US2516234A

US2516234A - Fuse for bombs and other missiles or projectiles

Info

Publication number: US2516234A
Application number: US683830A
Authority: US
Inventors: Midgley Albert Henry; Ashworth David Richmond
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1941-09-27
Filing date: 1946-07-16
Publication date: 1950-07-25
Anticipated expiration: 1967-07-25

Description

July 25, 1950 MIDGLEY ETAL 2,516,234

FUSE FOR BOMBS AND OTHER MISSILES, 0R PROJECTILES Filed July 16, 1946 FlgZ Lz/v 4917721335 1 Patented July 25. 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT FUSE FOR BOMBS AND OTHER BHSSILES OR PROJECTILES Albert Henry Midgley, Northwood, and David Richmond Ashworth, Millbank, England Application July 16, 1946, Serial No. 683,830 In Great Britain September 27, 1941 1 Claim.

This invention relates to fuzes particularly for incendiary bombs, although the invention may be applied to other projectiles or missiles for which its use is suitable.

The object of the present invention is to provide an extremely sensitive form of fuze which, however, may be made safe against premature discharge (due for example to being accidentally dropped) within very close limits.

The invention consists in a fuze for bombs and other missiles or projectiles comprising firing mechanism consisting of a fixed part and a movable part, a support for the movable part normally restraining it from movement in the firing direction but adapted on the shock of impact to be deformed and to be drawn through an aperture due to the inertia of the movable member to permit the necessary movement of the latter to fire the fuze, and means independent of said support for restraining the movable member against movement (due to its inertia) in the reverse direction.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one convenient arrangement in accordance with the invention.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation showing part of an incendiary bomb with the invention applied thereto, and

Figure 2 is a part sectional plan of Figure 1.

In carrying our invention into effect in one convenient manner as, for example, in its application to an incendiary bomb, we provide in a recess in the upper part of the body a of the bomb (to which the usual tail 1) is secured by suitable means) a cap-holder above which is mounted a striker holder 01 held in place by suitable means. The striker holder has a short sleeve-like extension d projecting slightly above the body of the bomb and within which is slidable a striker body e. The upper part of the member e is slightly necked or reduced to provide a shoulder so as to fit within the opening defined by an inturned flange d at the upper part of the sleeve (1' and to lie fiush therewith and the striker body is supported in this manner by means of a thin brass or other flexible metal star-shaped, cruciform, or similarly shaped member f having radial fingers and which may, for example, be secured to the outer surface of the reduced end of the striker body by a suitable screw y. The arrangement is such that, due to the restraint imposed on the striker by the contact between its shouldered portion and the flange 11 the striker is restrained from movement, due to its inertia, on the shock of discharge of the bomb or projectile, and since this force does not in any way affect the support 1 the latter may be made of thin gauge material so that the fuze may be made sufliciently sensitive to operate on impact with soft ground. On impact of the bomb or projectile, the inertia of the striker will come into play and in consequence the edges of flexible fingers of the support 1 resting upon the flanges 11 will be bent backwards and the support will be drawn through the hole in the end of the sleeve d so as to permit the striker to move into contact with the detonator and fire the fuze. With such an arrangement it is 'possible accurately to calculate the force necessary to cause the support to be drawn through the hole and the arrangement gives very consistent results so that, for example, it would be quite easy to produce a fuze which, when dropped on concrete, would operate with a drop of six feet, but would be quite safe and not operate when dropped through five feet.

In some cases the striker pin e may form an integral part of the striker body e while in other cases it may be constituted by an extension of the screw 9 by means of which the support I is secured to the striker body.

In an alternative arrangement according to the invention, the striker may be fixed and the primer may be movable, but normally restrained from movement by a deformable support such as f.

We claim:

A fuse for bombs or other missiles or projectiles comprising a sleeve-like holder having at one end an inturned flange providing an opening, a striker body slidably mounted therein and having one end reduced to provide a shoulder and arranged within the opening in the flange and seated against the flange in such manner that the outer surface of the reduced end lies fiush with the outer end of the flange, and a thin fiat deformable support for the striker body secured exteriorly of the flange to the outer end of the reduced portion of the striker body and having radial fingers adapted to rest upon said fiange so as to be drawn through the opening in the flange due to the inertia of the striker body on the shock of impact to effect the firing of the fuse.

ALBERT HENRY MIDGLEY. DAVID RICHMOND ASHWORTH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,338,802 Walker May 4, 1923 2,137,983 Remondy Nov. 22, 1938 2,487,789 Carr et a1. Nov. 15, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,769 Great Britain of 1890 342,099 France June 28, 1904 577,941 Great Britain June 6, 1946