US964147A - Torpedo. - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFIC.

CLELAND-DAFYIS, OIE THE UNITED STATES NAVY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,.

T0l NATIONAL TORPEDO COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., `A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

trortrirno.V

Application filed July 15, 1907. Serial No. 383,814.

Tov all whom 'it may concern: i

Be it known that I, CLELANU'DAVIS, a

-lieutenant-commander U. S. Navy, a citizen of the United States, residing at Vashing-- ton, in the District of Columbia,vhave in.

vented certain. new and useful Improve-- ments in Torpedoes;'and I do hereby de-` clare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact descriptionof the invention, such as' will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to torpedoes and particularly to that class .of torpedoes that are propelled or under the sur to strike the vessel or other object attacked below the water line.

- The object of my invention isv to create renter disablin etici-,ts than is now os-- sible with the present torpedoes, and especially when the ship attacked is provided with armor or other protecting devices ,belowthe water line.

`As is well known, the eiect'ofmodern.I

torpedoes 'on vessels provided with aconsiderable -protection of thin, or more or less lthick armor plating'below the water line, is

To this end my invention consistsin pro- Y viding an ordinary torpedo shell with a sunsimply to blow a hole therethrough. This hole when there isno armor protection may be very large, and does injury to the vessel by the admission of water. If, however, there is a thin armor protectiomthe hole will be much smaller, and it' might or might not be suiiiciently large to disable the vessel. Andagain, if the armor is made suiiciently thick the holewill either be too small to A'cause Inu'chv damage, or it lwill not be made at all.

' The object of' my invention, more specifically stated, is to send high explosives into the vitals of the ship,thus insuring her d'estruction under all conditions.

ple form of gun from .which an ordinary projectile, carrying an "explosive charge may against torpedoes upon the ship, that is be- ,ing attacked. After the said shi or its 4protection is pierced, the shell, o course,

may be exploded within the vessel, thereby projectedthrough the Wat-er,V ace thereof, and are adapted destruction by exploding her boilers or magazines. Referring to the accompanying drawing,

forming a part -of this specification; the

ligure illustrates a sectional view of the war head end of a standard torpedo shell.

standard torpedo, and B the war head.

C represents the ordinary disk closing the airiiask, and D a flanged ring in the end of the war head. i i

E represents a cap screwed into the war disabling her machinery, or causing her A designates the shell or air flask of a4 head, as usual, and F represents small plugs passing through the cap t" H represents the barrel of av gun, which is preferably rifled and screwed into the disk C by means of a wrench or other tool engaging the holes G inthe'end thereof.

1 lrepresents any suitable closure of the breech of the barrel H, and K any'standard fuse fitted into the same. l

J represents a suitable charge of powder,

and L a suitable armor iercing or other projectile of' standard ma e, M represents a standard fuse which may be a suitable time fuse, or a delayed action percussion fuse, and

is preferably located in the base of vsaid projectile, andA N -an explosive charge for the projectile.

O represents the riflingin thev gun or bar-= relH.

Thegun H of such weight as to not materially affect the ballistics of the torpedo shell vor to maf.

terially change the center ofgravity of the saine, as determined 'for ordinary firing. This result is materially aided by omitting the explosive charge ordinarily carried in the war head. The-'contour of the torpedo being not changed in any sense, nor its weight or center of gravity in any materlal sense, it follows that upon tiring the same 85 and projectile L are chosen" from its tube it will behave precisely as if it did not carry my improvement. ln other words, 1t can be fired just as accurately with my improvement as without it.

On the otherI hand, Vsince my shellL will 4 ierce armor precisely the same whether it 1s fired from my un or not, if the torpedo strikes the vessel T ani 'sureto penetrate its side or bottoni. "That is to sa in this device I have no experiment-nl eatures to give the necessary velocity tothe shell L to penetrate the object against which the torpedo strikes. Upon striking this object the shell L penetrates the same and explodes upon the inside of the vessel in the well known manner, Vand thereby creates a destructive effect much greater than could possibly be the case were only a small hole,

or none at all, blown into the vessel by an ordinary torpedo.

It will thus exceedingly simple, is certain in operation, and can be kapplied to standard torpedoes -by involving only slight changes. In as-- sembling the parts,` all that is necessary to do is to 'load the shell into the barrel H, place the chargedv on top the same, screw in the breech plug L, and then screw the loaded gun into the disk C until it occupies the position shown in the ligure.

The small Aplugs F are for the purpose of allowing air to escape when the nose of the torpedo strikes the vessel, and is crushed in. lhe apparatus, of course, is designed to be used only once, and therefore the barrel l-l does not have to be loaded but once.

