US1294240A - Aeroplane-gun. - Google Patents

Description

C. J. COOKE.

AEROPLANE GUN.

APPLICATION nun FEB. n. 1918.

Patented P61). 11, 1919.

2 suzzrs-suzn 1.

C. J. COOK-E.

AEROPLANE cum.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. II, 1918. 1,294,240,

.Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

annual;

CHARLES JOHN COOKE, 0F HONGKONG, CHIJTA. v

AERQPLANE-G-UN.

Application filed February 11, 1918. Serial No. 216,678.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, CHARLES JOHN COOKE a resident of Hongkong, China, and. a sub. jectof the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Aeroplane-Guns; and I do hereby declare the following to be a; full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as w ll enable others skilled in the art to which 1t appertains to make and use the same.

The invention ielatesto improvements 1n ordnance or relatively heavy guns for aeroplanes, and has for its object to so coordinate a gun .of' the non-recoil type, open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge mcluding a projectile, an explosive and a reaction mass, with an aeroplane, so that the gun when fired will occupy a position with itslongitudinal axis parallel with the lonitudinal axis of the aeroplane, whereby the laying or training of the gun on the target W111 be effected by so maneuvering the aeroplane that the longitudinal axis of the latter is in direct line 'wlththe'target. The essential advantages of such a coordination are first, that the gun may be trained directly upon the target, if the latter is another aeroplane or an elevated object by maneuvering the plane to bring its longitudinal axis in direct line with the target, so as to insure accuracy of fire with relatively large pro jeotiles, and second, by causing the plane to nose-dive vertically above and toward the target, when the latter is below the plane, and thereby obviate the necessity of allowing for the speed of the aeroplane, or other necessary corrections, as when the aeroplane is moving in any other-direction than the vertical, with respect to the target. To these ends the gun is mounted outside of the fuselage of the aeroplane with its longitudinal axis normally parallel with the longitudinal axis of the plane, and is preferabl swiveled or pivoted below or at one side 0 the fuselage so that the blast from the rear of the gun will not strike any portion of the machine, and at the same time permitting the rear end of the gun to be tilted toward the fusela e to admit of the charge being loaded into t e rear end of the gun with facility and despatch, means being provided to tilt the rear end of the gun toward the fuselage in the loading operation and to retain the gun rigidly in axial alinement with the axis of the plane when the gun is ready to be fired. In order to facilitate the proper aiming of the gun and to indicate to the gunv Specification of Letters Patent. V Patnted Feb, v11, 1919.

gurr also being normally parallel with erable to provide firing mechanism which will admit of the gun being fired only at times when the propeller blades are out of the line of fire. These and other objects of the invention will be more particularly described in the annexed specification, in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation tion of a tractor biplane inclu recoil gun and its accessories.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial sectional view of the aeroplane and gun.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation partly in section of the apparatus.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the gun and charge, and Fig. 5 is a further fragmentary sectiona detail view of the gun and its charge.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates the body or fuselage of an aeroplane of the biplane type having the propeller 2 mounted at the forward end on the crankshaft 2' of the engine, as is usual in machines of this type.

partly in secing the nonaxis parallel with the longitudinal axis of the machine is a machine gun 3, which may be employed to fire' ordinary ammunition and which is adapted to use smoked bullets or tracer projectiles to indicate the effectiveness of the aim and to show definitely when the aeroplane is in position to cause the machine gun projectiles to find the target. Said machine gun 3 may be any of the ,well known types adapted to be held or locked rigidly with its barrel parallel with the longitudinal axis of the machine so that the gun is aimed by maneuvering the machine.

The main gun 5 is of the so-called non- Mounted rigidly on the machine with its 55 provided to permit the gun to be fired only I recoil type, involving a rifled barrel open at reaction mass will be practically identical when. the propelling charge is fired andv no shock orjar will be imparted to the gun or to the aeroplane.

