US2081929A - Gun mount - Google Patents

Description

June 1, 1937.

T. J. HEAVEY 2,081,929

GUN MOUNT Filed Dec. 5, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor 'T'h um'asvd.Heavey Att urney T. J. HEAVEY June I, 1937 GUN MOUNT Filed Dec. 5, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,mmm/

Inventor Thnmas 1.1-HEEVE y Attnrngy Patented June 1, 1937 Thomas J. Heavey, United States Army, Fort Riley, Kans.

Application December 3, 1934. Serial No. 755,780

Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon. j -5 This invention relates to 'a gun mount and is animprovement-on the tripod shown in Patent N0."1, 977,629 of October-23, 1934. The improvements of this invention are directed to the features for mounting a gun on the tri- 1'0 pod and are provided for-the purpose of facilitating the mounting and dismounting of the-gun, and-more conveniently arranging'it for transport on'a pack animalLf I v A further object is to provide traversing and l5 elevating mechanism which permit the accurate training of the gun and delivery of fire. i K

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of elements described hereinafter and 20 pointed out in the claims forming a part of this specification.

' A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherelIl' 2'5 Fig. 1 is a View in side elevation of the improved mount with the gun in place thereon.

V i Fig: 2 is a plan view of the mount without the Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the pintle for 30 the .30 caliber 1 Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the pintle for the-.50 calibergun.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through the elevating mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Figs. '7 and 8 are detail views of the latch.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the dial.

Fig. 10 is a plan view of .the elevating handwheel.

Fig. 11 is a plan View of the click ring.

The tripod consists generally of a head 5 to which a front leg 6 and a pair of rear trail legs ll are pivotally attached.

A traversing bar 8 is attached to sleeves 9-9 45 which are mounted to slide in opposite directions on the trail legs 1-1.

The head is provided with a socket Ill (Fig. 3) adapted to receive a bushing H which has a flange l2 overlying the upper face of the head. The margin of the flange I2 is undercut as at l3 to receive the flange M of a dial l5 which is inscribed with a mil scale IS. The dial is freely rotatable and to provide for rotation it is equipped 55 with a plurality of knobs IT. The dial is clamped in any position by means of a bolt I8 which passes through the tripod head 5 and has a finger IS on its upper end for engaging the flange M of the dial and a knob threaded on its lower end and capable of being drawn up tightly against the under side of the head 5.

A housing Zl secured to the under face of the tripod head 5 carries a latch 22 which is arranged perpendicularly with respect to the axis of the bushing H. The inner end of the latch is normally maintained within the rim of the bushing by means of springs 23 confined between the latch and the housing. The outer end of the latch carries a knob 24 having an inwardly directed finger 25 which underlies the housing when the latch is in operative position and which is adapted to engage the side of the tripod head upon rotation of the knob when the latch is retracted and in inoperative position. Latch 22 has an engaging surface cut on a taper to give a tight wearing joint with peripheral grooves 29 and 30.

-The opening of the bushing is tapered and receives a correspondingly tapered pintle 26 whose upper end includes a yoke 21 which is mounted on a trunnion pin 28 carried by the gun A. The pintle and yoke are permanently associated with the gun rather than with the tripod as has been the usual practice. For this reason the pintle is formed with a pair of peripheral grooves 29 and 30, the upper groove 29 being engaged by the latch 22 when the tripod is primarily intended for the .30 caliber gun as illustrated in Fig. 3 and the lower groove 30 being engaged by a tapered latch I22 when the tripod is of a larger size for the .50 caliber gun as shown in Fig. 4 in which the parts are similarly designated with the prefix of one hundred. The same sized pintle is employed for both the small and large gun. By virtue of this arrangement it is possible to mount either type of gun on either type of tripod.

The latch 22 has a beveled upper 'surfaceil so that it will be retracted when struck by a pintle as the pintle is inserted in the bushing. When the pintle is in place with the base of the yoke resting on the bushing the latch will enter the proper groove 29 or 30, being urged inwardly by the springs 23.

