US1527770A - Mine - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 24. 1925.

A. w. AsHBR oK ET AL MINE Filed Sept. 29, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1,527,770 A. W. ASHBROOK ET AL Feb. 24, 1925.

MINE

Filed Sept. 29, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 24, 1925. 1,527,770

A. W. ASHBROOK ET AL um: Filed Sept. 29, 1925 4 s Sheets-Sheet s /6 gwwntoz 5 AIAfAsZZ/"QQA? Patented Feb. 24, 1925.

barren ALLAN W. A'sHBRooKnNn CLARENCE N. v

COLUMBIA, ASSIGNORS To THE GOVERNMENT teams wAsHinG'roiv, nrsrnicr or on THE UNITED snares, REPRE- HICKMAN, or

'SE'NTED BY THE SECRETARY on THE NAVY.

MINE.

Application filed September 1 '0 all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that we, ALI-AN iV. Asi-i- BROOK and CLARENCE N. HIOKMAN, citizens of the United States, and residents of Wash- 5 ington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements 1 in submarine mines and more particularly to that type known as an oscillating and self mooring mine. The mine is particularly adapted for use in maneuvers or where one ship is being pursued by another, inwhich case a number of these oscillating mines are discharged and take a position just beneath the surface of the water where they-cannot be seen by the pursued vessel. There are of course various other tactical advantages,-for example, this mine might be planted at the entrance of a harbor at the time the tide'is running in. The tidal current will carry the oscillating mine far into the harbor and the mine will moor itself. This mooring feature makes it unnecessary to sink the mine after a short interval as is the case with other oscillating mines and of drifting mines as set forth by international law; furthermore, the useful life of the mine is thus indefinitely prolonged.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a mine of the above character which will be of simple, practical and inexpensive construction and free from storage batteries, delicately moving parts or compressed gases.

The second object is to provide a mine of the above character having no complicated pieces of mechanism which are likely to get out of order or storage batteries that will die in the course of time or valves that leak and become frozen thus rendering the mine inoperative.

A further object is to provide a mine of the last abovement-ioned character which may be easily and quickly adjusted to operate at the desired depth and at any period of oscillation from one to live minutes or any degree of amplitude of oscillation.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out in connection with the accompanying sheets of draw 29, 1923. Serial No. 665,666.

ings illustrating two of various possible embodiments of the present invention.

In these drawings, Figure l is a side ele vation partlyin' section showing such parts of an experimental mine as are necessary to fully understand the invention.

Figure 2 is a partial plan view of the parts shown in Figure 1.

Figures 3, 4, and 5 are detailed sectional views of parts of'th'e operating mechanism.

Figure 6 is a partial sectional elevational view of a modified form of mine.-

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, 10 indicates a mine case of any desired char acter provided with antenna or contact members 11? which are adapted to be engaged by a ship and actuate the firing mechanism.

WVithin the mine case is a cylindrical member 12 provided with a piston 13 connected by means of a link 14 with a crank arm 15 shown more clearly in Figure l, one end of which arm carries a reel 16 upon which is wound a fine wire 17 supporting anactuating weight 18. The opposite end of the crank arm 15 is provided with an" escapement 20 having oppositely extending arms carrying lugs 21 and 22 which are adapted to alternately coact with trip lever 23 pivoted at 2 1 near its central: part, the opposite end of which coacts with a plunger or piston 25 within a hydrostatic cylinder 26 having the usual spring piston and diaphragm similar to the parts shown in Figures 3 and 4.

lVithin the cylinder 12 is a long spiral spring 27 coacting with the piston 13 at its upper end. Between the piston 13 and the outer shell 28 is a slidable sleeve '30 and a flexible rubber sleeve 31 which unrolls or unfolds upon itself as the piston rolls outwardly when the hydrostatic pressure thereon decreases.