The gun 5 is mounted exteriorly of the fuselage and in such relation thereto that the blast from the rear end of the gun when the latter is fired will not strike any part of the machine, but will Preferably, the gun 5 is mounted on trun nions 6 in pendent brackets or bearings 751ttached to the under side of the fuselage so that therear end of the gun may be tilted upward to facilitate loading. Obviously, however, the gun may be similarly mounted on either side of-the fuselage provided that it is so arranged that no part of the aeroplane structure will be in the line of fire, either of the projectile or the reaction mass.

In the form of the apparatus illustrated, the

rear end of the gun is provided with a pivoted link 8, which is connected to the under side of a swinging trap 9 mounted in the bottom of the fuselage and adapted to swing upward-andv forward, and thereby tilt the rear end of the gun upward so that it occuples an inclmed positlon, indicated in dotted lines, with the rear muzzle extending intothe body of the fuselage in position to I position, no matter what the aeroplane may be.

enable the charge to be loadeddirectly into the gun by the operator. When the trap is closed, the gunis swung to its normal positlon, wlth ,its longitudinal axis parallelwith that of the body' of the-machine and is rigidly held'in this position by the link 8. The" trap is pr 'ovided with a lifting handle 10 and may, if desired,;also be furnished with a sultable locking bolt to holdit rigidl 1 in position 0 the When the gun 5 is mounted in the posit on'shown, so as to fire toward-the front of the machine, 1t is desirablethat means be when the blades of the ropeller are outoftheline of fire, and to t his end, the electrical firin circuit usually employed by guns of this c aracter is provided with a synchro- 'nizing circuit closer operated from the ongi'ne shaft, which admits of the gunbeing fired, by closing the normal firing switch,

only when the propeller blades have moved out of the line of fire. The firing of the cirpass harmlessly to the 7 rear of the machine.

cuit includes a plug 20, preferably of the character shown in a copending application, Serial No. 191,772, filed Septemlber 17, 1917, adapted to make contact with circuit accessories carried by the charge, and an external circuit including conductor 21, battery 22, firing switch or key 23, a brush 24 in engagement with an insulating sleeve 25, carried by the end of the engine crank shaft 2' and provided. with contacts 26 connected to the crank shaft 2, a brush 27 in engagement with said crank shaft ,and a circuit lead 28 connected to the barrel of the gun. The contacts 26 .are so located with respect to the brush 24 that the circuit from the battery 22 to the explosive charge can only be completed when the blades of the propeller 2 are out of the line of fire, as will be understood.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the gun 5 may be made of any desired. size and caliber, compatible with the carrying capacity of the aeroplane, and said gun may be constructed to either discharge a shell or projectile at high velocity, or at relatively low velocity, the latter beingdetermined' by 'the relative weights of the projectile and the reaction mass and the relative lengths of the fore and aft sections of the gun barrel through which the projectile and the reaction mass respectively travel during the firing operation. For general service, such as fighting other aeroplane's, dirigibles, observation balloons, elevated targets, as Well as for attacking places .positions or objects on the land or sea below the aeroplane, it .is desirable that thegun be constructed and arranged to develop a fairly high initial velocity of the projectile, and a convenient arrangement with this end ,in view, will be to the gun with a length of barrel at t projectile end sulbstantially half the length of .the barrel at the reaction mass end and" to make theprojectile substantially twice the weight of the reaction mass.

In operating the machine against hostile aeroplanes, balloons, or other elevated objects, the plane is directed toward the obect and the range of the latter determined by means of the auxiliary machine 3, which, as indicated, ma be supplie with smoked bullets or other orms of tracer projectiles which will indicate when, the machine gun is trained directly on the object so that the hitsmay be accurately observed.

rovide particular mode of attack, the projectile may take the form' of shrapnel shell, high explosive shell, or, if desired, a solid shot,

any one of which would be effective to de molish a hostile machine in the air.- 4

