US1203059A

US1203059A - Projectile.

Info

Publication number: US1203059A
Application number: US7371016A
Authority: US
Inventors: Royal L Scoville
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1916-01-22
Filing date: 1916-01-22
Publication date: 1916-10-31
Anticipated expiration: 1933-10-31

Description

R. L. SCOVILLEI.

PROJECTILE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-22.1916.

1,203,059. Patented Oct. 31,1916.

WITNESSES 'INVENTOR ornrn.

ROYAL I. SCOVILLE, OF SEWICKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROJECTILE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROYAL L. 'ScovILLE, residing at Sewickley, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Projectiles, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in projectiles and has particularly to do with the fuse-block of a projectile: such a fuseblock as that shown in my application for United States Letters Patent filed November 1 1915, Serial No. 59,013, applied to a hand-grenade.

The objects of my present invention are economy of material, saving in weight in a portion of the structure where weight is of no value that weight may be increased else where. and the protection of delicate and sensitive parts from accident and injury.

A hand-grenade provided with a fuseblock of my present invention-is shown in the accompanying drawings. 1

Figure 1 is a view of the grenade in medial longitudinal section; Fig. 2 is a view in transverse section on a plane indicated by the line H II, Fig. 1. In Fig. 1 the fuseblock is shown in medial section, and in Fig.

2 it is shown in plan view from above. Figs. 3 and at are sectional views of the fuse-block detached, the planes of section being indicated by the line Ill-J11, Fig. i, and IV IV, Fig. 3, respectively.

The grenade consists essentially of a casing 1, having formed within it an openended burster-charge chamber, a fuse-block 2, filling the otherwise open end of the burster-charge chamber, and a cover plate 3, engaging the casing and (when the parts are assembled) securing the fuse-block in place. The fuse-block carries the primer and the cover plate the firing-pin; and, at the proper instant in the use of the grenade, the firing-pin is caused to impinge upon the primer and so to fire the train which leads to the burster charge.

It is with the fuse-block that the present invention has to do; and, having now pointed out its relative position in the structure as a whole, I shall confine attention wholly toit. v

The fuse-block is, in shape, a short cylinder or thick disk. It fits easily in, and may he slipped in and out in its seat in, the otherwise open end of the hurstervcharge cham- Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedOct. 31, 1916.

Application filed January 22, 1916. Serial No. 73,7-10.

ber. It is invertible, and may be seated with either one of its opposite faces inward.

In one of its opposite faces the fuseblock is provided with a suitable seat 4 for a percussion cap 0, and in the other face it is provided with a recess 5 for a detonator d.

It will of course be understood that the seat In the same face of the fuse-block with j the seat 4 for the primer (that is, the outer face when the block is in operative position) is formed a groove or channel for a timefuse; this channel 10, as is best shown in Fig. 2. extends in a substantiallycircular arrangement around the periphery of the fuseblock, the percussion-cap seat being at the center. The channel 10 is provided with a cover strip 26, and when this cover strip is applied the channel becomes a closed duct. A duct or flashway 9 leads from the percussion-cap seat 4; to the fuse channel 10 at one end, and at the other end the channel 10 terminates ina perforation (best shown in Fig. 4) which extends through the fuseblock and opens on the opposite side of the block to the detonator recess 5. A second duct or fiashwav 12 leads from the percussion-cap seat 4 to the fuse channel 10, and opens to the fuse channel at a point intermediate its extent: and in this second fiashway 12 is arranged a removable obstruction. hereshown in the form of a screwed-in stud 13. lhis stud may be adapted to be wholly removed in order to leave the flashway unobstructed, or it may have a perforation through it and adapted by being turned through an angle of 90 to either close the fiashway or leave it open.

The detonator seat 5 is; as has been e plained, arranged in the face of the fuse.- block opposite the primer seat---tha inner face, when the fuse-block is in operat ve position. It is an open channel. of substantial length and is preferably arranged (as best shown in Fig. 3) to one side from an exact diametrical position. At one end this channel 5 opens through the rim of the disk, at the other endlthe perforation already mentioned opensthe perforation, namely, which leads from the fuse channel 10. The non-diametrical arrangement of the detonator recess is in cotirdination with the central arrangement of. the percussion cap (and, accordingly, of the firing-pin) which is shown in the drawings, and it will be observed that this isan arrangement in positions of relative non-correspondence-that is to say, the detonator when turned outward will occupy a position different from that of the percussion-cap seat when it is turned outward. The detonator is placed to one side of the center of the disk, to the end that, when the disk is introduced in inverted position, with detonator outward (the position for shipment) accidental release of the firing-pin can have no effect, to

fire the detonator. A central recess 23 may be provided in that face of the fuse-block which bears the detonator, for a purpose presently to be stated.

In my earlier application referred to I showed and described a booster charge, designed to serve as an element in the train of detonation, intermediate between detonator and burster charge. Such a booster charge, although it may be employed, is not essential; and I have omitted it from this grenade which I here show and describe. The detonator seat 5 is, as I have explained, open to'the burster-charge chamber, and, using a detonator capsule of now familiar form and size loaded with fulminate of mercury, and a burster charge of trinitrotoluene in crystalline form, detonation will be effected.

