US2236335A

US2236335A - Firing mechanism for multiple guns

Info

Publication number: US2236335A
Application number: US169510A
Authority: US
Inventors: Dugied Eugene Albert
Original assignee: Societe Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie
Current assignee: Societe Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie
Priority date: 1937-05-05
Filing date: 1937-10-16
Publication date: 1941-03-25
Anticipated expiration: 1958-03-25
Also published as: FR832450A; GB493977A

Description

March 25, 1941. E. A. DUGIED I v FIRING MECHANISM PPR MULTIPLE GUNS 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct.

March 25, 1941. E. A. DUGIED FIRING MECHANISM FDR MULTIPLE GUNS 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Marh 25, 1941.

no 5m i f If {I E. A. DUGIED 2,236,335

FIRING MECHANISM FOR MULTIPLE GUNS Filed Oct. 16, 1937 8 Shee ts-Sheet 5 March 25, 1941. E. A. DUGIED FIRING MECHANISM FOR MULTIPLE GUNS Filed Oct. 16, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 March 25, 1941. A, DUGIED FIRING uscmmxsu FOR MULTIPLE was r .v M d W y. if m. m W "W m r 8 4 4 w m 45 March 25, 1941. E. A. DUGIEVD FIRING MECHANISM FOR MULTIPLE GUN S 6 t e e h s e e a 5 n9 5 9 m 2 9 l 6 1 L5 W d in; l i F FIRING MECHANISM FOR MULTIPLE GUNS Filed Oct. 16, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 'T March 25, 1941. DUGlED v 2,236,335

FIRING MECHANISM FOR MULTIPLE GUNS Filed Oct. .16, 1937 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 [rwenl'br UMMM? Patented Mar. 25, 1941 H H Z,23t,335

2,236,335 Frame MscnANIsr/r roaMUL'rIrLE GUNS Courbevoie, France, as-

Appiication October 16, 1937, Serial No. 169,51 In France May 5, 1937 I 7 Claims.

The present invention relates to a firing mechanism for gun carriages for multiple machine guns which enables the firearms to be actuated eithersimultane'ously, selectively or alternately.

The firing mechanism according to the inven tion essentially comprises a rod which is transverse to the firearms and is displaceable along its axis and which comprises, for each firearm, a loose lever which is arranged in front of the trigger of the corresponding firearm and is fixed transversely and a key adapted to engage in a groove of the said lever, the various keys being suitably spaced on the rod and being of appropriate length so that for each longitudinal position of the said key there corresponds the fixing of any one orseveral of said levers to the rod, the others remaining loose, in such a manher that when in known manner, the said rod is operated angularly, only the levers which have been secured to said rod control the firing mechanism of the corresponding firearms.

.Another object of the invention is the combination with the above described mechanism of a. device enabling the control of a firearm to be made by the adjacent firearm.

This further feature is essentially characterised by the fact that one of the firearms actswhen it is displaced on a lever adapted to be actuated in turn by a second lever acting on the trigger of the adjacent firearm, the connection between these two levers being suchthat when the first lever pivots in one direction under the action of the firearm .in the course of its recoil movement it has no action on the second lever whereas, on the contrary, when it pivots in the opposite direction under the action of the firearm returning to battery, it actuates this second lever and consequently the trigger.

The second lever acts on the trigger of the the arm to be operated through theinstrumentality of a nose which can occupy an operative position in'which it is adapted to act on the said trigger and a retracted position in which it has no action on said-triggen Other characteristics and peculiarities of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which show, diagrammatically and simply by way of example, one embodiment of the invention. In said drawings:

Figure l is an elevational and moreover very ,diagrammatical view of the whole gun carriage.

Figures 2 2a is the corresponding plan View.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the firing mechanism for the two machine guns.

Figure 4 is a View in section along the line IV-IV of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view in section along the line V-V of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a view in section along the line VIVI of Figure 3.

Figure 7 is a section along the line VIIVII of Figure 3.

Figure 8 is a plan view in section along the line VIII-VIII of Figure 4.