In operation the mine is so adjusted that when the piston is in the middle of its stroke the displaced water of the entire mine is equal to the weight of the mine consequently in planting if the piston is all the way in, the mine will be heavier than the displaced water and will begin to sink. It should now be explained that the tripping or escapement lever carrying the lugs 21 and 22 against which the locking lever 23 rests Feb. 24, 1925. 1 1,527,775

w. H. BEVANS ET AL TORPEDO Filed April 24, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 24, 1925. 1,527,775

W. H. BEVANS ET AL TORPBDD Filed April 24, 1919 2 Sh08t8$1 \6t 2 E ia Illlll I'lllll Ill Patented Feb. 24, 1925..

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VVILLIAJK H. BEVANS AND JAMES S. CURR-IER, OF NEWPGRT, RHODE ISLAND, AS-

SIG-NORS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITE-D STATES.

TORIPEDO.

Application filed April 24, 1919.

larly toward the provision of means for causing a torpedo, after having traversed a predetermined distance, to depart from its course and thereafter continue its run in a circular path.

lVith recent improvements in torpedo construction it is quite generally the case that the range at which the torpedo is fired is considerably less than that which the torpedo is capable of traversing. It therefore follows that, particularly in night attacks by destroyers or submarines on enemy vessels, where a short range of fire is commonly used, it is extremely desirable that means he provided for causing the torpedo to run in a circular path after it has passed the target, to thereby increase the possibility of obtaining a hit on the target or vessels accompanying it. Thus, by providing the torpedo with such means, on passing the target and failing to make a hit the torpedo would then commence a circular course, enabling it to recross the path of the target several times.

In the drawings, which form a part of this disclosure, we have shown two forms of construction for accomplishing the purposes of this invention, both of which devices eihciently accomplish the purposes desired, are readily applied to the present service torpedoes without material changes in construction and ofier as well the advantage of being compact and relatively inexpen sive to manufacture. In these devices simple means are provided for afi'ecting the nor- Serial N 292,51 1.

have shown byway of illustration only several of the possible embodiments of this invention, like characters of reference designate like parts, and

Figure 1 is a sideview of the afterbody of the torpedo with certain parts broken away and certain features of construction omitted for the sake of clearness;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the timing gear train and the mechanism controlled thereby;

Figure 3 is a View taken substantially along the line of Figure 1, showing the means for overcoming the action of the normal steering mechanism;

Figure 4 is a detailed view of the connecting link shown in Figure 1, while Figure 5 is a view taken along line 55 of Figure 3 and showing the setting spindle; Y

Figure 6 is a view in side elevation of the afterbody of a torpedo with certain parts broken away, showing a modificaton of our invention;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the gearing used to actuate the timing rack;

Figure 8 is a' view of the timing rack taken along the line 88 in Figure 11 and looking in the direction of the arrows;'

Figure 9 is a view of the spring actuated stop shown in Figure 6;

Figure 10 is a top plan view of the'stop locking link taken along line 10-10 of Figure 6;

Figure 11 is a large view of the timing rack mechanism; and

Figure 12 is a View of the setting spindle with the covering plug removed.

Referring now to Figure 1, A denotes generally the afterbody of the torpedo, pro vided with the usual vertically disposed steering rudders B,- which are normally controlled from the gyro, mechanism C. The outer of two concentric shafts D, for driving the propellers, is provided with a gear 6 meshing with a pinion 7 for driving a shaft 8, from which shaft power is taken off to accomplish the purposes of this invention.

The shaft 8 is provided with a Worm 10 which drives a Worm gear 11 attached to the lower part of a stub shaft 11, the upper end of which carries a worm 12 meshing with a worm wheel 13, which in turn drives a worm 14C to operate a worm wheel 15 on the periphery of a sleeve 16, rotatably sup ported in a bushing 17 securedto. some stationary part of the torpedo and provided with internal gear teeth 18.' This sleeve 16 surrounds the upper end of a spindle 20 and the internal gear teeth 18 of said sleeve mesh with and operate a pinion 21 attached to the upper end of spindle 20. The gearing thus far described constitutes a timing mechanism for determining the point of operation of our device. The internal gear teeth 18 on the sleeve, 16 are of greater width than the pinion 21 so as to provide for a longitudinal sliding movement of the spindle 20. m