The fuse-blockis reduced to a minimum of weight compatible with safety by cutting away superfluous metal, as is indicated in the spaces 27 which interrupt the continuity of the disk. The block will, when made commercially, be a casting, and of course the cutting away which I speak of is what the designer would speak of as a cutting away; there is no cutting away in fact, but the mold is so shaped so as to leave these lacunae-in the molded disk. The purpose will readily be understood. The fuse-block is practically valueless to be fragmented on explosion into effective missiles; the weight of the structure as a whole is limited to such a weight as a man can hurl to considerable distance; and it isdesirable to make the casing (and the cover plate 3) as heavy as possible, for they are the missileforming parts. Accordingly, given a fixed maximum weight for the whole, whatever is subtracted from the fuse-block may be added to the casing.

The drawings show the fuse-block loaded.-

In loading, a length of time-fuse is laid in channel 10 from end to end and extending through the perforation and into the detonator recess 5. When the time-fuse has been put in place the cover strip 26 is applied to channel, 10. (Being of light weight, this plate may easily be secured by frictional engagement of its edges with the edges of the seat rabbeted to receive it in the edges of the channel 10.) When the cover strip 26 is in place, the seam between it and the edges of channel 10 may be coated over with suitable moisture-proof shellac or other coating material. .The percussion cap a is set in its seat in usual manner. The detonator is slipped to place, the open end of the capsule taking over the otherwise free end of the time fuse, in the manner indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. Ordinarily the detonator is not applied before ship ment, but only when the grenade is about to be used. v v

The fuse-block with time-fuse in place and cover strip applied and sealed (and, ordinarily, a percussion cap on the seat *l) is ready to be assembled for shipment. The block is introduced in the mouth of the previously filled burster-charge chamber of a grenade in inverted position-that is, with the percussion cap inward and the detonator outward--and the cover plate 3 is applied. The detonator is the sensitive element of the machine, and is liable to premature detonation, if through chance it be subjected to some more than ori'linarily severe shock. But, with the fuse block inverted, the detonator, even though accidentally fired, is ineffective to cause detonation of the burster charge. And here it may be noted that, because of the non-diametrical' position of the detonator in the face of the fuse block, an accidental operation of the firing-pin (which is arranged in a central position) cannot affect the detonator. The released firing-pin will merely enter the recess 23 formed in the face of the fuse-block to receive it. Indeed, it may be preferable to ship the grenade with the firing-pin in released position, resting in this recess 23, and to cock it when and not until the grenade is about to be used. The detonator capsule will preferably be shipped separately.

\Vhen a grenade is to beused, the firingpin is cocked. the cover plate 3 is removed, the fuse-block is taken out. a detonator is applied in the recess 5 formed to receive it. The fuse-block is then replaced in normal operative position. detonator inward and percussion capoutward. The position of the screw-plug 13 is then looked to; if a short time interval be desired between the firing of the cap and detonation of the burster charge (as, for instance, when the grenade is to he used in the manner herein primarily contemplated, as a hand-grenade),

the screw plug 13 will be turned to position leaving fiashway 12 open; but if a longer time interval be ldesired, flashway 12 will be closed by screw plug 13, in which case the entire length of the time-fuse will be brought into the train of operation. When the fuse-block has thus been made ready the cover plate is screwed on again. The parts are then in the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Operation need not be described, further than to say that when thereafter, incidentally to the hurling, the flight or the impact of the grenade, the firing-pin isreleased, it impinges on and fires the percussion cap 0, and then the train of detonation is started The flash spurts through fiashway 9 and (if it 'be open) through fiashway 12 also, and ignites the time-fuse f. Ignition traverses the time fuse to the detonator, and detonation follows-primarily of the fulminate of mercury and through it of the trinitrotoluene.

I claim herein as my invention:

1. In a projectile the combination with an otherwise open-mouthed burster-charge chamber of a fuse-block filling the mouth of said chamber, said fuse-block being provided on its inner face with a detonator recess and on its outer face with a percussion-cap seat and a channel for a time-fuse, and said timefus channel communicating both with the percussion-cap seat and with the detonator recess, and a cover strip applicable as a closure over said time fuse channel.

2. In a projectile the combination withan otherwise open-mouthed burster-charge chamber of a fuse-block filling the mouth of said chamber and invertible in such position, said fuse-block being provided on one face with a percussion-cap seat and on the opposite face with a'detonator recess, said peroussion-cap seat and said detonator recess being arranged in the two faces of the fuse-' block in positions of non-correspondence.

3. In a projectile the combination with an otherwise open-mouthed burster-charge chamber of a fuse-block filling the mouth of said chamber and invertible in such position, said fuse-block being provided on one face with a centrally arranged percussion cap seat and on the opposite face with "an elongate detonator recess such recess not crossing the center of the block.

4. In a projectile the combination with an otherwise open-mouthed burster-charge chamber of a disk-shaped fuse-block filling the mouth of said chamber, said fuse-block being provided on one face with a percussion-cap seat and onthe other face with a detonator recess and with a time fuse duct extending between said seat and said recess, the said disk-shaped fuse-block being cut way in that portionnot so specially shaped as aforesaid.

In testimony whereof I'have hereunto set my hand.

ROYAL L. SCOVILLE.

Witnesses:

WM. H. ZAN'rzINeER, JOHN 00001011.