In all cases, however, it is essentialfthatA my projectile be given sufficient- 4velocity before .leaving the gun to penetrate the ships side, or other target, and to this end I have made the barrel ofthe gun longer4 than the projectile used, and have employed the cap E to exclude water from said barrel. That is to say, if the barrel H were shorter than the projectile, then upon impact, the explosive force of the charge J, would act on the 4projectile more like a pressure driving a wedge, or like a blow on the same. In

such case, the projectile being in actual contact with the ship, or other tar et, could not penetrate anything like so eeply as it would, were it hurled against the ship with an accelerated velocity. Thenagain,

if thevcap E weie removed and water al.

lowed to enter the 'barrel Hbefore firing, the projectile would be forced against the water in contact therewithf so suddenly, that owing to the very high resistance water offers to such sudden displacements, the velocity of the projectile, and therefore its penetrating powers, would be very greatly reduced. In fact, under either-of suchconditions, unless special means are provided the resistance to the forward movement o the projectile would be so great, that the force of theexplosion would expend itself, not in driving thel projectile forward, but

lwhen the explosion occurs,

be seen that my invention in blowing up the breech portion of the gun and in destroying the forward end of the torpedo shell.

jectile being longer than the gun barrel,

and thereforeprotruding therefrom. For,` when its nose strikes the side of the vessel,

the whole energy possessed by the torpedo shell, weighing perhaps 2000 pounds, and which would be moving at a considerable velocity, tends to hold the said nosefirinly against the ships side. This energy, therefore, serves to prevent the torpedo shell from going backward, vents the projectile from going forward, and the result is a bursting of thegun, without accom plisliing any penetration to speak of. i By providingr the air space 1n front of the pro jectile, siown in the drawings, however, and byproviding the cap E to excludethe water, I o\' erconie both of these most serious objections.- Forair is suificiently compressible to admit of a considerable velocity bef ing attained by the projectile before it leaves the gun, and the small plugs F, when crushed in, furthermore facilitate its escape along with the powder gases that precede the projectile. The result is the projectile attains a considerable velocity before it leaves the gun,r and is thereby enabled to penetrate the ships side. j

I do not limit myself to any form of gun, projectile, fuse or'means of attaching the gun to the torpedoes, nor 'do I limit my gun to va moving'torpedo, since the same may be applied to a submarine mine Having now described myinvention,what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is v In a torpedo, `the combination with the shell thereof, of agun barrel fixed to the same adapted to lire a projectile therefrom, and means formin a ixed and rigid part of said shell adapte to exclude water from said barrel, substantially as described.

2. In a torpedo-the combination with the bodythereof adapted to move through the water, of a gun carried by the same and adapted to fire a projectile therefrom,and means attached to fixed and rigid with said body for excluding water from said gun1 substantiallyas described, d

3, In a torpedo, the combination with the shell 'thereof adapted to be fired from a tube, of a gun barrel carried by said .shell and Vadapted to fire a (projectile ltherefrom and fixed means rigi ly attached to sait shell for excluding water from said gun bar rel, substantially as described. l 4; In a torpedo, the combination with tln shell thereof properly proportioned to en able the same to be fired with accuracy fron a .torpedov tube, of a gun carried by sai( shell adapted to fire a projectile therefrom Ttliis action would bev greatly aggravated in the case of the prowhile the ship prc and a screw -cap attached to saidshell for excluding-Water from said gun, substantially as described. v

5. In a torpedo, the combination with the by, acharge gun barrel, andl terminating 'short of the body thereof, of a gun barrel carried thereand projectile carried bythe nose of the torpedo a distance suflicient to enable the projectile to acquire a considerable velocity before leaving the torpedo, and means for exploding said charge and firing the projectileupon the impact of the said torpedo upon the target attacked, substanbody thereof fuse will ignite the charge and the pro'ectile and provided with lli will attain a considerable velocity be oreit leaves the torpedo, substantially* as described.

7. In a torpedo, the combination With the body tl1e1'eof, -of a gun fixed in said body a percussion fuse, a propelling charge, a shell provided with a burst-V lng charge and aV fuse in said shell, and means to exclude wa er from said gun, sul stantially as described.

8. In a torpedo, the 4combination with the body thereof of standard' make, of a gun fixed in said body and provided With a breech closure, a fuse carried by saidl gun, a propelling charge, a` lprojectile having a bursting charge, a fuse carried by said proand leaving a spacebetween4 jectile, and means-,to 'exclude'waterfrom the same, substantially 'as described.v 5 9. In a tor edo, the combination with the body thereofp v fixed in said body and provided with a breech closure,

" the body thereof of standard make and proof standard make, of a gunvidedwith a War head having its explosive charge removed, of a breech loading gun located entirely Within said -War head and provided with a percussion fuse and a pro.- pelling charge, and a standard shell provided -Withan explosiveeharge .and a cussion f-use locatedin said gun, the comv bined Weights of said gun and shell being so chosen and distributed asv to not alter the original ballistics of said standard torpedo, whereby upon impact of said torpedo th/e fuse in the gun Will ignite the propelling charge and the shell will attain 'considerable velocity before leaving the gun and CLELAND DAVIS.

Witnesses:

`l lrnaNK-A. HARR1soN WlLLIAM F.. POWELL;

materially l will. explode after passing through the ves# l

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