The gun carriage according to the invention essentially comprises a pyramid composed of three feet formed by two trails I which can be opened and one trail 2 which can be raised. These three trails are pivotedon the gun carriage body 4 which can thus rest on said pyramid composed of three feet (position shown in Figure 1). When thus placed on the ground, the gun carriage is suitable for anti-aircraft firing. For transport, the two trails l which can be opened are closed again, whereas the raisable trail '2 is raised; the gun carriage can then be mounted on two wheels, as will be described hereinafter. If it is desired to carry out anti-tank firing, it suffices to unhook the raisable trail 2, the gun carriage then resting, for said firing, on the one hand on the rear trails, and on the other hand fonthe two wheels.

Said two wheels are independent of each other, each of same. being mounted on the gun carriage body in the following manner: a block 5 is mounted on the gun carriage body through the intermediary of deformable hinged parallelograms each formed by two levers 6 which are pivoted at 1 on the gun carriage body and at 8 on the block 5. The suspension spring is formed by a leaf spring 9. In the block 5 a bore H] is provided and. ity is in said bore that the axle of the wheel is inserted for transport or for antitank firing. Said wheel can therefore move vertically responsive to shocks duringtransport and each of said wheels is completely independent of the other.

, To pass fromthe anti-aircraft firing position (positionof Figure .1) to the position on wheels it suffices, without unlocking the raisable trail 2, to lift said trail to bring the bores I81 to a sufficient height to enable the wheels to be placed in position; this having been done, the trail 2 which is unlocked at H, is brought into itsraised position in which it can be held by appropriate hooking means. Nothin'gthen remains but to close the two-rear trails again-f'The transformation from usual manner with a vertical bore in which is mounted the pivoting support I3. The rotation of said pivoting support about the vertical axis,

for traverse aiming, is controlled in known manner, by gears operated by means of the traversing wheel I4. A disengaging lever l5 enables this traversing mechanism to be released so that the pivoting support can be quickly moved about the vertical axis, a gunner acting for this purpose directly on said support.

The latter furthermore carries a seat It for the gunner, a foot-rest I! and a pedal l8 controlling the firing mechanism which Will be described hereinafter. On the pivoting support I3 is mounted a cradle 29 in such a manner that it can be elevated about a horizontal trunnion 2i, and on said cradle are mounted two machine guns M arranged parallel with each other, each of same being mounted on the cradle with the possibility of recoil, brakes 22 damping the recoil movement. The elevation control of the cradle is obtained by means of a hand wheel l9 carried by the pivoting support on the same side as the traversing wheel M. In order to compensate the preponderance of the weight of the cradle towards the front, said cradle is balanced by two spring-pressed pistons, generally designated by 23, carried by the pivoting cradle and connected by a cable 24 to a fixed point 25 of the pivoting support.

The firing mechanism according to the invention is shown in plan in Figure 3 and in different sections, and on a larger scale in Figures 4 to 8.

Each of the two machine guns M carries a sear 26 and a safety lever 27 which is adapted to lock the corresponding trigger (Figures 4 and 8). These are moreover the only parts carried by each of the two machine guns, all the other parts of the firing mechanism being carried by the support of the machine guns, thereby permitting of a great simplification of the guns.

In the embodiment shown, the firing mechanism provided for the two machine guns, permits at will: either of the actuation of the right hand gun alone, or of the actuation of the left hand gun alone, or of the actuation of both guns simultaneously, or again of the alternate actuation of said two guns, one firing in the period between two shots of the other, this being in order to distribute the shots fired regularly in time.

Said firing mechanism essentially comprises an actuating rod 28 to which an angular movement can be imparted by means of the firing pedal I8 through the instrumentality of any appropriate known movement transmission means. A longitudinal movement can also be imparted to said rod by means of a lever 29 which can pivot about a fixed pin 30 (Figure 5). The pivotal movement of said lever 29 is limited by a finger 3| engaged in a groove 32 of said lever. On the latter are rigidly secured two fingers 33 engaged in a circular groove of the rod 28. Said rod 28 can thus be brought, by operating said lever 29, into three different positions respectively designated by position G, position GD and position D. The locking in each of said positions is obtained by a spring plunger 34 (Figure 5) acting on a lever 35 of which the nose 36 engages in one of the three notches 31 of the support.

