GB435549A - Improvements in or relating to torpedoes or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

435,549. Submarines. KONSTANTINOFF, J., 11<bis>, Rue Alfred Roll, Paris. March 17, 1934, No. 8457. Convention date, March 18, 1933. [Class 113 (ii)] [See also Group XXI] To prevent the visible wake of a torpedo, the rear end of the propeller shaft 1 thereof is fitted with a device comprising a hollow shaft 2 presenting in serise a balance chamber 10, a Venturi tube 13, and a chamber 15 which houses a runner 18. The shaft is surrounded by a shell 6 having a vacuum chamber 36 which receives the discharge from the chamber 15 and is fitted with injectors 38 which deliver water thereinto. The vacuum chamber communicates with an atomising chamber 39 from which discharge is effected to the exterior by way of a spring-loaded non-return valve 23 and a stirring chamber 28. In the construction shown, the shell 6 is screw-threaded to engage a turbine rotor 5 to which it is locked by screws 8, the rotor 5 together with the shaft 2 being locked to the propeller shaft 1 by bolts 4. The balance chamber 10 has fins 11 and openings 12 so devised as to permit the escape of some of the exhaust gases and thus to prevent the occurrence of back-pressure on the torpedo motor. The tube 13 is secured to the chamber 10 by screws 14 and is adapted to double the speed of the gas which impinges on the runner and causes it to rotate in the reverse direction to the shafts. The gas then enters under high pressure into an annular pocket 43 and thence issues through openings 16 to create the vacuum in the chamber 36 whence it passes to the atomizing chamber 39. The latter is fitted with blades 35 upon which the gases and water impinge in such manner as to supply further power in driving the shaft 1. The stirring chamber 28 into which the mist, created in the atomizing chamber, is then discharged houses two water directors 29, 32. The director 29 is loosely mounted upon a collar 27 secured to a stem 22 of a plug 19 which is screwed into the end of the chamber 15. This director is fitted with adjustable studs 21 which determine the lift of the valve 23, and with vanes 30 which prevent the director from revolving with the other parts of the device. Water enters this director through openings 31 and into the director 32 through openings 33. The mist passes between the directors where it is thoroughly mixed with water by vanes 34. Vanes 7 serve to promote the flow of water along the shell. In a modification the rotor is screwed directly into a boss on the propeller and in another construction the propeller blade and rotor are cast together, the rotor being provided with blades. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 states also that the device may be used in conjunction with the Diesel-electric generators employed in submarines for charging the storage batteries. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.