Referring now particularly to Figure 1, in a diagrammatic manner there is shown the usual gyro mechanism 0, including a pallet and pawl mechanism which controls the Valve E of the engine F to normally effect the steering of the torpedo in a horizontal plane. This general type of mechanism is old and well known and is described in'prior patents, as, for. example, see United States patents to Leavitt, Nos. 7 95,046, patentedJuly 18, 1905, and 1,080,116, patented December2, 1918, so need not be described in detail, but it will suffice to say that in the normal steering action of the torpedo,

by means of some suitable control'mechanism, such, for example, as described in the above mentioned patents, the rod 22 1s moved one direction-or the other to conkmatically reciprocated back and forth, to

trol through a system of levers, the valve E of the engine F. As is shown in the drawings, rod 22 operates bell crank lever 23, which itself operates rod 24. A' cooperating link is ordinarily associated with rod 24 and link 25, which latter is secured to the valve E of the horizontal steering engine, by which means said valve E is automove the vertically disposed steering rud 'ders first to'one side and then the other of the median position, as may benecessary to maintain the torpedo in a course bearing a constant relation to the plane ofrotation of the rotor of the gyroscope.

However, instead of the plain link which is commonly used to connect the link 25 with the rod 24 and which has a fixed pivoted connection to each of said members, we have provided a bent lever 26 (see Figure 2) pivoted at one end in the link 25 and provided in its under side with circular seat 27 adapted to substantially brace a headed pin 28 secured to the lower end of the rod 24, so that in this position of the lever 26 the normal steering mechanism of the torpedo "will be effective to accomplish its purpose. This lever 26 extends beyond the pin 27 where it is bent at right angles and is provided with a forked end'30, supported by a collar 31 on spindle 2t).

The spindle 20 projects at its lower end through a sleeve 32 which is threaded on an inwardly projecting hollow circular boss 33 secured to the base of the gyro pot. A threaded cap 34 covers the setting spindle 20 and renders it water tight, at the same time providing removable means for getting at the spindle to enable the setting of the timing mechanism. 1

A spring 35 seats at its lower end on the sleeve 32 and engages at its upper end a collar 36 secured to the spindle 20. This spring normally tends to hold the pinion 21 in mesh with the internal gear 18 on the sleeve 16, but when the device is to be placed inainoperative position, the spindle 20 is withdrawn against the action of the spring 35, removing the index pin 37, from contact witlrtheindex plate 38,seated within the sleeve 32, and. stop 40 is drawn through, the

opening 41 in the plate 38. By this means the gear 21 has been disengaged from the internal gear18 on the sleeve 16 and a slight rotation of the spindle 20 will permit the stop 40 to'seat on the plate 38, holding the device in inoperative position. The index plate 38 is provided with suitable graduations 42 to facilitate the setting of the device.

In operation, the spindle 20 is first, turned and stop 40 passed through opening 41. The pinion 21 is still held out of mesh with the internal gear 18 and by means of the in dex pin 37 and the index scale 42 on the plate 38, the spindle 20 is given an appropriate turning movement until the desiredv relation between the index pin 37 and the zero, point or. opening 41 in the index plate 38,: is established; The spindle is then released and spring 35 throwsthe pinion 21in mesh, with internal gear 18 on the sleeve 16 and bymeans of thegearing, previously described, which takes off power from the propeller shaft D, movement of the propeller shaft is transmitted on a greatly reduced scalev onto the sleeve 16. The reduction efiected is according to a known ratio and is so calculated that with the setting above described by the time the torpedo shall have traversed. a definite distance, estimated for a slight distance beyond the target, it a hit is note'ffected, the movement of the sleeve 16 through the reduction gearing, in turn moving the gear 21, has just rotated the spindle 20 into a position wherethe index pin 37 is lined up with the opening 41 in the plate At this instant the spring 35 actits position at one end or the other of the cylinder or will complete its travel to either end and then remain there, so that by means of the rod 43 operated from the engine F and connected to the rudders B, the rudders are either held in a hardover position or else moved thereto. As no further motion can now be transmitted to the steering en gine valve E, the rudders are retained in their hard over position by the air in the cylinder and the torpedo will continue to circle for the remainder of its run.