On said rod 28 is freely mounted, for each of the two machine guns, a lever 33 (Figure 4) provided with an inner groove 39. The rod 28 itself carries a key for each of the machine guns (see Figure 3).

When the rod 28 is in the medial position, that is to say in the position GD, shown in Figure 3, said two keys 40 are respectively engaged in the two grooves 39 of the two levers 38 which are thus both rigidly coupled for rotation with the rod 28. Under these conditions, when said rod 28 is angularly displaced by means of the pedal N3, the two levers 38 move angularly; each of same then acts (see Figure 4) on the trigger 4| of the corresponding machine gun, which trigger itself actuates the sear 26 and consequently fires the gun. The two machine guns are thus actuated simultaneously. If the rod 28 is brought into the left hand position, the left hand key 40 definitely remains in the groove 39 of the left hand lever 33 since the hub of said lever and consequently the groove is of substantially double the length of the key 40. Said left hand lever 38 therefore definitely remains coupled for rotation with the rod 28. On the contrary, the right hand key 40 of the rod 28 has become disengaged from the groove 39 of the right hand lever 38, so that the latter is no longer coupled with the rod 28. Under these conditions, when the latter is actuated angularly, only the left hand gun is actuated. Conversely, and for the same reasons, if the rod 28 is brought into its right hand longitudinal position, only the right hand machine gun will be actuated. 1

The mechanism according to the invention also enables the alternate firing of the two machine guns to be obtained. For this purpose, the rod 28 is brought into the left hand position so that only the left hand machine gun is actuated by said rod. It is this left hand machine gun which, in its turn, automatically controls the firing for the right hand machine gun, so that this latter fires in the period between two consecutive shots of the left hand gun. For this purpose, on a fixed pin 42a is mounted a sleeve 42 on which is keyed a lever 43 carryinga rod 44 which can occupy either the position shown in Figure 3, in which the left hand machine gun does not act on the right hand machine gun, or a position in which said rod 44 is completely pushed towards the right, its end collar 45 being in, that case opposite the trigger 4! of the right hand machine gun. On the pin 42a is also mounted a sleeve 46 to which is secured a nose 4! which is constantly retracted to its mean position by a spring 48 and which is in the path of a part 49 (see'Figure 6) which moves with the left hand machine gun. The sleeve 46 can drive the sleeve 42, but only when it moves in one direction from its mean' position, by means of the arrangement shown in section in Figure '7. j

The operation takes place under the following conditions:

When the rod 28 is .angularly displaced, the left hand machine gun is actuated and fires its first shot after which said gun reooails. The part 49 moves the nose 4! and consequently the sleeve 45 in a counter-clockwise direction (Figure 7), the sleeve 42 consequently not being driven. On the contrary, when the return to battery movement of said left hand machine gun takes place, the part 49 actuates the nose 41 and consequently the sleeve 46 in a clockwise direction. The sleeve 42 is then angularly displaced together with the rod 44 of which the collar 45 then actuates the trigger M of the right hand gun which will therefore fire between two consecutive shots of the left hand gun.

It is moreover obvious that the invention has only been described and illustrated herein in an explanatory and no way limitative manner and that modifications of detail can be made therein without altering its spirit.

1. In combination, independently mounted guns, shiftable firing means normally interlocked with both guns to fire the same simultaneously, means to shift said shiftab-le means to release one of the guns from the interlocked relation, alterna'te firing means for the released gun normally out of firing relation to said gun, manual-11ysettable means to place said alternate firing means in firing relation to the released gun, and cooperating means between the released gun and said alternate firing means to cause firing of the released gun consequent upon the firing of the unreleased gun.

