GB584131A - Improvements in fuzes for bombs and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

584,131. Delay action fuzes for aerial bombs &c. MIDGLEY, A. H. Feb. 15, 1944, No. 2825. [Class 9 (i)] In a delay action fuze for bombs and the like, during the period of delay the firing mechanism is held out of action only by a ball or balls held in position by a member adapted to be disturbed by a weight which will move on the slightest disturbance of the fuze by handling, so as to release the ball or balls and allow the fuze to fire. The fuze is armed by the withdrawal of a pin p, during the flight of the bomb, by a wind vane connected to the member q, the pin engaging the member o<1> and the body of the fuze with threads of equal pitch. At the same time the rubber washer r is brought up against the shoulder of the fuze body to seal the interior of the fuze against the injection of a setting fluid to prevent the fuze from working. The pin p is formed with a weakened part p<2> which breaks on impact, leaving the seal firmly in position and difficult to displace. The member o<1>, which is prevented from turning by a detent k<2> in the surrounding sleeve k when the pin p is withdrawn, holds in position balls l which hold the sleeve k to a fixed part of the fuze m. On impact, the member o<1> sets forward releasing the balls l and allowing the spring n to move the sleeve k outwards, taking with it a magnetized member i to which it is secured by the swaged and flanged ends of a tube i<1>. The motion is initially resisted by the ends of two lead wires u, u<1> which pass through the fixed part of the fuze m, a sleeve h, and lie in grooves provided in the upper surface of the magnet i. The pressure of the spring n after a short delay turns over the ends of the lead wires to lie in grooves i<2> in the side of the magnet i, which is then moved outwards until the flange k<1> of the member k butts against the body of the fuze. The magnet draws after it magnetically, a cup s until the latter is stopped by lugs (not shown) on its flange s<1> reaching the outer ends of slots h<1> in the sleeve h at the point where the flange s<1> engages and holds in position balls g' holding the sleeve h to a cupshaped member g. The movement of the magnet i also releases a heavy ball t previously held by a concavity in the base of the tube i<1> against the base of the member g. If the fuze is disturbed the weight t will move and displace the cup s releasing the balls g<1> and allowing the spring f to push the members e and g outwards, releasing balls d previously located by the flange e<1> of the sleeve e, and to force the striker c downwards. If the fuze is not disturbed, the constant pressure of the spring f will eventually cut through the lead wires holding the sleeve h to the fixed part m of the fuze, allowing the sleeve h and the cup g as before to move outwards and the fuze to fire. The cup a is preferably provided with internal projections to give a tumbling action to the weight t. The fuze is preferably made of hardened steel difficult to drill and magnetized to tend to retain metal particles in the drillhole, jamming the drill. The arming mechanism (pin p, member o<1>, balls l, &c.) is similar to' that described and claimed in Specification 576,350 and the spring striker mechanism to that described and claimed in Specification 576,664.