US2986974A

US2986974A - Ramming case for rockets in rifled naval guns

Info

Publication number: US2986974A
Application number: US761270A
Authority: US
Inventors: Thalman Otto; Jr James L Walthall; Gerald L Hempfling
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1958-09-15
Filing date: 1958-09-15
Publication date: 1961-06-06
Anticipated expiration: 1978-06-06

Description

June 6, 1961 o. THALMAN ET AL 2,986,974

RAIVhv'IING CASE FOR ROCKETS IN RIFLED NAVAL GUNS Filed Sept. 15, 1958 2 Shets-Sheet l lllHlH Q L w Q 9' f :D a?

T E a LL. m su l Il b IN VENTORS.

fj oTTo THALMAN 05) n JAMES l.. wALTHALL.,JR. GERALD I .HEMPFLING ORNEYS.

June 6, 1961 o. THALMAN ET AL 2,986,974

RAMMING CASE FOR RocKETs 1N RIFLED NAVAL GUNS Filed sept. 1.5, 1958 z shams-sheet 2 16N I0 l0 D N E g3 E N m. m E;

A U U N N H '0* -N u.. 2| u. o N -N In I O N gm r 3| ji EN 2B 9 CD N 9 7* INVENTORS. o :f2 oTTo T HALMAN In JAMES wALTHALL JR.

GEA/LD L. HEMPFLING l M* BY f. J

A RNEY5.

Uetsd tStaffa The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This invention relates to a case to be used in the launching of rockets from closed breech ried Navy guns.

Heretofore, it has been customary on ships to launch rockets from open ended tubes carried entirely for that purpose. This invention eliminates the need for the open ended tubes and uses the normal breech loading rie.

The object of the present invention is to provide a case tting the usual breech loading rille and adapted to receive the end of a rocket projectile to be launched, both protecting the breech from the explosive gases of the rocket and providing a mount for the rocket to insure it a proper position in the rie and a proper centering with relation to the electrical tiring pin.

It is a further object to provide a case for a self propelled rocket which when once used to re the rocket from a breech loading gun may be reused without reworking.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a case to permit iiring of a self-propelled rocket from a breech loading rille which will upon mounting the rocket in the case, unshort the rocket and provide a connection which again shorts the rocket through the gun, the action of the tiring pin, breaking the short and forming the electrical connection for igniting the rocket.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal broken section of the case showing the electrical connection with the rocket;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the electrode rod, a part of the case, and including the unshorting pin; and

FIG. 3 is a section of the rocket showing the short circuit with the pin in rupturing position.

Referring to the drawings, a rocket is partly shown. Ihe rocket per se is no part of the invention and only that portion of the rocket which is connected to the case is illustrated. The type of rocket is that used by weather men for determining the velocity of the upper air, at approximately 100,000 feet. It is formed with the usual head containing instruments or radar responsive dust which at the desired height is released and tracked from ground instruments, and a booster having the usual explosive necessary to propel the rocket with electrical parts necessary to ignite it. The base of the booster end 8 is collared at 10 and fitted to a bushing 12 which in turn is threaded into a sleeve 14 which is part of the case.

Electrical wires 16 and 18 are connected to an igniter (not shown) in the booster and for safety purposes connected to a shorting plug 20. Referring particularly to FIG. 3, the plug 20 is bored at 22, the bore being enlarged at each end to form a threaded case well 24 and a smooth walled rocket end well 26. The bore 22 is tapered at 28 toward the case well 24. A hollow insulating plug 30 receives the wire 16 which passes through the insulating plug. A washer 31 terminates the wire 16 which is then secured to an easily fractured rod 32, in

atentjO n y 2,986,974 `lalxel'ttetl June 6, 19l61l,

. 2 turn connected to the plug 20. A metal collar 34 secures the insulating plug 30 to the shorting plug by bolts 36dw1hich also support a brace 38 holding the wires 16 an 8.

The well 24 toward the case is interiorly threaded at 40 to receive a threaded projection 42 of the web 44 which is part of the case 46. kIn the act of attaching the rocket to the case the shorting plug is screwed on the projection 42, details of which will be further described.

The case 46 is similar to an ordinary shell case with a cylindrical wall 48 and a base 50. Fitted into the open end of the shell is a cylindrical cap, the closed end of which forms the web 44. This cap is interiorly threaded to receive the shorting plug housing sleeve 14 which carries the bushing 12 and is formed with an opening 52 to permit access to the shorting plug during the fitting of the rocket to the case.