In order to prevent the rearward displace-- ment of a charge in the gun 5, when the aeroplane is climbing and the longitudinal axis of the gun is inclined downwardly to the rear, means, such as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, may be provided for yieldingly retaining the charge in the gun barrel, which means, while capable of holding the charge firmly in place, will, nevertheless, give way when the charge is fired without imposing any material stress or resistance on the mechanism. Tlwo forms of retaining means" are shown, one comprising a spring-pressed plunger 20 mounted in the firing plug 20 and engaging a shallow circumferential groove 15 in the contact ring 14 carried by the reaction mass 13. The other means comprising a series of spring metal pa'wls or dc tents 16, mounted circumferentially of the reaction mass 13 in recesses 17, with their free ends engaging the beveled ends 19 of the rifling ribs in the rear part of the gun barrel and occmpying a circumferential recess 18 in the bore of the gun. When the charge i s'fired the initial movement of the reaction mass 13 causes plunger 20 to disengage groove 15 and the ends of detents 16 ride up inclines 19 and rest upon the surfaces of the rifiing ribs. Of course, any other suitable retaining means may be employed to hold the charge in position provided the same is capable of yielding or suspending its holding function without imposing material stresses on the gun and the aeroplane.

A particularly efiicacious mode of operating t e apparatus, however, depends on the feasibility of maneuvering the aeroplane so as to bring it directly above the target, with the axis of the aeroplane vertical, by means of the so-called nose-dive. With the aeroplane flying at a height of several thousand feet, it will be obvious that the nose-dive may be prolonged for a suflicient time to insure an absolutely accurate'laying of the gun 5 directly on thetarget. andv avhen this is accomplished, the gun may be fired practically instantly by pressing the firing key 23. The articular advantage of this mode of attack is that, because of the fact that the aeroplane is moving downwardly and toward the target in a vertical direction above the same, no allowance has to be made for the speed of the aeroplane, nor for its height above the target, and moreover, the vertically downward velocity of the aeroplane itself will be added to that of the explosive charge as applied to the projectile. to increase the force of impact of the latter, the advantages of (which are obvious.

With the heavier types of aeroplanes employed, it will be apparent that the gun 5 may be made sufiiciently large to carry heavy explosive bombs as well as shells and other forms of rojectiles, and when so employed, the pro ectiles whether in the form 1. The'combination with an aeroplane, of

a. non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projectile, an explosive and a reaction mass, the gun being mounted exterior of the fuselage and having its longitudinal axis normally parallel with the axis of the aeroplane.

2. The combination with an aeroplane, of a non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projectile, an explosive and a reaction mass, the fin being pivotally mounted exterior of the selage and havmg its longitudinal axis normally parallel with the axis of the aeroplane.

3. The combination with an aeroplane, of a non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projectile, an explosive and a reaction mass, the

n being pivotally mounted exterior of the I position for loading.

4. The combination wlth an aerbplane, of a non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a .projec-:

til, an explosive and a reaction mass, the

gun being mounted on trunnions below thefusela e and normally in axial parallelism' with t e longitudinal axis of the aeroplane. 5. The combination with an aeroplane, of

a non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projec tile, an explosive and a reaction mass, the gun being mounted exterior of the fuselage and havin its longitudinal axis normally parallel w1th the axis of the aeroplane, a swinging support for the rear of the gun, and means to operate said support to tilt the gun into loading position.

6. The combination with an aeroplane, of a non-recoil-gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projectile, an explosive and a reaction mass, the gun being mounted exterior of the fuselage and having its longitudinal axis normally parallel with the axis of the aeroplane, a swinging trap in the bottom of the fuselage, and a link connecting the trap with the rear of the gun, whereby the gun is tilted to loading position when the trap is raised.

a 7. The combination with an'aeroplane, of a non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projectile, an explosive-and a reaction mass, the

gun being mounted exterior of the fuselage and having its longitudinal axis normally parallel with the axis of the aeroplane, and an auxiliary tracer gun mounted on the aeroplane with its axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the machine.

8. The combination with an aeroplane, of a non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projectile, an explosive and a reaction mass, the gun being mounted exterior of the fuselage and having its longitudinal axis normally parallel with the axis of the aeroplane, and

naeaaeo means for yieldingly locking the charge in the gun.

' -9. The combination with an aeroplane, of a non-recoil gun open at both ends and adapted to fire a charge including a projectile, an explosive and a reaction mass, the gun being mounted below the fuselage of the aeroplane and having its longitudinal axis normally parallel with the axis of the fuselage.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES ()HN COOKE.

Witnesses:

WM. E. DYRE, M. D. BALLAUF.

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