US1297499A - Explosive shell. - Google Patents

Description

S. W. RUSHWIURE.

EXPLOSIVE SHELL.

APPLICATEON FILEDJUHEI5.1918.

PatentedMar. 18, 1919.

INVE/VTOR vSamuel WRushmm-e shell is still above the SAMUEL W. RUSHMORE, OF PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

EXPLOSIVE SHELL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

Application filed June 15, 1918. 7 Serial No. 240,121.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL W. RUSH- MORE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Plainfield, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Explosive Shells, of which the following is a specification.

High explosive shells employed in modern Warfare are usually exploded by graze or percussion fuses. In soft or wet ground the shells depending upon their size and velocity and the type of fuse employed, penetrate from a foot to twenty feet or more before exploding and the explosive force is largely dissipated in scattering the earth to form craters of from a few feet to fifty feet in diameter. Therefore, against personnel and equipment, these shells are almost ineffective and the danger area is but little greater than that of the craters.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a shell with an extension to the forward end 80 arranged as to cause the det-' onation of the explosive charge while the ground or, at least, before it has penetrated to an appreciable depthq i Attempts have been made'to employ extension pieces fitted with extended firing pins to be actuated by the usual contact'button, but it has been found that, With any considerable extension, the firing pin or rod is subject to an enormous set back 01' inertia stress induced by the tremendous rate of acceleration when the shell is fired froin the gun so that attempts to lengthen the fuse by increasing the length of the firing pin have proved to be failures. 1

My invention involves a combination of parts whereby all of theseditlicultiesareavoided and I have succeededin combining standard tried and tested elements capable of producing the desired result With absolute certainty.

7 My invention depends upon certain fundamental discoveries which I will describe in connection with the particular size of shell and particular apparatus which has been actually tested by me under service conditions.

-These discoveries are- First, a standard six inch shell which is approximately 22 inches long, will carry an elongated projection or nose as long or longer than the shell itself and th1s pro ection can be made heavy enough to stand all set back and stress of regular service firing Without materially affecting the accuracy of firing. In a particular case, firing at long range the service shells provided with my long fuse would group within a circle not more than two or three times the circle shown by groups of the standard shells with standard fuse fired under the same conditions.

Second, placing of percussion fuses at the end of such pro ection is as safe and free from liability of premature explosion as when the fuse is directly on the tip of the shell. L

Third, it has been denied that an explosive wave of condensation will be propagated in air fast enough to produce the desired efiect in that I can, by suitable arrangements, add to the compression wave, a shot gun effect due to fiyingparticles of metal, the speed of which is entirely independent of air pressure propagation and is in fact rapid enough so that for my purposes it may be considered as instantaneous.

These three discoveries make my invention possible.

The apparatus employed is substantially standard and hence the description of the device as actually constructed by me may be very brief. A device substantially as used by me is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a shell having the proportions of a 6 inch shell with my fusein position thereon;

Figs. 2 and 3 are longitudinal sections showing the standard element which I employ and the way in which I combine them, Fig. :3 showing the shell end and booster arrangements and Fig. 3, the contact fuse arrangements, the intermediate parts being broken away; and

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing a modified form of the parts shown in Fig. 3.

The shell 1, say 22 inches in length is provided with a fuse tube 2 which, as before explained, may be approximately as longor even longer than the shell. The fuse tube is secured to the shell by the enlarged base 3 exterior-1y screw-threaded at 4 to lit the standard shell. This part of the construca fuse, but I have discovered tion is standard as to the drawn steel-shell 5 square inch; also the drawn metal cup 8 secured to a washer 9 preferably by soldering and separated from the tetryl by a compressed-washer 10. The cup 8 is designed to receive the rear end of the ordinary standard fuse and I preferably utilize such construction for my present purpose. It consists of a brass shell 11 inclosed by a copper cap 12 containing a charge of fulminate of mercury 13 protected by an inner shell 14:,

preferably of drawn copper. The latter is held inplace by a felt washer 15 slightly j compressed by the brass bushing 16. The

' of the mark III type, the rear end comprising arts identical with parts 10 to 16 previous y described. In this complete fuse,

the fulminate charge 13 is detonated in the 'usual way. The mechanism for this purpose includes a shell 20 containing a small charge of fulminate 21, protected by a shell 22, held in place by felt washer 23. Alined with the center of the charge is a firing pin 24 secured to plunger 25 having a contact head 26 normally held in forward position by a metallic ribbon 27 spirally wound between the head and the washer 28 and provided with centrifugal weight 29 whereby it is thrown ofi. and unwound as soon as the shell leaves the gun. The enormous strain of the set back having been resisted'by the metallic ribbon and the latter removed, the plunger is held in its forward position only by the shear pin 30, which will be sheared oif' upon contact of the head 26 with even the slightest obstruction.