The base `50 of' the case is formed with a threaded central opening 54 receiving a hollow plug 56 which is interiorly threaded to receive a threaded ferrule 58. The electrical ring pin of the gun is centered on the central opening of the case base and upon firing engages the pin end 60 of a shorting piece 62 which is formed at the other end with a socket 64. Between the pin and socket ends of the shorting piece 60 there is an annular collar 66. Seated on an interior annular shoulder 68 of the plug 56, a washer 70 forms an electrical connection between the shorting piece 60 and the plug 56 through contact between the annular collar 66 of the shorting piece 60 and the annular raised ridge 72 of the washer 70. This contact is broken by the tiring pin (not shown) of the gun contacting the end of the shorting piece 60 and moving the shorting piece, comprising the coil spring and breaking the contact between the ridge 72 and the collar 66. A coil spring 74 encircling the socket end of the shorting piece bears against the annular collar 66 and normally holds the collar 66 in contact with the collar 72.

A connecting rod 76 is carried by the hollow plug 56 in a manner to permit limited longitudinal movement. The rod 76 is mounted in a sleeve 78 held in the hollow plug 56 by the threaded ferrule `58 and has at one end a projecting pin 80 seated in the socket 64. The rod 76 is supported by the web 44 and has aixed to its other end a rupturing pin 82. This pin 82 extends through the threaded projection 42, insulated from the web 44 by the insulating sleeve 90, and into the shorting plug 20 where the threading of the plug 20 onto the projection 42 causes the pin to shear the rod 32, thus unshorting the rocket and again by further penetration into the bore 31 shorting the rocket through rupturing pin 82, the rod 76, the shorting piece 64, the washer 70, plug 56 and the breech of the gun.

The rupturing pin 82 is formed with an enlarged head 84, tapered at 86 to a shaft 88 smaller in diameter than the head 84. The enlarged head 84 shears the rod 32 so that the projecting ends of the sheared rod will not reach the smaller shaft 88 upon continued movement of the pin 82. The continued movement of pin 82 relative to plug 20 pushes the washer 31 and wire 16 into the insulated plug 30 so that upon the breaking of the short by the electric tiring pin of the gun an insulated electric conduit from the firing pin to the rocket igniter is established which will immediately ignite the rocket.

In the use of the invention, the rocket is introduced into the gun partially lying in the barrel and in the tray. Here it is secured to the (shell) case which is also on the tray by fitting the part 8 of the rocket onto the bushing 12.

The case, consisting in the cylindrical wall, base 50 supporting the base shorting plug and its attached electrode connecting rod 76 with its attached rupturing pin 82, web 44 and sleeve 14 has been assembled and upon connection with the rocket lies in the tray. When the rocket 'present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. The combination of a breech loading gun with a rocket adapted to be tired electrically from the gun and a casing fitting the breech of the gun comprising a sleeve,

formed with a side opening, said sleeve being attached at one end to the casing and at the other end to the rocket, a shorting plug, housed within the sleeve and electrically connected to said rocket, said plug shorting the electrical connections to prevent accidental tiring of the rocket, a ring rod mounted in said casing and extending through the casing into the sleeve and terminating vwithinY the sleeve opposite the side opening of said sleeve to be manually connected to said shorting plug while in the breech, means carried by said tiring rod to unshort the electrical connections from said rocket and connect said rocket to said tiring rod during the manual operation of connecting saidr lshorting plug yto said tiring rod, means insulating said tiring rod from the casing, spring biased means contacting said tiring rod and said casing, said spring biased means reshorting the rocket connections through the rod vand casing, said spring biased means being movable to unshort the rocket electrical connections and lire the rocket. 2. A combination according to claim 1 wherein the means insulating the tiring rod is a tube of insulating material threaded to one end and extending into the sleeve to threadedly receive the shorting plug.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,726,053 Brown Aug. 27, 1929 2,494,256 Muskat et al Jan. l0, 1950 2,644,364 Nass July 7, 1953 2,721,913 Kent Oct. 25, 1955 2,817,272 Gunder Dec. 24, 1957 2,821,137 Lyon Jan. 28, 1958 2,855,848 Books et al Oct. 14, 1958