GB442973A - - Google Patents

Abstract

442,973. Receptacles detachable from aircraft ; parachutes. ELIA, G. E., 9, Via S. Valentino, Rome. Feb. 4, 1935, No. 3608. Convention date, Feb. 26, 1934. [Class 4] [See also Group XXI] For dropping from an aircraft an armoured car or other vehicle and its crew, these are placed in two separate containers 1, 2, Fig. 2, respectively, one heavier than the other, attached to the ends of a cable wound on a pulley 4 suspended from a parachute 3, and means are provided for connecting the containers together until the heavier one strikes the ground or water, and for damping separately the shock of the containers with the ground or water. As shown, the vehicle container 1 extends below the crew container 2 and the containers are coupled together by a cable 5, which is slackened or broken when the container 1 comes in contact with the ground or water, this serving to reduce the shock on the container 2. The shock of the container 2 on the ground may be cushioned by a lenticular body filled with compressed air to a pressure indicated by a gauge. The vehicle container has a semi-spherical solid or pneumatic elastic buffer 9, Fig. 16, at its bottom end, and may be made in two parts 29<1>, 29<11> interconnected by a collapsable joint or bellows 30 and dash-pot devices 34. The vehicle 8 may be elastically suspended in the container 1 for example by means of elastic ropes ; or the vehicle may be put in an inner casing suspended by elastic ropes within the outer container. The vehicle 8 may be an armoured gun carriage and may be so arranged in its container that its gun 41 can come into action during the descent or while still on the aircraft, as shown in Fig. 16, and after landing while still in its container, as shown in Fig. 17. The vehicle may leave its container after landing. Or, if the container 1 falls in water, the container may be made to float in an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 14 or 15, and may be provided with a propeller adapted to be driven by the motor of the vehicle through a clutch and, if desired, belt gearing.