The breech end of the gun is associated with the traversing bar 8 by an elevating mechanism comprising an upper screw 32, a lower screw 33 and an intermediate screw 34 threadedly engaging the exterior of the upper screw and the interior of the lower screw. The upper screw is pivotally attached to the gun by a bolt 35 and ment between the block and lower screw and insures full contact of the block on the bar 8 in all positions of traverse.

A screw 42 in the block has a lever 43 fixed to its outer end whereby it is advanced into engagement with the bar 8 or withdrawn therefrom.

The upper end of the intermediate screw 34 is formed with a head 44 (Fig. to which a handwheel 45 is secured by a machine screw 46. A ring 41 having a key 48 fitting in a slot 49 in the upper screw 32 is confined between the head 44 and the handwheel and is displaced axially with the handwheel without partaking of its rotation. A plunger 50 in the handwheel is pressed by a spring 5| against the notched periphery 52 (Fig. 11) of the ring so that, when the handwheel is turned, an audible clicking sound will be made whereby the gunner is able to count mil changes without referring to the pointer 53 on the ring and the mil scale 54 on the upper face of the handwheel. Slot 49 carries engraved scale 49 indicating 50 mil increments of elevation, corresponding to one complete turn of handwheel 45.

- Provision against disengaging the upper screw 32 from the intermediate screw 34 is made by means of a pin 55 carried by the screw 32 and having on its lower end a washer 56 which is adapted to engage the screw 34. The lower screw 33 carries a flat spring 57 having a lug 58 which projects through an aperture 59 in the screw 33 and rides on the exterior thread of the intermediate screw 34 until it snaps into a recess 60. I The spring has a projecting finger-piece 6| whereby it is conveniently grasped to withdraw the lug from the recess.

- 'I'he grip 62 (Fig. 1) of the gun carries a spring clip 63 for retaining the elevating mechanism substantially' parallel to the gun, in which position it is protected when not in use.

In mounting the gun on the tripod it is only necessary to insert the pintle in the bushing l I until the latch snaps into place, and to place the block of the elevating mechanism on the traversing bar 8. These operations are reversed in dismounting the gun.

I claim:

1. In a gun mount, a support, a bushing in the support and having a flange resting on the support, a rotatably mounted dial having an inwardly extending flange on its lower end retained by the flange of the bushing, a bolt passing through the support, a finger on the upper end of the bolt for engaging the inwardly extending flange of the dial, a knob threaded on the lower end of the bolt and capable of being drawn up against the support.

2. In an elevating mechanism, a fixed screw having a slot, a screw rotatable with respect to the fixed screw, a two-part handwheel on the upper end of the rotatable screw, a ring housed in and retained by the handwheel and having a key in the slot of the fixed screw, said ring having a notchedperiphery, a plunger carried by the handwheel and in clicking engagement with the notched periphery of the ring.

3. In an elevating mechanism, a fixed screw having a slot, a screw rotatable with respect to the fixed screw, a handwheel on the upper end of the rotatable screw, a ring housed in the handwheel for axial movement therewith and having a key in the slot of the fixed screw, said ring having a notched periphery, a plunger carried by the handwheel and in clicking engagement with the notched periphery of the ring.

4. A gun mount including a support, a bar on the support, a gun-traversing block slidable on the bar and having a vertical face with interrupted arcuate grooves, a gun on the support, an elevating mechanism pivo-tally carried by the gun and having a segmental tongue engageable in the arcuate grooves of the block by a rotational motion, and a connection between the block and elevating mechanism for limiting relative rotational movement.

5. A gun mount including a support, a bar on the support, a gun-traversing block slidable on the bar, a gun on the mount, an elevating mechanism pivotally carried by the gun and having a screw member extending past the block, said member having a limited rotational connection with the block.

THOMAS J. HEAVEY.

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