2. In an automatic firing mechanism for plural guns wherein means are provided for locking the guns in a simultaneous firing relation, such means being shii table to release either gun for individual firing, and in which alternate firing mechanism is provided for the released gun, such alternate firing mechanism being normally out of operative position with respect to said released gun, manually-sett-able means forming part of said alternate firing mechanism and being movable and positioned relatively to .the released gun whereby to be set in a potentially operative position with respect to the released gun, and means provided by the recoil and return-to-battery movement of the fired gun for actuating said alternate firing means causing said manually-settable means to actuate the firing mechanism of the released gun;

3. In combination, a plurality of guns, means for firing the first gun in order irrespective of the second gun, and alternate firing means comprising driver and follower members rotatably mounted adjacent one another, :a nose on the driver member, means to y-ieldably maintain said drive member and nose in a neutral intermediate position, a part on the first gun movable on recoil and return-to-battery movements into striking engagement with said nose whereby to rotate said driver member, a connection between said driver and follower members for rotating the follower member only on movement of the nose and driver member as actuated on the return-tobattery movement of the first gun, a lever fixed upon said follower member, a rod movably carried by said lever and having manual means to set the rod in retracted or projected positions, a collar carried by said rod and movable thereby into and out of potentially operative positions with respect to the firing mechanism of the second gun, and yieldable means for yieldably holding said lever and collar in a non-actuating firing position.

4. In combination, first and second guns, means for firing the first gun, a projection on said first gun, driver and follower members rotatably mounted adjacent one another, a, projection on said driver member lying in the pa h of movement of the first-named projection and adapted to be angul-arly moved with said driver member on the recoil and the return-to-battery movements of the first gun, yield-able means for releasably maintaining said second projection in a neutral position, a connection between said driver and follower members for causing rotation of the follower member only upon rotation of the driver member as actuated upon the return-to-battery movement of the first gun, a lever fixed on said follower member, adjustable means carried by said lever and movable into and out of potential firing positions with respect to the firing mechanism of the second gun, and yieldable means to hold the lever and said last-named means releasably in non-actuating firing condition until the follower member is rotated by its driver member.

5. In combination, plural guns, means for firing the first gun in firing order, an angularly movable lever adjacent the firing mechanism of the second gun, a firing actuating member carried adiustably by said lever and movable into and out of firing relation with the firing mechanism of the second gun, means for yieldably holding said lever and member in a non-actuating firing relation, means coupled to said lever for angularly moving the same, and means on the first gun cooperating with said last-named means whereby to actuate salid lever and its member consequent upon the firing of the first gun.

6. In combination, first and second guns, means for firing the first gun, a projection moved with said first gun, a second projection in the path of and moved by said first projection both in the recoil and the retum-to-batteiy movements of the first gun, means for yieldably maintaining said second projection in a neutral position, actu ating means normally out of firing relation to the firing mechanism of the second gun for actuating such firing mechanism, means for manually setting said last named means in said firing relation, and means for moving actuating means to cause actuation of the firing mechanism of the second gun only when the first projection moves the second projection on the return-tobattery movement of the first gun.

'7. A device for firing multiple guns comprising a trigger for each of the guns, means for manually controlling one of said triggers whereby to fire a first gun, a sleeve rot-atably mounted behind said first gun, a lever secured to said sleeve adjacent the trigger of a second gun, :a rod slidably mounted on said lever for movement into and out of a position wherein to contact and actuate the trigger for said second gun when said lever is moved, means biasing said lever to a position away from the trigger of said second gun, a drive sleeve mounted rot'altably adjacent the first named sleeve, a connection between said sleeves for locking the sleeves together when the drive sleeve is moved in one direction and disconnecting the first sleeve from th drive sleeve when the latter is moved in an opposite angular direction, a projection on said drive sleeve, means to yieldably hold said projection {and sleeve in a neutral position, and means moved by said first gun to strike said projection when the first gun moves responsive to firing, whereby when said rod is in trigger-actuating position the motion oi the first gun fires the second gun.

EUGENE ALBERT DUGIED.