' The firing pin sets off the fulminate 21 which detonates the fulminate charge 18,- which shatters the copper shell and brass casing, driving the particles thereof with instantaneous and effective.

to have standard fuse arrangements on the enormous velocity, likea charge of shot, rearwardly down the passage or gun barrel 18 and is concentrated by the cone passage 17 upon the fulminate charge 13 which ex- 'plodes the booster charge.

As before stated, my experiments demonstrate that the shot gun effect is substantially It enables me front end of the long fuse tube without having any physical operating parts such as a long firing pin to introduce the complications which have rendered prior proposed devices inoperative.

In Fig. 4 I have shown the passage 18' contracted-to the same diameter as the brass case of the deto'nator so 'as to reduce the proportions of the bore more nearly to those of a rifle, with the case contacting with the breech which is thickened as at 30 to reinforce it against the explosion and to insure that the shot will be confined and take effect entirely rearward. This makes possible the use of a thinner barrel for the intermediate portion of the fuse tube.

,Tests with a 6 inch shell show that with the above described combination of parts the shell will explode well above the ground even when fired into ordinary soft earth.

I claim; I i

1. An ordnance shell having a projection secured to the forward end thereof extending axially, and formed with a longitudinal bore in'combination with a contact fuse having a detonating' charge in alinement with the bore of said projection 'and', at the rear end a similar detonating charge in operative relation to the booster charge of the shell,- and communicating with and in alinement with the said passage;

2. A structure such as describedin claim 1, having the passage to the booster deto-" nator coned to concentrate the effects of the explosion of the fuse detonator.

3. An ordnance shell having a projection p at theforward end thereof extending axi- 95 ally and formed with a longitudinahpas sage, in combination with a contact fuse having its deton'atingcharge in operativerelation to the forward endof said passage, and a second detonating charge at the rear end of said passage in operative relation to the explosive charge of the shell.

4. An ordnance shell having a projection at the forward end thereof formed with a longitudinal; passagetherethrough, in com bination with a contact fuse mounted on the forward end ofsaidl projection and having a detonating charge in operative relation to the forward end of said passage; and a similar detonating charge in operative relation to -the rear end' of said pieslsage and to the explosive charge of the s e l.

5. An ordnance shell having-a projection at the forward GIldflZlIGIBOf formed with a 115 longitudinal passage threthroughpin combination with a contact fuse 'mounted on the forward end of said projection and hav-' ing a detonati'ng charge inoperative rela-. tionto the forward end of said passage; 120 and asecond detonating charge in operative relation to the rear end of said passage and to the explosive charge of the shell; the walls of said projection, the passage thercthrough, the contact fuse and the 125 detonating charges being substantially symmetrical with respect to the axis of the shell and having their axes in alinement with each other and with said axis of the shell so that the centrifugal forces due to 0 axial rotation of the shell when it is fired, will be balanced in each cross-section of the device. i

6. An ordnance shell having .a projection at the forward end thereof formed with a longitudinal passage therethrough, in combination with a contact fuse mounted on theforward end of said projection and having a detonating charge in operative relation to the forward end of said passage;

and a second de'tona'ting charge in operative relation to the rear end of said passage and to the explosive charge of the shell, said projection being tapered from the shell toward the forward end and, at the outer end, having its Walls of material and thickness sufficient to confine the fuse detonator explosion against material, lateral expansion.

7. An ordnance shell having an explosive charge and means for detonating it, said means including an axially arranged tubular projection at the forward end of the shell, a det nating charge in alinement with the rear end of the passage through said projection and in operative relation to the explosive charge in the shell; and, in alinement with the forward end of said passage, another detonating charge and means for detonating the latter including a contact firingpin, the total distance from the shell detonating charge to the forward contact surface of the firing pin being approximately as great as the length of the shell and the length of the firing pin covering only a practically negligible portion of said distance.

8. An ordnance shell having an explosive charge, a detonating charge in operative re lation thereto and a contact fuse having another detonating charge and means in eluding a short firing pin for detonating thelatter, in combination with a tubular forward extension for the shell of small diameter, light weight and considerable length as compared with the shell, said ex- I tension having said contact fuse secured at the forward end thereof and having a tubular cavity extending in a straight line from'the shell detonator to the fuse detonator, the length of said passage being predetermined with reference to the normal velocity of the shell for the purpose and with the result of exploding the shell"- substantially in advance of the object which operates the firing pin. i it 9. An ordnance shell having an explosive charge and means for detonating it, said means including a tubular member; detonating charge in aliuement with the rear end of the passage through Said tubular member and inoperative relation to the explosive charge of the shell; and, in aline' erence to the object which operates the firing pin.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 14th day of June, A. D. 1918.

SAMUEL W. RUSHMORE.

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