GB458499A - Universal gun carriage - Google Patents

Abstract

458,499. Gun mountings. SCHMIDT, W. L., 350, V. Alkemadelaan, Flatgebouw Duynwijck, The Hague. March 18, 1935, No. 8344. Void [Abridged. as open to inspection under Sect. 91 of the Acts, Sept. 21, 1935]. [Class 92 (i)] A wheeled support for a pair of light machine guns, a single heavy machine gun, or a trench mortar has the undercarriage formed of a lozenge-shaped hollow structure 1, Fig. 6, which carries inclined bearings 5 for three wheelcarrying arms 9, Fig. 4, which can be turned in the bearings to adjust the wheels from a travelling position, Fig. 1, to a firing position, Fig. 4. The wheel arm, shown in detail in Fig. 6, has its bearing in the structure I so arranged that, on releasing a catch 14 to disengage teeth 10, the arm can be turned in the hearing to bring the wheel from a travelling position to the position shown in which the wheel rests flat on the ground. The three wheels, thus positioned, form with the arms and the structure 1 a firing support. The wheels 16 are universally jointed to the arms, being pivoted in a fork which is journalled at 17 in the arms, movement about both axes being simultaneously locked by a bolt 24. Each wheel is screwed to its hub for adjusting the level of the structure on uneven ground. Screwadjusted spikes 29 pass through the hubs and engage the ground. The upper carriage 33, of welded tubular construction, is mounted on ball bearings 38 for training round the rim of the structure 1. The structure 1 may form the upper part of a pedestal mounting when firing from a fixed position. The gun or guns are mounted for recoil in a cradle C trunnioned on an axis x carried by a vertical pivot member passing through the centre of the structure 1. The front part of the cradle moves over an elevating arc 45 secured to the carriage 33, the arc permitting of gun elevation up to and beyond the vertical. The arc is of circular section to permit of a further traversing movement in the plane of the cradle round the axis of the arc by means of a worm y engaging a worm sector z on the rear of the cradle. The gears are rotated by hand wheels a, b, Fig. 3, operated by the sighter who occupies a seat 55. Additional seats s, one on each side of the gun, are provided for the gunners. The gear shafts pass through tubes 47, 48 to pinions meshing with a circular rack on the rim of the structure 1. The gears also connect by vertical shafts in casings c, d with the worm shaft on the axis x from which the drive is taken to the elevating pinions e. For absorbing recoil, the gun carries a piston 64 moving in a liquid cylinder 56 which leads by a passage controlled by a spring- pressed needle valve 61 to a liquid reservoir 58 formed in the tubular structure of the cradle.