 1 as shown in the left hand side of Figure 2, the cheeks 6 of the lever arms 5 bear against the tube 2. The links 8, as shown in Figure 2, are approximately horizontal and with the drive bar 10 enclose an angle which is somewhat greater than 90 . When the holding device is to be opened the cylinder 17 is actuated and the drive bar 10 moves towards the left referred to in Figure 1. In this process the drive bar 10 is first of all released so that the serrations 22 and 23 disengage. The length of the spring-loaded links 8' are shortened until the angle r corresponds to a right angle.With the fur- ther displacement of the drive bar 10 the springloaded links 8' once again increase in length until they reach the maximum possible length as shown in Figure 3. In this process the angle X decreases.

Only now will the links 8 and 8' pivot the lever arms 5 about their axes A so that the cheeks 6 move away from the tube 2 to release it. The terminal position is reached when the check rings 24 on the drive bar 10 impact the conical stop faces 25 of the bearing blocks 16.

To close the holders the drive bar 10 is moved to the right (as seen in Figure 1) by the cylinder 17.

The lever arms 5 are pivoted in the direction of the closed position. If, as mentioned above, the position of the tube is not exactly central then the cheeks of the two lever arms of the holder will likewise not simultaneously contact the tube 2. As soon as one of the mutally opposite cheeks bears against the tube the relevant cheeks 6 and the corresponding lever arm 5 will come to rest. Only the second lever arm with its cheek will then move, until this likewise bears against the tube 2. This provides the drive bar 10 with the aforementioned freedom of movement transverse to the longitudinal axis thereof. Regardless of whether the cheek which is pivoted with the normal link 8 or with the spring-loaded link 8' is bearing against the tube the drive bar, as the stroke continues, is forced away from the fixes. lever 5 transverse to the drive direction.

The lateral sliding movement in the slots 18 of the bearing blocks 16 is also followed by the cylinder 17 likewise displaceable mounted in the slot 20 of the bifurcated mount 19. The cheeks of the two lever arms of a holder 4 finally bear against the tube 2 when the angle between the links and the drive bar is just 90 . In the further displacement the stack of diaphragm 14 in the spring loaded link is compressed with the spring force reaching a maximum. Until the terminal position shown in Figure 1 is reached the spring force again slightly decreases.

The serrations 22 and 23 of the detent 21 and the bearing blocks 16 once again engage each other and are held in this position by the force of the spring-loaded links, due to the spring force through the angular position of the spring-loaded links including a component acting in the direction of the serrations. The drive bar is thus secured in position.

As may be seen from the right hand side of Figure 2, each link 8 pivots out of the horizontal position into a position inclined slightly upwards as the joint head moves arcuately about the axis A of the lever arm.

It is obvious that differences in the sizes of tube containers can be compensated by the springloaded links and the floating mounting of the drive bar and of the cylinder. Any difference in the height of the tube is balanced out by the pivotable mounting of the cheeks on the lever arms. If the cheeks are appropriately constructed then containers of different cross section shape can be secured also. It is also possible for one common drive bar for the two holders to be replaced by two drive bars operating in opposite directions. In this case the two holders must have mirror symmetry.

Claims (12)

1. A holding device for elongate containers, particularly a holding device for ammunition comprising a tubular container housing a defence missile, the device having two holders which, at least partly, embrace the tube at the front and rear ends with an actuating device for opening and closing the holders, wherein each holder comprises a lever mechanism with two opposed lever arms which are pivotable in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the container and which carry cheeks to contact a tube and which in order to pivot between the open and the close position are flexibly coupled through respective links to a drive bar which can be moved to and fro in a longitudi nal direction, one of the two links associated with each holder being spring-loaded and variable in length, the drive bar for each holder being mounted so that it is movable during displacement in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction, a locking device being provided to secure the drive bar in a closed position of the tube holder.

2. A holding device in accordance with Claim 1, wherein the lever arms of the holders comprise two-armed levers with a joint at their lower ends serving as a means for connection to one end of the relevant link, the other end of each link being connected through a joint to the drive bar, the joint being situated in a fixed position on the drive bar and enabling the link to perform a movement about the longitudinal axis of the drive bar and about an axis perpendicular thereto.

3. A holding device in accordance with Claim 1 or 2 wherein, when the holders are in their closed position the links are positioned approximately in a horizontal plane parallel to a plane which accom modates the swivel axes of the lever arms.

4. A holding device in accordance with Claim 3, wherein when in a closed position the links to gether with drive bar enclose an angle oc slightly greater than 90", the angle decreasing then the holders move into an open opposition.

5. A holding device in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the drive bar is connected with a detent having a serration associated with a serration integral with the housing, the two serrations engaging each other when the holders are in the closed position.

6. A holding device in accordance with Claim 5, wherein the spring-loaded links maintain serrations engaged when the holders occupy a closed position.

7. A holding device in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the drive bar for each holder is located in slots transverse to the longitudinal direction of the bar.

8. A holding device in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein a common drive bar is provided for both holders.

9. A holding device in accordance with Claim 8, wherein the common drive bar is the piston rod of a hydraulic double acting cylinder which is transversally displaceable with the piston rod in transverse slots integral with the housing.

10. A holding device in accordance with Claim 1, wherein the spring-loaded links which are adjustable in length contain a stack of diaphragm springs acting in opposition to the shortening of the link.

11. A holding device in accordance with Claim 10, wherein only one of the two links of a holder is a spring-loaded link, the two spring-loaded links of the holders being situated to one side of the drive bar.

12. A holding device constructed and arranged to function substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings.