GB234775A - Improvements in carriages for anti-aircraft guns - Google Patents

Abstract

234,775. Soc. Anon. des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie. May 28, 1924, [Convention date]. Mountings for anti-aircraft guns comprise a system of links 7, 9, 13 arranged between the gun or cradle 6 and a vertically pivoted frame 3 to permit of large elevational movements without requiring inconvenient displacements of the gunner's head. In the simplest form, shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1, the links resemble a pantograph and are so proportioned that, when the gun is moved in elevation from the horizontal to the vertical position, by .the rotation of a screw 5, the position 15 occupied by the head of the gunner moves horizontally along the line 15, 4. Fig. 4 shows a modification which gives greater stability in the extreme positions of elevation. The link 9 is triangular in form and a differential screw 5, 18 is provided to give a forward movement to the frame 3 to compensate for the rearward movement of the sighting point 15. Fig. 16 shows a practical form of the invention, details of which are shown in Fig. 6. The link 7 is pivoted to the frame 3 at a point forward of the point of attachment of the link 13. The frame 3 is slidably mounted in a support 17, a sleeve on which is clamped at 31 to the upper part of a pedestal 1 which rotates on ball bearings relatively to a pillar 2 fixed to a motor car, ship's deck, or tripod. The gunner's seat 36 is foldably connected to the rotary pedestal 1 and the gunner trains the gun by using his feet against the ground or platform on which the gun stands. To limit the angle of training during sweeping fire, a lever 50 engages stops 41 carried by adjustable rings 38, 39. To prevent automatically, the training of the gun into a danger zone at low angles of elevation, the lever 50 is spring controlled and engages the lower end of a vertical spring-pressed rod 53, the upper end of which bears against a horizontal sliding bar 56. This bar is operated to release the lever 50 when the sliding block 12 reaches the forward end of the frame 3.