Referring now to the modification of our invention as shown in Figures 6 to 10 inclusive, as before the device is disposed in the atterbody A of the torpedo and acts on the vertically disposed steering rudders B thereof. In this case, however, the main control mechanism is mounted just aft of the oil pot G in the afterbody and immediately above the distance gear H. Power is taken off the gear 50 attached to the shaft D, which is the outer of the two concentric shafts driving the torpedo propellers, by means of a pinion 51, attached to shaft 52, which is used to operate the distance mechanism indicated at H. This distance mechanism is a standard part of most torpedoes, and has amongst its functions the cutting ofi' of the power to the engines of the torpedo after the same has traversed a predetermined distance. F or the purposes of this invention, as shown. diagrammatically in Figure 7, a worm 53 on the shaft 52 is used to drive a worm gear 54 on the spindle 55, the upper end of which carries a worm 56 driving a worm gear 57 on the spindle 58, which in turn, by means of the worm 60, drives a worm gear 61 on the distance gear spindle 62. Teeth 63 are cut on the upper part of this distance gear spindle 62 and in operation mesh with the teeth on the rack 64, so that by means of the gearing heretoforedescribed, the distance gear spindle 62 is driven at a ver Y much reduced speed to slowly move the rack 64 in the desired direction.

The rack is held and guided by the two headed guide pins 65 and 66, the latter of which is an eccentric and capable of rotation. Thus, by a turning movement of the guide pin 66, the rack may be. thrown out of mesh with the teeth 63 and the device rendered inoperative. A second spindle 67, having a head 68, is provided with teeth which are always in mesh with the rack,

which is indexed to read in yards, as at 70.

and cooperating with suitable reference line 71 on the boss 72, which surrounds the spindle 67 and protects it, provides means for setting the device to operate at any required distance. A cap 73 has threaded engagement with the boss 72 and provides a covering for the setting pinion 67 when the same is not in use.

Disposed within the path of travel of the rack 64 is the upper arm 74 of the bell crank lever 75, to the other arm of which is secured a rod or wire 76, so that when the rack has been brought to a point in its travel where it engages the arm 74 and thus operates the bell crank lever 75, by means of the wire 76 a suitable means hereinafter described is brought into operation to accomplish the purposes of this invention.

As in the modification previously described, the operation of the steering engine F is controlled by a valve E, which in its turn is controlled by means of the pallet and pawl device, cooperating with the gyroscope mechanism. By this means, should the torpedo deviate, as it constantly does, from a course bearing the prescribe-d relation to the plane of rotation of the rotor of the gyroscope, this mechanism will be effective to actuate the valve E and operate the engine F to displace the rudders B from its previous position, bringing the torpedo back on its course.

The actual movement of the rudders is effected through the agency of a rod 77 attached to the piston of the engine by means of the usual rudder rod connection 78. On the top of the gyro steering engine are two slotted lugs 80 and 81, within the slotted portions of which is carried the locking link 82 pivoted at one end in the lug 80. Normally this link 82 fits within the slot 83 of the slotted lug 84, projecting from the u per part of a rotatable stop 85 supported y a rat torsion spring 86, which is secured at one end as at 87 in a suitable manner, as by a friction fit, in the slot in the lug 80. This stop 85 includes an arm 88 having at its lower end a head member 90.

The operation of the device is briefly as follows: The eccentric pin 66 is adapted to hold the rack 64 out of engagement with the teeth 68 and when it is desired to use the torpedo, the block 73 is unscrewed and by means of the setting pinion 67 the rack 64 is adjusted in position so that it will bring the device into operation after the torpedo has traversed the selected distance. The eccentric guide pin 66 is then turned to carry the rack into engagement with the teeth 63 and the device is ready for operation. a

When the torpedo is fired the gear 50 mounted on the propeller shatt D drives the pinion 51 and by means of the gearing previously described and diagrammatically disclosed in Figure 7, the distance gear spindle 62 is rotated at a very reduced rate of speed. In accordance with the previous calculations, the rack 64 has been so set that it will strike and actuate the bell crank lever 75 when the torpedo has gone the required distance. When this happens, the rod or wire 76 which is attached at one end to the

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